r.

"Next it was Marie Antoinette's turn to ascend the scaffold, which she
did October 16, 1793. Her daughter, Marie Theresa, was then left alone
with her aunt, the Madame Elizabeth.

"But it was not long she was allowed this companionship. Madame
Elizabeth was taken away and beheaded, and then the poor young girl of
sixteen was left entirely by herself in a dismal prison, guarded and
waited on by brutal soldiers.

[Illustration: _Execution of Louis XVI_]

"For a year and a half she lived thus, leading the most wretched
existence, and not knowing whether her mother and aunt were alive or
dead. Years afterward, when she was free, she wrote about her life in
prison. In that we read:--"'I only asked for the simple necessities of
life, and these they often harshly refused me. I was, however, enabled
to keep myself clean. I had at least soap and water, and I swept out my
room every day.'

"So here in the picture you see a king's daughter, and the
granddaughter of an empress (Marie Theresa of Austria, one of the most
remarkable women in history), after having carefully made her toilet,
sweeping the bare stone floor of her cell.

"Which do you think caused her the most satisfaction in those dark days
of trial: the remembrance that she was the daughter of a king? or the
knowledge of domestic duties, which she had probably learned while she
was a happy, envied princess, living in a palace and surrounded by a
great many servants!"

"Is that a true story?"

"Yes, Emma, every word of it; and there is much, much more that I cannot
tell you now."

"What became of her at last?"

"She was finally released from prison, and sent to Austria to her
mother's friends; but it was a full year after she reached Vienna before
she smiled; and though she lived to be seventy years old, she never
forgot the terrible sufferings of her prison life.

"But, my child, what I wish to teach you is, that though it is sometimes
very pleasant to be a princess, it may be most unfortunate at other
times. But always remember, my dear girl, that a knowledge of
housekeeping never comes amiss, and every young woman, no matter what
the circumstances are, will be far happier and more useful for
possessing that knowledge."

Children do not always comprehend everything at once; so I will not say
that Emma soon learned to take delight in dusting and sweeping. But bear
in mind that that woman is the most queenly, who uses her wisdom and her
strength for