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IFATALJRIENDSHIP.
Devotron of Princess Lamballe
to Marie Antoinette.
SLAIN BY A PARISIAN MOB.
The Assassination of the Princess,
Who Escaped and Returned to Com¬
fort Her Friend, Was One of the
Worst Acts of the Reign of Terrorf
It was In the historic Carignano
palace at Turin that the Princess Lam¬
balle was born. Her father was Louis
Victor of Carignan, of the royal house
of Sardinia and Savoy.
Her childhood was spent in Turin
during the period that followed the
defeat of the French through the bill
liant military tactics of Prince Eugene
of Vienna. At eighteen she was mar¬
ried to Stanislaus, son of the Duke of
Penthievre of France.
The chief place of this duchy was
the town of Lamballe, about fifty
miles from Rennes. The Prime de
Lamballe died in one year, and as soon
as etiquette allowed u marriage with
Louis XV. was contemplated. This
did not go into effect, however, and
the princess withdrew from the court.
She met Marie Antoinette when that
princess first came to Paris, and they
were mutually attracted and became
friends. The Princess de Lamballe
saw the dangers to which this young
foreigner was exposed, and when Ma¬
rie Antoinette became queen of France
in 1774 and appointed the princess su¬
perintendent of the royal household she
entered upon her duties with the sym¬
pathetic understanding of a loyal
friend. The closest ties of affectionate
regard drew’ these two young royal
personages together. Through the care¬
less gayety of court life the Princess
de Lamballe was the judicious friend.
When illness came to the queen she
was faithful and devoted.
When the storm of adversity broke
over the royal family and it was ar¬
ranged that an escape should be ef¬
fected Mme. de Lamballe got safely
to England, going across from Dieppe,
but the royal family were arrested at
Varennes and declared traitors to
France.
Mme. de Lamballe's devotion was so
true she at once hastened back to
Faris to be with the queen. Her
friends urged and implored her to
think of the danger to herself and
pointed out that she could be of no
real service at such a critical time.
But she knew better than they did
what a comfort her presence would be,
and her heart was entirely occupied
with the sorrows of her sovereign.
She was allowed to become a prisoner
with the royal family In the temple,
and for one week she was a cheerful
and helpful companion, full of affec¬
tionate arts to make the hours less
bitter and giving to Marie Antoinette
the loving, devoted care that only a
friend so loyal could give.
When those about the prison saw
what an influence of joy Mme. de
Lamballe brought to the royal prison¬
ers an order was Issued for her re¬
moval to the prison of La Force. From
here she was taken for a mock trial
and offered her life if she would take
oath against the monarchy. With
scorn she refused to do this.
Then came one of the most terrible
acts of the period of the reign of
terror. She was delivered to the peo¬
ple. wild with the desire for blood,
and was killed in the courtyard of La
Force prison. They stabbed her with
sabers, cut off her head, tore her heart
from her body while it was yet pal¬
pitating and then dragged her body
through the streets to the temple.
On the way there they stopped at a
hairdresser’s and made him rouge the
beautiful face and friz and powder the
hair. This man nearly died with fear
while at this awful work. When it
was done and the head set on a pike,
the long, fair curls of her pretty hair
fell about the neck. Those of the
mob who suggested this hideous work
upon the head said, “Antoinette will
now recognize her friend.”
The heart was also put on the end
of a pike and the route to the temple
resumed. The royal family were to¬
gether, and Louis was reading to them,
when they heard the sound of the
mob and loud, high voices. Suddenly
the door was opened violently, and as
they all started to their feet some men
pushed themselves past the guard and
shouted to the king: "The people have
something to show you If you don’t
wish them to bring it up here you
had better go to the window.”
With the deadly fear in their hearts
they did as directed and looked into
the dead and painted face of their de¬
voted friend and also saw her tender
heart and her poor body, hacked by
the sabers of these wretches.
With a cry of horror and despair
Marie Antoinette fell into a state of
stupor. Mme. Elizabeth forced her
into a chair, and her children clung to
her and cried with fear. Louis tried
to control his voice as be said with
pathetic dignity, "You might have
spared the queen the knowledge of
this frightful calamity.” — Boston
Globe.
The Amazon River.
Although not the largest or longest
river, the Amazon Is the most wonder¬
ful river in the world, with a mouth
150 miles in width and with a force
of water that repels or at least over¬
lays the ocean to a distance of more
than fifty leagues. Yet In spite of
the weight of the river the tide makes
its influence felt for 500 miles from
the coast. The easterly trade winds
blow almost Invariably upward, so as
to be ready to help the vessel against
the adverse currents.
I
RACE WAGERS IN INDIA.
Native’s Method of Choosing a Winner
and Making Bets.
The native of India wagers his
money according to the colors worn
by the jockeys and takes no heed of
the merits of the horses, or he will
back a horse rlddeu by his favorite
Jockey, no matter whether the animal
is a rank outsider or not.
His ideas of gambling, in fact, are
distinctly novel. Some of the more
wealthy Indians form rings and back
every horse in the race, tints gaining
the satisfaction of getting a winner
every time. It Is really only of late
years that the native of India has be¬
come a habitual gambler on the turf,
and nowadays the bulk of the betting
of the various racing centers in India
is done by natives. Indeed, the au¬
thorities are somewhat concerned about
the growth of the betting which takes
place among Indian natives, it being
asserted that as many as thirty lacs
of rupees (about £300,000) is lost and
won in the course of a season.
The ignorant masses have not a
great deal of actual money to wager,
but so badly bitten are many of them
with the craze for betting at race meet¬
ings that they frequently wager what
little property they possess on a horse,
and if they lose they simply replace
their loss by stealing a neighbor’s
goods. The consequence is that when
the racing season conies around the
police are kept very busy dealing with
cases of petty larceny and other crimes
Involving loss of property.—London
Tit-Bits.
NOT ANNOYED.
The Directors Were Rather Pleased
at the Barrister’s Refusal.
Mr. Reader Harris, K. C.. was once
offered a brief marked 50 guineas on
behalf of a railway company that
wished to obtain a refreshment license
for a particular railway station. He
returned the brief on conscientious
grounds, but later on it was sent back
to him with a fee of 100 guineas
marked on It. This time he returned
it with a note In which he explained
that his refusal was due to a matter
of principle. Subsequently he met one
of the directors of the company and
expressed a hope that he and his col¬
leagues were uot annoyed at his con¬
duct.
“Not at all,” said the director. ‘‘I’ll
tell you all about it. So-and-so, the
big brewer, was sitting on the board
for the first time at the meeting at
which the solicitor reported that your
brief marked 50 guineas had been re¬
turned. ‘Who’s this psalm singing
humbug?’ he asked. ’Mark the brief
100 guineas and I’ll bet you anything
you like he’ll take it.’ ‘Oh, you will,
will you?* asked the chairman. You
see, we all knew you, Harris. We
took the brewer on at 5 to 1 in five
pound notes. He booked the bets with
every one of us, and he has paid up.”
—London Scraps.
A Curious Receipt.
Hanover’s registrar discovered a
very curious document some time ago
as he was looking through a bundle of
papers that date back to the eight¬
eenth century. The document Is a re¬
ceipt—probably the only one of its
kind In existence—which was given to
a Hanoverian captain by a canon of
Duisburg during the Seven Years’ war.
"I. the undersigned,” it reads, "here¬
by acknowledge that I have received
fifty blows of a stick, which were in¬
flicted upon me by a lieutenant of Cap¬
tain B.’s regiment as a punishment for
the stupid and frivolous calumnies
which I have uttered in regard to the
regiment of chasseurs. For my Im¬
prudent words I now admit that I am
profoundly sorry. I received my pun¬
ishment lying on a heap of straw and
held by two men, and I bear testimony
to the fact that the officer struck me
as vigorously as he could with a stick
that was as thick as my finger.
“In proper form and with due grati¬
tude I sign this receipt and avow that
all therein is true.”
Hard to Kill.
A crocodile’s tenacity of life Is most
remarkalJfe. “I remember one time,”
says a traveler In India, “I was with
a shooting party on the Ganges when
the natives brought In a six foot croco¬
dile. They hoped some one would want
to buy it, but no one did, so it was de¬
termined to kill the creature. It was
hauled out of the tank and tied to a
tree. Bullets from a small rifle or an
ordinary gun seemed only to Irritate
the saurian, nor did he seem to care
very much when a native thrust a
spear down his throat. Finally they
were obliged to dispatch him with
axes. Even then the tall thrashed
about for no little time after.”
Not That Kind.
“Once in a Bible lesson,” said a
Sunday school teacher, “I repeated the
text, ‘Arise and take the young child
and his mother and flee into Egypt.’
And then I showed the children a large
picture that illustrated the text in
bright colors.
“The children studied this picture
eagerly. Then they all frowned; all
looked rather disappointed. Finally a
little girl said:
“‘Teacher, where Is the flea?’”
Where to Sing.
“I will sing something restful to you,
dear,” said a lady to her morose hus¬
band. “Shall I sing‘Far, Far Away?’”
“I wish you would.” was the bitter
reply. “It would save the trouble of
apologizing to the neighbors.”
How Those Girls Love One Another.
Maud- And the last thing that Henry
did was to give me a kiss. Mabel—
Indeed! I should think that is about
the last thing he would do.—Illustrated
Bits.
THE COVINGTON NEWS
MATHEMATICAL SIGNS.
Origin of Plus, Minus, Multiplication
and Division Symbols.
The sign of addition is derived from
the initial letter of the word ‘‘plus.’'
In making the capital letter it was
made more and more carelessly until
the top part of the “p" was finally
placed near the center; hence the plus
sign as we know it was gradually
reached.
The sign of subtraction was derived
from the word "minus.” The word
was first contracted in m. n. s„ with a
horizontal line above to indicate that
some of the letters had been left out.
At last the letters were omitted alto¬
gether, leaving only the shore line.
The multiplication sign was obtained
by changing the plus sign into the let¬
ter “x.” This was done because mul¬
tiplication is but a shorter form of ad
dition.
Division was formerly indicated by
placing the dividend above a horizon¬
tal line and the divisor below. In or¬
der to save space in printing, the divi¬
dend was placed to the left and the
divisor to the right. After years of
"evolution” the two "d’s” were omit¬
ted altogether and simple dots set in
the place of each. As with the others,
the radical sign was derived from the
initial ldtter of the word “radix.”
The sign of equality was first used
in the year 1557 by a sharp mathema¬
tician, who substituted it to avoid fre¬
quently repeating the words “equal
to.”—St. James’ Gazette.
UNCLE SAM.
The Way Our Nickname Is 8aid to
Have Originated.
This familiar nickname for the Unit¬
ed States Is said to have come about In
the following manner:
During the war of 1812 the United
States government entered into a con¬
tract with Elbert Anderson to furnish
supplies to the army. Whenever the
United States buys anything from a
contractor it appoints an Inspector to
see that the goods are up to the speci¬
fications. In this case the government
appointed a man by the name of Sam¬
uel Wilson. He was a Jolly, whole
souled man and was familiarly known
as Uncle Sam. *
It was his duty to inspect every box
and cask that came from Elbert An
derson, the contractor, and if the con¬
tents were all right the cargo was
marked with the letters "E. A.—U. S..”
the Initials of the contractor and of
the United States.
The man whose duty It was to do
this marking was something of a joker,
and when somebody asked him one
day what these letters stood for he
said that they meant Elbert Anderson
and Uncle Sam.
Everybody, Including Uncle Sam
himself, thought this a very good Joke,
and by and by It got Into print, and
before the end of the war tt was
known all over the country, and that
is how the United States received the
name of Uncle Sam.—Des Moines Reg¬
ister and Leader.
Worshiping a Turtle.
At a place called Kotron, on the
French Ivory Coast, the natives be¬
lieve that to eat or destroy a turtle
would mean death to the guilty one or
sickness among the family. The fetich
men, of which there are plenty, declare
tbfit jears ago a man went to sea fish¬
ing. In the night his canoe was
thrown upon the beach empty. Three
days afterward a turtle came ashore
at the same place with the man on Its
back alive and well. Since that time
they have never eaten or destroyed
one of that species, although they en¬
joy other species.
If one happens now to be washed
ashore there Is a great commotion In
the town. First the women sit down
and start singing and beating sticks;
next a small piece of white cloth (color
must be white) Is placed on the tur¬
tle’s back. Food Is then prepared and
placed on the cloth, generally plan¬
tains, rice and palm oil. Then, amid a
lot more singing, dancing and antics
of the fetich people, It is carried back
Into the sea and goes on Its way re¬
joicing.
Too Much Expense.
“Yes," said Mr. Tyte-Phist, “I was
Just stepping on the car when the
conductor gave the motorman the sig¬
nal to go ahead, and the car started.
My foot -went out from under me, and
I sat down on the muddy crossing,
ruining a twenty-two dollar suit of
clothes."
“Then you sat there, swore like a
trooper and gnashed your teeth in
rage, I suppose,” remarked the sym¬
pathizing listener.
"No,” said Mr. Tyte-Phist. "I may
have sworn a little, but I didn’t do
any gnashing. My teeth are new and
cost me $30.”—Chicago Tribune.
Waked Them Up.
Dr. Hans Richter, the famous con¬
ductor, while supervising a rehearsa;
In a London theater once was much
annoyed at the calm way the players
were taking the Impassioned music.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” said he,
suddenly stopping short, "you’re all
playing like married men, not like lov¬
ers.”—Westminster Gazette.
Not His Fault.
Howell—A good deal depends on the
formation of early habits. Powell—1
know ft. When I was e baby my
mother hired a woman to wheel me
about, and I have been pushed for
money ever since.—London Mail.
On Time.
“Does he ever do anything on time?”
“Oh, yes. He quits work.”—Detroit
Free Press.
When you sell an article by weight,
remember that other people have
scales.—Atchison Globe.
Wagons
I have been trying to sell Standard Two-Horse Wag¬
ons at COST for sometime and have failed to sell. 1
now offier them at $7.50 less, at $45.00 for sizes 2 3-4
and 2 1-2 for CASH ONLY.
Buggies
Rubber Tired Buggies, all grades at LESS than the
Factory Cost For Cash.
D. A. Thompson.
PROFITS CUT ALL
TO PIECES ON
PIANOS
Ten or Fifteen Different Makes.
$10 Profit on Factory Prices.
See This Line Before You Make
Your Purchase.
It Means Money To you.
C. A. HARWELL
Leader In
Furniture and Undertaking
Covington, Ga.
