THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 95, 20 October 1908, Page 2

THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

IDOL OF HIS PEOPLE

It no doubt surprised many to read in the newspapers that the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria went for his first ride in a motor-car the other day. Those who know the Emperor intimately, (says M.A.P.) are aware that he is no lover of the modern craze for novel sensations, and so long as he can lead "the simple life," andhave plenty of hard work to keep his mind from dwelling en the past events of his singularly unhappy life, he is satisfied. There is probably no other living monarch who has had so many misfortunes as has the Emperor of Austria, and the crowning grief of all was the assassination of the Empress by an Italian anarchist. When his- Majesty. heard the dreadful news he is said to have exclaimed: "I see I am not to be spared any single misfortune in this world."

In connection with the assassination of the Empress a strange story has been told. On the night before her death she received what she regarded as an evil portent.- She was sitting with a Mend beside the lake at Geneva peeling a peach. She was just about to offer half of it to her companion, when a large -raven flew towards her, and by the violence of its wings swept the fruit from her hands'. Immediately the Empress tiiimed pale, and" after a moment of intense .agitation, said: "Dear friend, lam a fatalist. What is^to be, will be.""" lif less than "24 hours' th 4 unfortunate lady was dead. :

It would seem as though the" Emperor Francis Joseph's own misfortunes have softened his heart for the misfortunes of others, for numerous are the stories which his subjects tell to illustrate his goodness of heart. The Emperor is the idol of his people, and considering his attitude towards them, this is not to be wondered at.

On one occasion he came upon two men poaching on the royal preserves, who, when they saw their Sovereign, fell upon their knees and begged for mercy. They were old soldiers they declared, and were reduced to stealing through sheer poverty. The Emperor took a note of their names, and dismissed them with a caution. Later on, he caused inquiries to be made, and found that the men had told him the truth and had formerly distinguished themselves in battle. He immediately sent for them, and to their intense surprise, they were appointed gamekeepers on the very preserve where they had lately been caught poaching.