PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 225, 30 July 1879, Page 2

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON.

Tho following from London truth, will be read with inalancholy interest, having been written on tho occasion of the Prince's departure to Africa, where lie sad fate. :

I remember seeing the Prince Imperial when he was a boy of twelve bavin- a velocipede race with his ycuiuLouis Comicau (son of the doctor) on tho private terrace of the Tuileries. Youn« Oonneau, already a true courtier, held iu his hand so that the Prince might not bo defeated in public, but in slackening speed he gave his bar a sharp jtrk, so that Ins forcwheel ciuiL'ht that of the lrmces vehicle, and both vclccipcdes rolled on the ground with their riders. Hie merry way in which Napoleon Ill's heir laughed as he scrambled to his feet and assisted his friend to vise stamped him as a good natured boy. He takes after hi 3 mother in sweetness of temper. All who have ever approached him, either during Ins fathers reign or since his exile, \ have been struck by his sunny face, great I J intelligence and frank manners. 4 He was born a very delicate'chikl, and had to be nursed with the utmost care till ha was nineteen years old. His nurse was an English woman, a..d ho had a German Swiss valet; both were enjoined to speak to him always in theimspective tongues, while his mother addressed him in Spanish, so that the boy grew to be a "ood linguist without any dibit He could read m four languages when he was seven and he had spent many of the lon- h-nti's, when he had to remain indoors "by doctors' orders, pursuing books which treated of Ins great uncle's battles. He preferred this literature to any other, and became of rather bellicose mood in consequence, strutting about with a toy sword at his side, and lighting sham battles with young Oonneau in the broad corridors of the Tiullerics. His father, who bad him with a doting love, would have spoilt him ; but his mother, wiser in her al'i'ooion, insisted upon his blind obedience. When he was two years old he was aonointcd corporalm the Imperial Gi:ard,'V.nd at live lie was promoted to hiss.'rgiv.nt-ship. For having disobeyed the I'mpress while lie held his grade, her Maies.y caused his stripes to be taken away from hj m , and he was degraded to the ranks for it whole year. The disgraoe very deeply affected him, tor he was very fond of showing off his uniform before the children who were invited to the palace to play with him Once, by-the-by, a child of the actor i editor was among his guests, and the Prince having quarrelled with this brat, gave him a slap on the face. Foe ter was huffed when lie heard of tho affair, and declined to let his boy goto the Tuilorie? again.

The averge gram crop of Europe is reported at 5,000,000,000 bus!:ds, of which Russia raises one-third, France and Germany 520,000,000 each, and Austria DM,000,000. The United States produces 1,600,000,000 (about the same quantity that Russia does), which, in proportion tc their population, is a much larger production than any other country can boast.