THE EMPRESS EUGENIE AT HOME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6192, 13 December 1881, Page 3

THE EMPRESS EUGENIE AT HOME.

(Lady's Pictorial,

Coombe, within gunshot of Wimbledoiij seems to have escaped the eye of the enterprising builder, and green fields and fresh air aro yet to be had there. It is a pretty little

spot, rich enough in Nature's gifts, and par: ticularly well looked upon by the sun. Its attractions, however, appeal to those- who seek health and rest rather than to the holidaymakers, pleasure bent, and as such, no doubt, it has won the favour of the Empress Eugenic, who has established herself at Goombe, whilst lier new homo at Farnborough is being made ready to receive her. Here she will dwell free from pomp and ceremony, for her little court for a time is broken up; several members of the household are travelling abroad, and the Empress is for the present at home at Coombe Cottage, with a few faithful frionds and trusty servants. As we enter the cottage let us take a passing look at the exterior. It is a long, low building, rod brick and white paint, delightfully fresh and country-like^ in appearance. The picturesque littlo latticewindows, the old-fashioned casements, the very chimney-pots—in short, everything from tho five-barred gate at which we enter, to tho ivy climbing up the walls —i.s suggestive of rusticity. Tho cottage itself is an architectural tour dc force, a to}'. It is a, cottage after tho familiar rude design expressed m a dozen lines by tho young idea learning to draw, but not so bare of ornament. It i.s a picture— and fresh from the painter's hand—for the cottage has received a new coat of paint in honour of its illustrious tenant. And a very pretty picturo it makes with the sun shining upon it. An element of poetry is contributed to the scene by the birds twit-twittering in the adjacent hedges ; but tho policeman stationod at the gate seems wofully out of place in oui Arcadian system. Once insido the cottage, all

ideas of rural simplicity are quickly dispelled, and the sense of pastoral poetry vanishes ai

the sight of tho newest designs and latest improvements in house decorations. Tho rooms aro furnished Iwith exquisite taste, elegantly,

but by no means extravagantly. Tho drawingroom is rather an imposing apartment; biit in

spite of high-back chairs and tho statchnosis of tho furniture genorally, there ib an air of homolinoss about tho room, a kind of genial warmth radiates from the hearth. The solonm dullness which pervades tho houso does not hang over this room, which seems foreign, however, to any kind of merriment, if not to comfort. Iv this room it is that tho household meet every ovening, the Empress being usually of tho company, and. in conversation, interspersed with music and reading" aloud, pass the fow hours between dinner and bedtime. The Empross herself has an excellent our for music, and a nico talent for tho piano, but since the death of her son she has little heart for playing, and very rarely touches an instrument. Her favourite composer is Beethoven. Early to bod is tho rule at the cottage, and early to rise. Tho Empress is always tlio first to retire at night, but, as a rule, tho last to rest, for often when the house is deep in slmnbor the Empross is courting sloop in tho little study adjoining tho boudoir. At II o'clock in the morning all traces of tho breakfast have been removed, and the household have turned to their duties or their plbasures. The Empress withdraws to her study, to spend tho morning hours with her letters and her newspapers, French and English, 01 .discusses them with her secretary, M, Piotvi, in tho library, where that amiable gentleman, in mournful black, roigns in solemn dullness. The Empress is also dressed in deep^ black ; nor has she changed her mourning since the death of her husband. Her mourning for her second loss is manifested by other than outward signs, Luncheon brings tho household together again, and after the midday meal the Empress seeks her study onoe more, and sets to work on the book upon which she is now busily engaged. The study is a little room luxuriantly furnished. The voico falls instinctively into a subdued tone in speaking In the produce ol the liuivvy furniture and velvet pile. Tho shadow of sadness is over all,

The room is decked with many treasures especially dear to the Empress—precious souvenirs upon which shemay look for inspiration in the composition of tie work she has promised to give to the world.

At Long Branch, bt-Foro ho wfta shol, Prc-si dent Garfisld happwiod to say—' Now, ia it r,ot strange, »nd in it not »frtnking co_is_e_tary or the protection ntd f (rarity tffotdad by ire institutions, thai t__ Initident of tho TJniiofi Stßtes can go fibiut in tLiR way, prnctic&lly unattended aud withait a body-guard, am without thn parapborjftiio. that euccmpßSßf? other rulers? I urn m secure travelling tbit way as any citizen if tae conntty.1

The rather startling announcement ;s made that eholors of a viruUut ty f.6 haa nppeaied _l Aden, tha British sUamship GtaU<:ii on th« Red S«&. Commnnic&ticn with the place i> so regular and freqaost that it will ba almost impcseible to prevent tha conveyanco of the pestilence tn Western Europe ; nnd in these days of rapid tninsponstion there will be m> 1 ccaaion for BurprUe if it quickly finds its way to our shores.