Show TRIUMPHANT LOVE This Is a busy world Ours is a fast ago an age of railroads and of telegraph lines an age of commerce of trade Everything goes with a rush Men think faster and quicker than they used to at least in some lines The mossbacks who lament the past are compelled to admit that the activity of modern life however has done much to destroy the romance and poetry of which the centuries of the past could boast Our modern life with its mighty rush and roars ha roar-s no place for the strolling minstrel the noble knight seeking adventurealways coming to the help of the weak and bidding bold defiance to the strong and oppressive Tho terrors of old ocean are dispelled the hobgoblins and sprites of woods and mountains moun-tains have disappeared and scarce can be C made to do service in amusing the children i of our day Even they will no longer listen with openeyed wonder to the I tales which generations ago were the delight de-light of our forefathers and wee believed I In all seriousness The shriek of the locomotive loco-motive and the bustle of life which have mh brought every thing to our door and stripped I I the earth and sea of their wonders and I made everything commonplace havo played the mischief with poetry and romanco Yet in the midst of this restless commotion that ha worked its way into our methods of life and which crushes sentiment here and there are found romanc that equal any of those coined by tho writers of fiction fic-tion Romances too whero true heroism is i displayed where sterling integrity truth fervor and devotedness are realities Romances whero virtue is rewarded and where patient courage triumphs over bitterness I bit-terness and wrath whero love laughs at customs and worldly authority and what is i I more keeps its sacred flamo burning brightly in the midst of misfortunes and I obscurity giving the world assurance that there is such a thing as true devotion I faithful love and honor in the world I When such a romance as this appears we shall do well to pause long enough to note it read it and be comforted bJ it Such a romance was related in our dispatches dis-patches a day or two ago when the death of Archduke HENRY of o Austria was announced an-nounced and his career made public It seems that in the early days of his I manhood while commanding a division of the army at Grasse in upper Austria ho became enamored of Fraulein HOFFMAJ a singer at the theatre with a monthly salary of fifty florins She ary of course was handsome and what is bettor atill she was discreet while the archduketo his praise be it spokenwas honorable To his praise bo it spoken 1 Yes for its i it-s no more than the world had a right to i expect or one standing so high and who was so powerful jot your titled nobles are allowed great latitude with young women of Fraulein HOCFMANS station and their betrayal by titled gentlemen is so common com-mon that the world forgets to note much less censure it But Archduke Arch-duke HENRT was honorable and when the alarms of war called him to the tente field he promised if he survived the war to return and wed his lovo Meantime the Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPU heard of thi engagement and exerted all his power to break it Frauloin HOFFMAN was offerei large sums of money to break her plighted troth She pushed them aside Their letters let-ters were intercepted Slander was busy with his name and sought to blacken his fame in her eyed She heeded not Others doubtless the tools of the Emperor besieged be-sieged her affections she yas unmoved Neither bribery nor the foul breath of slander succeeding threats were employed and behind those threats stood kingly authority au-thority and power to enforce them Still stood the noble woman and with her love warming her heart and conscious virtue itronllthcninll her soul she bid defiance to r the threats of her monarch who found himself bnflied by a woman and that woman in one of the humblest stations of life GOD is lovel saith the Scripture and who can doubt that love is GOD when thus he can vanquish kings Turn we now to Archduke HENRT to see if he is worthy of this devotion The war was over in it be it said he won golden opinions and now faithful to VENUS as he had been to MAUS he sought out Fraulien HOFFMAN ready to fulfil his plighted word He was threatened with loss of his titlesand his estates if ho dared to marry against the wishes of the head of the house of Austria This did not daunt him Then came the threat of expatriation and exilelove laughed and the devoted I pair were married But baffled hatred did pn all that it had threatened The young soldier was stripped of all his honors and driven into exile but there they lived contented and happy giving the world one more testimony that happiness is independent inde-pendent of fortune fame or court favor By and by the better nature and judgment judg-ment of FRANCIS JOSEPH asserted itself and in 18 < 2 the wifo of the archduke was created Baroness WAIDECK and permission permis-sion was given to the pair to live onco more in their native land Here they made themselves doubly happy in i the association of friends and made their home tho centre of intellectual life where they were sought for by journalists journal-ists i artists musicians actresses and former military comrades of the archduke until their house at Bozen was almost a rival court to the royal one at Vienna without with-out Its intrigues and jealousies At last FRANCIS JOSEPH came also the family reconciliation re-conciliation was complete and love everywhere every-where was triumphant |