THE TEARS OF AN EMPRESS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 53, 1 November 1915, Page 7

THE TEARS OF AN EMPRESS.

George Parade, special correspondent of Lo Journal in Italy, writes the following story, which ho heard from an aged priest in the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, in Venice:— "1 remember-—1 wa s much younger then, and was a professor at the seminary of Padua—a woman who used to kneel in the very place you aro now and wept and prayed every day. Hre piety attracted the attention of all. She was the Empress of Germany, wife of Frederick 111., who was then dying of cancer at Sari Remo, and mother of the present Emperor William 11. One morning, when she prayed with more fervour than ever, she said to me:—'Father, I pray for my husband, who is going to die. But he is a saint, and God will pardon ihim without doubt. I am certain of (that. ) " 'But I weep for my sou, William, jwho will reign, and whom I know. He jhais already done much evil, and will do still more when he has the power. il feel it and I fear it. You do not know, you cannot know, of what ho is capable. He is cursed of God. It will be a heavy load for the world to ibear. Let us P™>' for him!' I "You cantell it in all confidence, my json," thu priest said. "I swear to ;you tbat those words were card here 'by his mother en the tomb of the sain I revere. My nam a is Father Scromini, and I am far too near @©d, far too near death, not to speak' the iflaia truth to mo."