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Show r' WHO MADE HISTORY 1 I By JAMES C. YOUNG. () by McClur.) N-.-wayaijer Syndicate. ) A CUEEN OF TRAGEDY, ON AND OFF THE STAGE. IT CANNOT lie doubled thut Adrienne Lecoiivreur was a vampire. Ht It hi; In believed that the hearts wlih-h at broke were mended, whereas her ng wus .shattered ia.st repair. At thirty-1 1 Adrieiine appeared in a w.'i.-h-korhood company of children, speaking speak-ing the lines of the Ki'eat Corneille with n diainalle power which gained her some celelirity. And she was carcely lilVen when the opportunity eanie to join a company of provincial players. She was twenty-live when I'aris first raw her. She had spent ten hitler jears in small companies. She also had at least four serious love affairs with more or less prominent men and, fn her own words, she was done with lore, "I know that one doesn't die of Brief," she wrote, and the line has tired. It was In 1717 when I'aris Kllmnsed this delicate beauty, and Immediately she whs the queen of her time. And Jove, which she had renounced, would ut let her alone. l'Vir a time she patronised patron-ised half the great men of I'aris, then cast them aside. But the vampire was mot to go imcaiiKht. In 17m, after four years of success enough to have turned any head, she met Maurice de Saxe, beld by many to he the greatest soldier sol-dier and adventurer o his time. Immediately Adrienne loved hliu and Hires; blissful years followed. Then the duchy of Courlaml was offered for aalc, with the rights of a reigning duke. This win the chance of De Saxe. Adi'i-cnue Adi'i-cnue k'ew that if he succeeded she would lose him. But she pawned her Jewels to help obtain the money. It appears that several other women also fcclped. I!ut with tills war chest mlsed by women De Saxe was not successful. The money escaped him. He came buck to I'aris, broke. Adrienne Ad-rienne took him in, and was happy. Then the duchesse de Bouillon, e very rich and very disreputable great lady, cast her fancy upon De Saxc. Adrienne protested vehemently. There were scenes, heart-wrenching grief. News of the impending break rpread to the boulevards and the duchesse was mentioned in anything tut complimentary terms, for Adrienne was the darling of raris. Then she took suddenly ill. "Poison," wliisperad Paris, and looked at the duchesse, but there was no proof. Adrienne died a broken-hearted vampire. THE - WOMAN WHO RULED ATHENS. THAT a courtesan should have ruled Athens, perhaps the greatest great-est seat nf culture the world ever I new. seems strange to us now. But Aspasia was a woman of parts, who laught eloquence to such men as Socrates Soc-rates and Pericles. Her home was a meeting place for the most brilliant lignres in the ancient world. The time which we consider was the Fifth ccn-inry ccn-inry before Christ, but our learning feas advanced very little beyond the point reached by that group which gathered around Aspasia. She had many loves, and between times discoursed upon art and philosophy. philoso-phy. Her beauty and her learning were equally celebrated. Socrates, an extremely ex-tremely ugly man, forgot his philosophy philoso-phy in love of this remarkable woman. wom-an. But she soon put him aside for Pericles, the gifted, handsome figure then arising to ascendency. Pericles studied eloquence at her feet and teamed to love her, too. He divorced Sua wife and went to live with Aspasia. bat could not marry her because of a law which forbade a noble Athenian to wed a "barbarian." Aspasia came Irani lona, and the people of any other nation were "barbarians" to the Athenians." It must be remetnberedi that the creed of the cynics, to which Diogenes adhered, held hings lightly asd scoffed at the passions of ordinary mankind. Aspusfa's brilliant mind, joined to that of the noble Pericles, soon brought fciro ro a' Soreniost position in the state. He was the greatest ruler Athens Ath-ens ever had, and the guiding hand behind be-hind his own was that of the courtesan. Then enemies accused her of heresy, 4iargfng (bat she did not believe in the gods, which we of course know to sare been merely beautiful fancies. Itriotcs pluad before the senate, with fearful eyes, and saved her life. But so great a man as Socrates eouM not be saved and whs put to death on the same charge. Kvil days had fallen up-n up-n Aspasia's group. Men whose names we now reverenc? were looked upon as we would todav regard anarchists. They were called dangerous, unbelievers unbeliev-ers in religion, and many worse tilings. Herodotus, the historian, and others a that group had taken to retirement. Conservative Athens and the ignorant Tould have none of their "new thought.'" Then Pericles died. Aspasia Aspa-sia was left alone in the world, llow-rer llow-rer she may have loved her lord. It wns not long until she appeared as the patron of Lysicles. This I.ysicles is said to have been a herder at one time, wiio bad gained money. He was an ignorant, ig-norant, uncultured fellow, but under toe riddance of Aspasia rose to be one of the principal men of Athens. It m-cvolfi seem as though she had deliberately deliber-ately chosen for her genius a tusk so difficult us leading to greatness a man wboKO little deserved it. THE WOMAN WHO KILLED A GENIUS. ANY one In the least familiar with the writings of Honore de Balzac, Bal-zac, perhaps tile greatest novelist ot France, must have been stirred by the white heat of his Imagination. Just conceive such a man at the age of ihirty-lliree, on the tide of his first success. suc-cess. Jle was being acclaimed everywhere. every-where. Letters poured iu from admirers. admir-ers. Among these was a simple missive mis-sive signed "The Stranger," mailed from Odessa. A woniau had written it. In this letter the unknown Invited Balzac to answer her through a newspaper news-paper advertisement. Eagerly he did so, and soon another letter came. The w riter was Evelina Ilanska, the young wife of a man twenty-live years older, and mistress of a great fortress-like castle in the Ukraine, Russia. The burning words of liiilzac drew her to Xeufchatel. Picture to yourself how bolh must have felt before and after they met. She was tall, elegant, high born. He was fat, short and not handsome. hand-some. He says himself that she drew back astounded when she saw hlrn. Bur it was not long until the woman saw iu the man's remarkable eyes the genius which was his. They loved and parted, she returning to her lonaly cnstle and he to endless work. Certainly the love of Balzac must have been a tribute which pleased the fancy of Evelina Hanska. But her heart seems to have been as cold as her castle walls. The two corresponded, correspond-ed, and she toyed with the great man. There was her husband, whom she would not leave. Balzac assented and saw her at infrequent Intervals over a period, of years. But though she would not leave her hoary husband she would not let go of Balzac. Her letters teased, cajoled, and led him on, followed by her reproaches, tears, jealousy. jeal-ousy. For seventeen years Balzac's devotion devo-tion endured. Mme. Hanska's coquetry was the great sorrow of his life. Then the husband died. She wrote to hi and he went off to that bleak Russia where she lived. Again there were delays. She would promise nothing. He came back to Paris and after mors letters again started for Russia. It was in March, 1850, that he arrived, his heart almost congealed by the cold. And at last his evil genius consented lo bestow upon him the happiness ha bad sought so long. They were married mar-ried and started for France in April, But Balzac was near the end. In Dresden he fell seriously ill. She went out shopping and returned with a won. drous string of pearls. But Balzac rallied and they went on to Paris. There he had prepared a rare home for her, filled with art treasures. treas-ures. He, at least, was happier than he ever had been. She revelled In the Paris shops. Five months later Balzac Bal-zac died, a victim of the Russian cold on a weakened heart. When the end came his wife "had gone to her room." "THE CURSE OF ENGLAND" A WOMAN. WHEN young Charles II of England Eng-land was a. refugee in Holland, after his father had been executed, a stanch loyalist by the name of Rogei Palmer came to him with a large sum of money and plans to gain the thrOns for Charles. Palmer had a nineteen-year-old wife. Barbara. At sixteen she had an intrigue with a famoui rake and now threw herself directly In the path ot Charles. On May 20, 16G0, the king returned in triumph to London by the efforts ol Palmer and other loyalists. He found Barbara awaiting him and hurried through the day's ceremonies that h might join her. Faliuer was so strong a loyalist that he surrendered his wifs t to Charles, and in reward was madi duke of Cleveland. Barbara developed an InsatiabU passion for wealth and gambling. Sh was not even true to the king : but he a lazy cynic, looked on good-naturedly, Her control over him and wild extra" agance gained her the lurid title "Tin Curse of England." It was she wh founded the fortune of the ducal hous of Marlborough, giving the first duk( then a poor nobody, his start in life She bought him a place in the army, where he afterward rose to be thai famous duke of Marlborough who woo for England such notable victories. Historians of the day say that Bar bara often lost as much as $100,000 ii : a single evening's play, a fabulous sun ; iwr that time. ; Barbara was one of the most beautl j ful women of her time, with regal car i riage and seemingly perpetual youth She ruled the indolent Charles at will, dictating policies of state, making 01 mining fortunes as her fancy chose She made powerful enemies, but al long as her control endured ovei Charles she cared little for the opinloi of others. It necame dangerous foi her to go about the streets of London so great was the hatred against her and she adopted a royal style, traveling travel-ing with mounted bodyguard. But the fickle Charles at last tlrel 1 of her and she saw his attention turned to other women. One by one she out j witted them until France sent ovei J Ioulse de la Querouaiile, a pretty 1UU4 1 vampire, with instructions to swaj ! Charles in negotiations between th( two kingdoms. And Barbara lost he) 1 tilt with Louise. |