“The king gave lessons to his son and daughter every day, or read aloud to them all, while Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, and the young Marie Theresa sewed.

[Illustration:  Louis XVI and Family in the Temple Prison]

“After awhile the angry people took away the king and beheaded him.  And shortly after the little son was separated from his mother, sister, and aunt, and shut up by himself in the charge of a cruel jailor.

“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 the benefit of those around her, shrinking from no duty that she should perform, but doing it cheerfully and well.