THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA. OF SONG FOR THE SEASON. BY ELIZ.A COOK. F the numerous marriages which have recently Europe, perhaps there is none more important in The empress, who was born on the 24th of December, 1837, and is consequently only sixteen years of age, is the second daughter of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, the head of the Birkenfeld branch of the Wittelsbach family, a prince who is highly esteemed in Germany as a traveler in the East, the author of several charming novels, and a writer of popular songs. Her mother, a royal princess of Bavaria, is a daughter of Maximilian Joseph I., and a sister of the present Archduchess of Austria, the mother of the young emperor; so that the royal pair are first cousins on the mother's side. The present marriage is the eightieth which has been celebrated between members of the houses of Hapsburg and Wittelsbach during the last 580 years. It is said to have been well received both in Austria and Bavaria, and to have originated more in feelings of spontaneous affection than any profound diplomatic views. If we may believe the statements of the German journals, the meeting of the youthful pair was almost accidental. This can hardly be literally correct, for it is no secret that Francis Joseph's mother exerted her influence in the matter, and she would certainly have great weight with her son. In directing his attention to a scion of the Birkenfeld branch, she was probably influenced by the consideration that, as that branch is not now reigning in Bavaria, he will be in no danger of undue subjection to the political influence of a foreign power. Whether the emperor and empress crossed each other's path accidentally, as some journalists tell us, or in consequence of previous arrangement, as seems most reasonable, it is allowed on all hands that their marriage is emphatically one of love-a genuine blending of ardent, uncalculating affection. Those who know the young empress describe her as possessing a highly cultivated mind, all the female graces that charm the eye and delight the heart, together with a noble ingenuousness and lovely simplicity of character. Our portrait of the empress, which is taken from a photograph, combines closeness of resemblance with artistic finish of execution. THE captain of a merchant vessel unloading at Constantinople feared to leave part of his cargo exposed during the night. "It will not rain," said a Mussulman. "But some one may steal them ?" "Oh, never fear," replied the Turk, "there is not a Christian within seven miles." The forest is donning its doublet of brown, As he swings with delight on the gossamer tie, To hopes that depend upon Autumn leaves! I Contributed to the Illustrated New York Journal. HOW IT HAPPENED. BY P. BODDY. WALKED into Washington Park at twelve o'clock at midnight, with a suit of clothes on my body and a cigar in my mouth. They were my only possessions, I assure you. The night was fine; a soft warm breeze floated through the trees, and the lamps glimmered dimly down the straight avenues. As I walked along, here and there, dark, recumbent forms lay upon the benches in various uneasy attitudes of slumber. Poor fellows, those hard, narrow planks made but indifferent beds, and I shuddered a little as I walked by, for I had absolutely come to that pass myself. I marched on to the fountain, as being the most cheerful place in the Park, for there, at least, there was a low music made by the bubbling of the jet, and the light from the lamps fell more distinctly on the path. I did not sit down on any of the benches. It seemed to me that the moment I accepted of any of the hospitalities of that refuge for the penniless, I would make it my home for ever. So I leaned against the chains that surrounded the small sheet of water, and reflected a little on my situation. It was just one year since I had quarrelled with my father. It was just one year since he had formally Shining out in Truth's harvest, through Autumn leaves, cast me off, with a thousand dollars in my pocket. It Merrily pours, as it sings and soars, The West wind over the land and seas, So Music is blest, till it meeteth a breast That is probed by the strain, while Memory grieves Stricken in freshness, and swept to decay; But the soil is fed, where the branches are shed WAIT, AND HOPE. DW WELL not long upon your sorrow, If, in joy, as in your sorrow, You turn your thoughts to Him above, If, in paths of virtue steering, 66 was just six months since the last shilling of that Yet all this was not through misconduct. I was obstinate, it is true; but then I had, as I thought, good grounds for my obstinacy. I had a cousin—I trust the fact won't startle you, good reader-a country cousin, who was young and rich, and whom my father insisted that I should marry. Now there was no earthly reason why I should marry my cousin. My father was wealthy, and consequently above all necessity of selling me to a rich wife. I had never seen the young lady, who lived, I believe somewhere in Chicago, or Texas, or some equally unknown por tion of the continent; but my cousin, Jim Smith, who is a great traveller, saw her once, while he was on some western tour, and he informed me confidentially that she was as ugly as a female Afreet. It was not unnatural, therefore, that I should rebel somewhat. I determinately refused to marry my cousin. My father stormed, and I was cold, but firm. It ended in a separation; and giving me a thousand dollars, he swore that while he lived I should never have another penny of his money. I laughed at the threat, for I had but little doubt that in a month or so his anger would wear out, and that he would recall me with affection. But a month wore on, and two, and three, until at last I began to doubt whether I ever had a father, or whether the person who occupied that position in my memory was not a myth born of my own brain. Not a word reached me from him, and I was far too proud to seek him, unsought. Well, so it happened that on the night I speak of, I found myself in Washington Park, smoking my last cigar mournfully across the railings. I was really somewhat puzzled at my position, for up to this time, at least, I had kept a roof over my head, but this night was to terminate my experience of civilized life, and for the rest of my days I was to be a Bohemian and a vagabond. How I cursed the paternal indulgence that had allowed me to grow up without a profession or a trade. Had I been able to earn a few dollars a-week, I had the will to do it, and submit, without a murmur, to a thousand privations; I know now that I might have done so, ignorant as I was, but at the time I felt firmly convinced that I was utterly without a resource. I I was musing and smoking, and wondering why was not lucky enough to find a roll of notes on one of the walks, amounting to some indefinite sum, when a short, sharp step sounded behind me on the walk At first I did not turn my head, thinking it was a policeman on his round; but when the step passed, and returned, and paused, and repassed again, I could not avoid looking round. A little bright-eyed man was standing straight behind me, peering at me with an inquisitivo glance. Being doubly sensitive on account of my seedy appearance, and the consciousness of want of money-which I firmly believe betrays itself in a man's face-I felt inclined to be indignant at this rather close espionage. I was about to move surlily away, when the little man stepped closer, and jerked out a remark. "What a beautiful night!" said he, with as much care as if I had been an acquaintance of twenty years' standing. "Beautiful!" I replied, with the most gruffy indifference. "The trees look charming," he went on, nothing abashed. 64 Very charming." "Will you have a cigar?" and he pulled out a jection to fill the office. large case from his pocket. "Thank you, I have one." The duties are light, and the salary a fair one. You cannot be idle, you know, and this will suit you exactly. Secondly, "Have another. You may not be able to get one you need not tell me your history for at least a week. to-morrow." Thirdly, here's your candle and there's your bed room. Good night." "Sir!" said I, fiercely, "though my clothes are poor, it does not follow that I will submit to insult. I desire, sir—” "Pooh! pooh! young man, this won't do. I don't mean to offend you, but I will bet you a dollar that you have not got a bed to-night or the price of one, and that you were going to sleep on one of those benches." "I tell you, sir," I reiterated angrily, "I will not submit to any more of your vulgar banter. If you have any regard for your own safety, you had better leave me in peace." And leaving me positively stunned with my good fortune and his kind generosity, he departed, and in a few moments, I was swimming in what seemed to be an ocean of fine linen, and congratulating myself on my luck. I was waked in the morning by my host, who stated himself in a formal introduction, that he said was appropriate by day-light, to be a Mr. Anson, very much at my service; and informed me that breakfast was ready. Seeing that I glanced involuntarily at my seedy clothes that lay upon a chair, he smiled and added that I would meet no one at the breakfast-table but himself. 66 Precisely what I want to do, my young and irascible friend," said he, approaching and taking my hand perfectly fearlessly, although I have no doubt By the way," said he, as he was leaving the but that I looked fierce enough at the time. "Preroom, "here is your first quarter's salary, as you cisely what I want to do. It is evident that you may want to buy some little necessaries." So sayhave no bed, all the more reason that you shoulding, he placed a roll of notes on my dressing-table. have one; therefore as my house lies rather near, in could not resist the impulse, the moment he was University Place, I propose that you accompany me gone, to jump out of bed and examine them. I found home, and I will try to make you as comfortable as that they were three one hundred dollar bills. I can." I stared. Vague suspicions of the man's honesty flitted before my mind, only however to be banished by the kindly smile and bright eye that were there before me in the lamplit gloom. He seemed to note my hesitation, for he said, “Come, come, no suspicions; or, if you must have them, suspend their operations until you are inside my house. There, I think I shall be able to convince you of my honesty." Hesitating then no longer, as Poe says, I put out my hand cordially, and I swear to you that, although not to say soft-hearted, the tears came gushing into my eyes. The man was so strangely cordial in his manner, so confiding, so honest in his tone that it seemed to me like some chapter out of the Fairy tales, and that I had stumbled on Haroon Alraschid himself, wandering about that great caravanserai of a Park. I thanked him as well as I could, and even at that moment could not help hinting that I was not as low as I seemed to be, and that some day or other I might be able to return his kindness. "Yes! yes! You need not tell me that," said he hastily. "I knew it the moment I saw you. You had a very different aspect from the professional loafers that I saw lounging on the benches around you. I saw you were struggling with yourself whether you would follow their example or not. Do not be surprised at any knowledge of mine about you, for, to a keen observer of nature, there are no secrets among men." So saying, he led the way to his house, which we "And nothing can be more cool than the sound of shortly reached. It was a fine, brown stone manthat bubbling water." "Nothing." "You are fond of the water?" "Yes." "Of course. You were born by the sea-shore." "The devil! how did you know that?" "Oh! I did not know it. I was merely asking you." "Ah!" I "So, so," said I to myself, "I am to have twelve hundred a year. Well, a year ago, I should not have thought much of it, but one's estimate of money alters considerably with one's position. I am more glad, however, on my father's account than any other that this has happened. I will gall him to the quick, to see that I can maintain myself and preserve my liberty independent of him." That day I purchased some clothes, was installed in my office of secretary to Mr. Anson, who I found in correspondence with the government relative to some Texan grants, but whose exactions from me were of the mildest nature, inasmuch as he wrote all the letters himself. When the week had expired, I told him my history. He said he had frequently known my father in a business way; but counselled me not to communicate with him in any way, until I had shown him by a year's absence how perfectly well I could get on without him. Another week passed. I still continued a nominal secretary, and Mr. Anson's friendship seemed to gather new strength every day. He was an excellent scholar and nothing seemed to give him greater pleasure than directing my studies. One day I was in the library alone. Mr. Anson had gone out upon some important business, and I resolved to devote the day to reading, so ensconcing myself in a luxurious arm-chair, I buried my thoughts and eyes in a volume of Sir Thomas Brown. I was deeply engaged in pondering on the construction of those wondrous sentences of his, that seem to ring sion in University Place, with door of trellised wal-with metallic sonorousness, when I thought that I nut and plate glass, and evidently the dwelling of heard a door open behind. I turned, and saw a a man of means. Entering by aid of a latch-key, we young lady walking deliberately towards me. I imfound the gas burning, and I perceived that the fur-mediately rose, and made what I suspect must have niture af the interior fully bore out the promise of been rather an awkward bow; she returned it with the exterior view. a very graceful, but at the same time careless salutation, saying at the same time, "Now," said my singular host, "I have but three things to say to you before you go to bed. First, I want a secretary, and you I trust will have no ob "Don't rise, I beg of you. I merely wanted a book." "Perhaps I can assist ..," I answered. "I am However familiar with the library." "Oh! for that matter, son I. However, if you have a fancy, you can get me Tennyson's smaller poems. I don't want the Princess. I dislike it." So saying, she sank into the chair I had just quitted with the most exquisite air of coquetry. Previous to going in search of the Tennyson, however, I took a good long look at her. She was about nineteen. Fair, with a petite nez retroussee, and golden curls hanging in grest profusion about her face. A little bit of a rosy, expressive, pursed-up mouth, and the most exquisite hand I ever saw. "Well," she said, "I see I shall have to go and look for Tennyson myself," looking at me from head to foot, as I stood, very like a fool, gazing at her with all my might and main. "Oh! pardon me," I cried, rushing instantly into a state of great haste; "you shall have it in a moment. I know the very spot where it is. Are you fond of Tennyson?" "Oh! passionately," she cried, clasping her little hands together, in a sort of childish enthusiasm. "Even when I don't understand him, I love him." "Yes," said I, "his subtlety of expression is remarkable. No poet ever lived who was so successful in his choice of words. Tennyson's language seems as if it grew upon the thoughts." "That's a very pretty saying you have just uttered," said she, looking up into y face with so innocent an air, that I couldn't posly tell whether she were quizzing me or not. "A you clever?" "Very!" I replied gravely. in fact I am probably the most talented individual of the present century." “Like all clever people, then, I suppose you have "You break your promises." "How so? I never, in all my"Hush, hush! you did though. You promised to get me Tennyson, and you've been standing in one spot ever since, talking to me, without even thinking of—” 66 "Anything but you," I interrupted. How could I ?" escorted r that day, I was on thorns to inquire of In a few moments-awful mements to me-Louise about his beautiful niece, but when din-entered. Her uncle motioned her to a seat. ner was bout half over, he saved me all the trouble, by sayir g,— "You met my niece to-day?" "Louise," he began, "my friend Mr. Howard Gaskell has just done us the honor of proposing an alliance between our families. He says he loves "Yes, sir. In the library," was my hurried re- you sincerely, and offers you his hand. Will you sponse. "How did you like her?" “Hum! I'm glad to hear it,” and as he spoke, a "Me! Mr. Anson. Me! accept it ?" "I refuse Mr. Howard Gaskell," said Louise, in a measured and deliberate tone. "Good heavens!" I cried, springing from my seat; you do not mean what you say. You surely have given me some indications of an affection for me." "I cannot accept your complimentary offer, sir." "But why? What have I done? God knows I love you devotedly, and it was horrible cruelty in I-I should not be you to feed my hopes, only to kill them with this re fusal. Cruel-cruel equal to such an undertaking." all others, two heads are better than one." I swear before Heaven-" I began. sort of half-smile twinkling in her eyes. “You had a cousin, had you not, whom your father wished you Hush, hush!" said she, while I could discern a of a fool, for the coolness with which he contem- vant. "Yes!" said Mr. Anson, in reply to an observation of mine, the tenor of which you will gather from his answer. "Yes! certainly your prospects arc not brilliant. Your father has cast you off, and your "My uncle, sir, does not allow me to receive com- income is $1200 a year. Now, Louise Chandler has pliments." I then learned, for the first time, that all the events which I had attributed to chance, were in reality planned by my father, who had never lost sight of It was he who had pointed me out to Mr. Anson, and it was by his desire that he offered me an asylum in his house. All the poverty I had suffered, he intended as a lesson to me, and it has been one. Louise was induced to come on a visit to her uncle's, without knowing that I was there, and it was not until her preference for me was unmistakeable, that the secret was entrusted to her that I was the rebellious cousin who refused to have her. In short, I was a victim of the most charming series of plots; and when I tell you that they ended with my reconciliation with my father, and my marriage with Louise, I will have told you all I know about how it happened. A single horseman comes over the plain. dressed in pants very roughly made of the skin of [TURKISH ARABA.] with the swiftness of newly emancipated birds, or of a biped who is conscious that the sheriff with his posse comitatis is behind! Trees, rocks, and various other things peculiar to woody regions of the country, rush by. a deer, through which his feet protrude. Those grievously, and irremediably wronged! Last night their already terrific speed! On! on! they fly feet are covered with heavy boots. A jacket, a fiend in human shape, calling himself a man, came manufactured of a material with which we are to my house in a coach and four, and robbed me of compelled to confess ourself totally unacquainted, my daughter! I ask you (and I want a categoriencases his upper extremities. A broad-brimmed cal response), by all your hopes of happines here, hat crowns the head, and completes the catalogue and of salvation hereafter, have the wretched pair of his wearing apparel. It is possible he may passed this way?" have a shirt and vest on, but his jacket is buttoned closely up to his chin, so that we could not, in justice to our conscience, safely depose that he is possessed of two articles so much esteemed in later days. Hark once more! The voice of the single horseman, as he rides with the speed of the wind, is heard above all the tremendous roaring of the storm! He speaks but two words, but those two words he repeats, in the meantime shaking his fist madly! "Cuss him! Cuss him!" Look once more! The single horseman ceases his headlong speed at the door of the cottage. He dismounts and kicks heavily against the door. It opens. The head of a man pops out. He questions the horse man. "Don't know!" was the churlish reply of the owner of the cottage, as he slammed the door in the horseman's coutenance. The horseman again mounted his gallant steed. Determination was portrayed in every line of his visage. He rode like the avant-courier of a whirlwind through the forest! A carriage and four fly along the edge of a dense forest! The driver ever and anon applies the lash emphatically to the backs of the panting steeds! They are endowed with feeling, and show concluSir," replied the horseman," I have been deeply, sively that they understand the signal by increasing "What do you want?" 46 On! on! on! On the back seat in the right hand corner sits a man of some thirty-five years of age. That he has been supereminently beautiful in his youthful days, no one possessed of the smallest particle of discrimination can doubt, for although his countenance bears impressed upon it the footsteps of time-although the end of his nasal promontory has disappeared, probably in some street fight-although one of his ears has, at some previous period, taken its departure from his head without leaving the smallest trace of its having ever existed; and although he has lost, his left eye and six or eight of his front teeth, yet to admirers of his class of features he would still appear positively handsome. His dress is that of peculiar style known in the fashionable world as seedy. Reclining upon the other seat, with her head gently reposing in his lap, is a maiden of thirty |