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Show I FbrHouhger Readers. H I r , "PShort Stories i-orLittlb Folks. H la t E-proT,i; Top. H The recent discovery t Buckingham m Ptlace of Uie dolls which Queen Viclorli m dtcixd u child hat excited wonder H M fuldci;ree of lnlereiL The Trench m especially havo been itiuclc ulili the m Uea that "this woman of Mvchty-thrce, B covered with glory. (Jueen happy K Eniland and Lmnreu of a pciceful m India," ihoukt again let her eea rest M upon. the toys with which she played B more than sfsty years no. ' H Curiously enough, Napoleon III. the H latt,i.mperor o( the 1 rench. had an i army. of dolls, thtch, in many reipecli. I were like those 'of the Queen. Instead of shepherdesses and sleeping beauties, however, the 'dolls of Napoleon lit were all soldiers, each one representing H a regiment In the French army, and H rich a perfect model In every way. It H was quite by chance this army of mill- H lary dolls was started. One winter H night, M. Fremler, the artist, was pats- H Ing the Tutllcrles, where a ball was H going on. "Outside, at the gate, he saw H a mounted artilleryman on guard, and H J was so struck with the motionless figure H In the snow-covered square that next H I morning he made a small clay model of B j It. M. de Meuwekcrke saw ft, told the H Emperor or it, and caused a series of H similar statuettes to be made, each H representing - dlirerpnt tpe of soldier. H Napoleon III presently Inquired, some- H what to the sculptor's consternation, H whether the clay models tould nol he H colored. They would then, lie added, H be quite perfect. After some dlfliculty, H this, also, .was accomplished, and the H miniature ' regiment was pronounced "aulte nerfect?' H The noble army of Imperial dolls was H not, however, destined to a long life, B and the work which it had taken the H sculptor over ten years to complete was H almost entirely destroyed in a single H day, One morning the hie Prince H Imperial, then a child, was playing with H young I'leiiry In the room hcre his H father's toy soldiers were kept under H glass. 'His tutor gave permission to the H boi to play with (hem, and the son of B the Umperor led one-half of the number H against the rest, which were headed by H the son of the general. In half an' H Jour's ttme the army of statuettes had H :eascd to exist. A'. K Rtcordtr. |
