FRANCE'S EX-EMPRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12991, 7 October 1905, Page 6 (Supplement)

FRANCE'S EX-EMPRESS.

During the Empress Eugenie's visit to Paris recently she attracted considerable attention, and was greeted respectfully by all classes of the community. Her hair is whiter, her shoulders are more bent, and her step is. less •sprightly than for some seasons past. The venerable lady's feet are covered with soft black felt shoes; she . walks with the aid of her stout black ebony silver-mounted cane, but her eyes are as bright, her vision and her hearing are as good as - ever, notwithstanding the fact that if she lives until May 5 of next year she will be eighty. On one occasion, as . she was walking near the Louvre, it was pathetic to see an old veteran of the Imperial Guard, to-day » keeper of the municipal flower beds, straighten himself up and salute his former sovereign, while the Empress not only acknowledged the military salute with a kindly smile, but spoke to the old soldier, whose eyes flooded with tears. The Empress is exceedingly active physically and 1 mentally. She has the morning and afternoon newspaper read to her, and takes an eager interest in new plays, new books, and new pictures. The Empress is very fond of automobiling. She rises at eight o'clock, eats with a fairly good appetite, and goes to bed at about ten.