The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-05-16

obvious. l learn that here the state
gives nothing for the prisoners.
allow then do they live?
"There is merely a portion of
beans and a pound and a half of
bread day, but you will not be able
to eat either one or the other
az can well believe the fare is not
like what 1 am used to; but l like to
know the peculiarities Of every situa-
tiOn and to live on the level of that in
which happen to be; wish to try
It,
A Maid as Reporter.
"The part of the building set aside
for women is divided into long, very
narrow passages, on one of the sides
of which are small cells like the one
in which I was lodged; there, under
the same roof, on the same level, sep
arated by thin plastering, live with
prostitutes and murderers. On one
side of me is one of those creatures
whose trade is to seduce youth and
sell innocence; above me is a woman
who has forged assignments and torn
to pieces on a high road an individual
of her own sex with the help of the
monsters in whose band she is en-
rolled; every cell is shut with a big
lock and key, which man comes
every morning to open, looking inso-
lently to see if you are up or in bed;
next, their tenants meet in the corri-
doris, on the staircases, in a small
courtyard or in a damp and sinking
hall, a receptacle worthy of such
scum"
What Madame Roland so blithely
endured, the majority of her captive
fellow-aristocrats also endured-that
and worse, for nearly all of them per-
ished, whereas she escaped. Royalty
Jared no better. Thousands saw how
Marie Antoinette faced her end and,
as have just said, distinguished his
torians recorded the scene while IA
nous novelists embroidered it with
fictional touches, but it remained for
humble witness, a serving maid, to
tell future generations how the poor
queen passed the final hours of her
life. This moving account was handed
down to us by Rosalie Lamorliere, a
young woman of lowly birth who at
tended Marie Antoinette during the
latter's confinement in the concier-
gerie.
Her occupation as q domestic in
that dismal pile first brought her into
contact with the queen. She was fire.
quently, at times constantly, with the
imperial prisoner from the date of her
arrival at the prison on August 2,
1893, until the beginning Of the third
week of October when sentence was
inflicted. OF the concluding acts Of
the tragic drama this Rosalie Lamor-
liere wrote as follows:
"At last came the awful day of
october 10; the queen went up at
a. m. into the hall of audiences to re-
ceive sentence, and as 1 do not re-
member having taken her that day
any kind of nourishment, | suppose
they made her go fasting.
A Doomed Queen.
SIN the morning | heard some peo-
pie talking about the hearing of the
case. They said: Marie Entoinette
will get off, she answered like an an
gel they will only have her deported.'
"Toward p. m. the doorkeeper said
to me:
"The meeting is suspended for
three-quarters of an hour; the &C
cused is not to come down. Go up
quick she is asking for a bouillon.'
81 Immediately took an excellent
broth which I kept in reserve on
my stove and went up to the prin-
cess. AS l was approaching near
hall close to her one of the police
commissaires named Labuziere,
short stumpy fellow, snatched the
souD-basin from my hands and hand
ing it to a young woman who was ex-
cesstvely got up, said to me:
"1This young woman is very eager
to see Widow Capet; it's delightful
opportunity for her. And the woman
at once went off carrying the soup,
which was half split.
st was no use my begging and en-
treating Labuziere, he was all-power-
full; | had to obey. What must the
queen have thought at receiving the
basin Of soup from the hands of
person she did not know?
"a few minutes past four on the
morning of October 16 they came to
tell us the queen of France was con-
demned! l felt as if a sword had
stabbed my heart and l went and
wept in my room, sitting my cries and