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Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
March
Year
1883
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

JPARis, March 1, 1883. The Napoleons have not been a reigning house for a century, yet Prince Jerome can display upon occasion an insolence beconiing the descendant of the most ancient kings. On the theory that aristocricy is organized bad manners, the Prince must be admitted to have quite the air of the old families. It is not rudeness; a man cannot be rude to a mouse; the Prince is of another order- that is all; it is the trick of greatness, and he has caught it to the life. To see him at bis best in this attitude one must go back to the Empire, when he was loftily impolite In palices. In tne gloom of that old place at Mendon, for instance, (since burnt by the Germans or by the French ; for they throw the ball of flame from the one to the othei), his isolation used to have a sort of Rembrandtesque effect. As hestood there on his old hearth, it was as though sotne iggrandized figure of the emperor had stepped from the panel. With his face and presence he is worthy of a background of State; heought tolive in palaces; and n spite of his manners, he knows how to ive in thein. He can be wildly generous, especlally when the palace does not belong to him. There is a little estáte at Mendon suspected of being the property of Trance, which he gave away to a friend n the most liberal fashion. The friend sold it to au American dentist daring the war. The American dentist by jvay of ving up to his bargain, got himself made a baron ; and there he lives to this day, amid as niuch barbarie and feudal pomp is can be bought for money. There is a ittle uncertainty about his title detds; and if the State chose to be a little disagreable, il is believed that it nilght give üni trouble. Heshrcwdly insured ng;iinst he risk by lowering his bid for the barfain. Tlie Prince's favorite occupations are eading and quarreling with his sister. At one time he was able to vary that by quarreling with a person atlll nearor and dearer to him, hia wife wlio is tlie daughter of the late Victor Emanuel, but ahe lias long since gone to live with her illusIrious relativos in Italy. They meet once a year; he goes to visit her, añil they are as gravely pol te as husbands and wives of State should be at all times. They never see each other at other seasons, anc hardly ever correspond. Kven when he was sluit up in the Conclergerle the othei day, the Princess Clotilde did uot come to Paris, but she wrote u letter saying that she was "quite anxious." The Chlldren are the sole bond between them, and they are also the cause of disunion between the Prince and liis .ister. The Prineess Mathilda, his sister, adores them, but she has her notions as to the way in which they should be brought up, and she would put more of the family ta-te for adventure into their hends than is consistent with the Prince's ideas. The Piince doubtless knows what he is about and ni wateblug them so carefully he is looking quite as mnch to bis own interest as to theirs. He is ambitlous of a much higher part in history than that of the "father of the debutant." He would like to be the debutant himself when next France wants an Emperor, and let his eldest son come In merely as he would do into :iny other well regulated French bus iness, comme successetir Zs son pere. No public man is less loved. A select few have a kind of liking for him, because he is the Amphitryon, with whom they dine However, it must be said to the Prince's credit that if ever he approaches humanity it is over a good meal. He is no gourmand but gourmet to the last degree The very tirst tliing recorded of him when he was sluit up in that old prison the other day was that he had sent out for a carefully concocted meal. The menu was given to the papers, togetber with his observations on morality and religión, ani the duty of regenerating France.

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News