FOR WOMAN FOLK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 299, 27 May 1915, Page 6

FOR WOMAN FOLK.

"BY EILEEN."

" Eileen " will be glad to receive items of interest and value to women for publication or reference in this column.

AUSTRIAN ROMANCE. SECRET 01' A SDiiUOW I'LL EMPRESS. A I'KIXCKSS INX'OGNTt'O. Elizabeth of Austria was by sonic men called insane. To others s!sc was known as "Our l.ady of Sorrows." A hijjlilv inI,Testing book, ealleil "The Secret of an Fmprc published by C.issell and Co.. conicrns her. Its authoress is Countess Zanardi Landi, so untitled by lier second : marriage. That, by birth, she is Aich- j duchess of Austria, daughter of Kliza- | bi'tli and Fran:'. Josef, is tile secret she prrporta to n".eal. '1 lie mar'ia.'-le of the Hap-bur^ 1 ine.il- i arell was ron;anti.'. His bride was out , sixteen. tl;e beautiful hi»h-s]iirited and unspoiled dangler of a Bavarian Mike, l'cople said tiiat the pair had fallen in love at lirst si-ht. All knew they were vstrunjn il i« later life. Tlie court Biitlii/i'iiie* record live children by tliis r.nii-11. If the ( ounte-s Zaun'Mi l.amiiN l:ook succeeds in its aim, a sixth will be lidded to ti'e li,i. Au-triasi etii|l'ette is j diaevy.l in it- re one miyht almost Vail it barbarous. Free intercourse with her own children 's tlie last thinu' the Kmpress can claim. She may not live with them; she may not choose who shall educate tliein; she may not even visit them without- a formal twenty-four hours' notice bein<r «iven and all due preparation bein.u made. I'lidcr "-lieii restrictions the Bavarian siili'er in silence. She repeatedly claimed the riL;lbt to briiij; up her own children; civil time she was promised il, and I lien foiled. In her own words, her daughters became "common, everyday princesses, with iid experience ol real life, no breadth of views, 110 deep feelings." That one. at least, should 1)0 the chilli of her own heart was the favor she reipiested of her husband. And lie consented. To escape her enemies in the court—tin- politicians whose "creepinj; baseness" had spoiled her lifi', and. in her opinion, caused the tragic death of her eldest son—she determined that tile existence of his sixth child .should be kept secret. And so, unknown to anyone save her husband, her daughter was born in ISS2 at the Chateau of Sassotot, l'etites Dalles. Xonuamly, where the mother bad been living under tile name of Countess Ilohenemb?. A few weeks after her birth the baby was brought to Vienna and there installed as the child of a couple named Kaiser. These 'people were recent arrivals from Berlin, unknown in Vienna, bnt of good standing socially. Their own family consisted of one daughter. To Caroline, or Lily, as she was familiarly called, the beautiful woman who visited her was at first known as "Tante Elly." Later this was changed to 'Mamma." though how one little girl could have |,wo mothers was a strange puzzle to the child. Finally, when she was ten years old, an indiscretion on the part of a servant led to a complete revelation of tlie mystery, ller mother was tlie Empress! 'Why ,then. was she not with her sisters? "f wanted you entirely for my own," explained the Kmpress Elizabeth, "not with a selfish mother's love, but that 1 might preserve you from the useless and dangerous life of courts, because I did not wish you to lie an empty-headed, empty-hearted princess. Never forget this, that i want one day to sllow the World through you that- lo he born a princess iloes not bring with it the privilege df being Mattered by a vain crowd of courtiers; -but brings the necessity of carrying a. heavy burden, and the ability to carry it." C;i to the year IsSK Weiberl, as her mother called her lived with the Kaisers. Then the Kmpress opened for her an establishment at bainz, near her own Imperial palace. The house was in charge of a regular educational stall', with one solitary little girl for their pupil. It proved a failure. W'eiberl was next transferred to a house in the Strohgasse, Vienna, under the charge of Fran von Friese, a kindly, intelligent anil well-bred Danish woman, who became her fast friend. The records of the child's years here present strange reading. Caroline was destined to lie a princess: therefore she must know all the frivolities needed for her state. Slle must also be a scholar; so Tier lessons were long and erudite. She was highborn; pomp must surround her. She was not acknowledged; so she must be kept fruin children who might discover her secret. Ncvto* was a girl in such a forcing house, cut oil' from tile light and sun of ordinary intercourse. 1u one passage the girl complains of her lot. "My life became extremely monotonous, every day the same—lessons, walks, meals and sleep." lint, on the whole, she was content. Did she not live for the mother whose visits to her were the sole events of her tiresome existence? These visits seem to have l>cen in the nature of emotional tempests, preceded and followed by the dead calm of monotony. If the story he true tliev may explain a certain eccentricity of the Kmpress, which some called by a harsher name. Sometimes, in wintei'. the visits were short. In summer, during the holiday ■season, however, they were longer and more numerous. Then Lily went, perhaps. to Cmuemlen. which is not far from the Imperial palace at Ischl, and there, would be many delightful stolen hours of intercourse. Milt such doulile life could not be without, its compromising complications. Clu one oeon-don malters reached a dangerous crisis. r l he girl had sulTored an accident. The mother, hearing of it, rushed oil' at once without notifying any of Tier entourage. Kvening came and no Kmpress. The ladies-in-waiting grew anxious; they confided in Baron NojlflCfif, ■Master e.f the Household, lie, fearing

to disturb the. F.iuperor. and also to enrage the Empress, undertook tlie I'e- ; spi.nsihility of keeping silence. i At six o'clock the following morning the Kmpress returned. The Karon remonstrated, threatening to throw up his position. Ills Imperial mistress, angry, ; and no doubt tired, promptly slapped ; his face! Hut her rage was equalled by her repentance. J Lily grew up. ller recognition could no longer be delayed. The Empress un- i del-look to induce her husband to ail- , noililce the existence of tTiis their sixth child, quietly but officially in the Parliament,. "hat was in June. IKIIS. Hut the matter was not so simple, '['here were j many ready with other advice for the j Emperor—many with influence stronger : j ihau his wife's. ! j Then suddenlv —the tragic end. 11l j ■ September of that year Empress Elizabeth unit her death from tile hand' of . the assassin Lucheiii. | Fran von Fric-e died wirmn a. lew j ' months. The girl was alone, in the , world. Only the Kaisers- and slio bad f long ceased to regard them as trustworthy—now shared he secret. Sue • spoke lo 111e111 of taking some action to i regain her position. i "Co and make a scandal!" cried Mrs. 1 Kaiser, angrily. "Thev will knoiv how to shut your mouth. They will put yon in an asylum.'' 'lint there was no necessity to do either. The girl realised her helplessness. An unhappy marriage, the care of two children, and the loss of the fortune left her by her mother, diverted her attention to other things. The family emicrated lo ( anada. there to lie deserted by the father, and on the shoulders of the mother fell the duty of providing a living. Next followed iier meeting with her second husband. Count Zun- j anli Lamli. The two later visitcil Alls- ' | triii. Then, and then only, with her husband ! as a help, did the daughter of an Kmpress begin the light for her rights. T.ut the forces of the court proved too strong lor her. ' | Italy next became the headquarters for ner campaign. She wanted to pub- . lish her book. A publisher was easily found and all details were arranged Then came a prohibition from tlie do- j vernincnt, and the seizure of plates, 1 proofs and all. A like experience await- , ed her in France, lint in London "The ! Sec! et of ail Empress" found the light of j day. I Vi'ill ii help in the restitution uf her Jt is hard to say. lint- events i are moving rapidly in Austria, and none ' can tell who wiil next toil Fortune's' j wheel. i QUEEN WILHELMINA. | (Jueeii Wilhelniina of Holland is handling a delicate situation, Holland is neutral, she says, and she has behind her the unanimous support of her sturdy little kingdom. She is the only rergning (Jueen in Europe, is rich, possessed ■ I of much power and many possessions. ' Wilhelniina. who succeeded to the throne ' at the death of her father, King William HI., in ]S!)0, when she was only ten years old, is a capable and far-seeing (.Hieeii. Under the regency of her mother, until she was IS, she acquired an excellent training in matters of State. 1 he anti-licrmau feeling in the country has not been helped any by the fae'., that the Queen is married to' a 'Jennau, Duke Henry of Mccklenhurg-Schverin. ! The early married years of the Queen I diil not improve matters any. It was \ evident that the Queen was not Imp'pv. I All manner ol wild rumors were scattered abroad. Things changed, how- j ever, when a little girl was born to the Queen on April :jl), JIHI!I. With the 1 birth of the child, and tile danger of ; the house 0 f Orange dying out and ITo I - I land passing under the rule of a Gcr- ] man prince or becoming a Oerman vas- | sal State was no longer feared, Queen I \\ ilhelmina: has become a 'popular idol as ' well as a popular Queen. FRENCH WOMEN'S PATRIOTISM, No one wofilil have -believed the French woman capable of the self-re-liance and the initiative she is manifesting during the present time. Phis fuj-,,.' concept ion of her characteristics, no ' doubt, was due to her loi'mer verv ovi- j dent inclination to show an exaggerated ' deferi nee towards almighty man. Al- ' most, anyone who has lived in Paris ,'o\- , any length of time will have noticed the ' frequently exalted position which she accorded to (he male sex. I'ut to-day conditions are reversed. The French woman is so intensely patriotic that she urges, even commands, the male niemhors of her family—those, for oinstunee, who, through delicate 'bcaltii or .lge limit are not forced to go to the front, to take part in the war. She accompanies a brother, husband, son. father or sweetheart to the .station and bids him good-bye with a breaking heart, but with an outward appearance of joyous hopefulness. This remarkable patriotic trait displayed by the French woman of today is one of the reasons why the present feeling ill Paris is so distinctly optimistic. uld anil young, the matron, and the Highly young girl, whose foremost thoughts were ever her dresse-i, rival each other in their manifestations of patriotism. ENVY AND HATRED. Tile Herman almost hursts with rage, and the sight, of prosperity in others"is gall and wormwood to hiiii. He cannot stand the- fact that other people across t he border, or across the seas, are riche;' than he. All those who possess millions are eut-throals and crooks. Even the women are. not spared, and in their Viper Press are charged with buying titled husbands, whereas, as everyone knows, it is really the dfbt-ridden'olli-eers who are guilty, as they empiov evei'y despicable means in their power to secure a wealthy woman as a ,vife. As an example, a lieutenant in L-rFn wrolr 1,, his agent; ''Procure a wife f --' Inc. with a fortune, to enable :n ■ to pay my dubts. Everything else iss secondare.—liarou von li." '