Evening High School - Owl Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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108 THE OWL Here she became acquainted with the leading personages of the Court of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. De- prived of her position by the Revolution, she left France and established herself in England, where her collection of figures attracted great attention. She exhibited them in all of the principal cities of the United Kingdom and finally in London where they have remained for more than a century. The day of my visit to the museum was a very dismal one, as most London days are, and the artiiicial lights in the museum, for some reason, were not turned on. Visibility was not as good as it might have been which served to create a weird feeling within. My im- agination dominated me on several occasions. At times I thought I saw some of the figures move and during the entire visit, I had the feeling that I was not walking ainong wax figures, but down through the pages of history where I was meeting, one by one, all of the great people whom I had read about. There they all were, a seemingly end- less line of Hgures and groups of figures so realistic that several times I felt a very strong urge to speak to them. To try to describe all of them would take many pages, but following are some ofthe figures that interested me most. There were all of the Kings and Queens of England including the figures of the living rulers at that time. CGeorge V and Queen Maryh. There were Kipling, Dickens, Shakespeare, Scott, Burns, Chaucer, Wycliff, and many other notable men of literature that We have been studying about in our present English class. There were Lord Nel- son, The Duke of Wellington, Sir Francis Drake, Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Voltaire, Marconi, Liszt, and Lord Macaulay. We came face to face with all of the Generals of the World VV ar including Field Marshal Earl Haig, Marshall Foch, Marshall Joffre, and our own General Pershing. Upon seeing the latter, I was curious to see whether America had any other representation, and Was soon rewarded by meeting George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, and all of our

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THE OWL 107 kiss me, -just once - for remembrance. lThey kiss.l CThere is the sound of a door opening, then closing! fClaire sobs.J .David lwhisperingk How still the night. fPause1 So still Qin agonyl I can't stand this quiet as though there were no living thing. Noise ! Why doesnit something make a sound ? QThe strains of We Can Make Believe float into the room, growing louder then fading aWay.J Oh God, I cannot dream enough. I cannot dream enough. MADAME TUSSAUD'S I-Iave you ever experienced the feeling that you had seen and stood face to face With some of the vvorld's greatest figures of history? That was my feeling after a visit to Madame Tussaud's exhibition in London. Upon arriving in London, I Was very much interested and very anxious to visit some of the places I had read about includ- ing the British Museum, Tower of London, National Gal- lery, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and many other minor places of interest. Each time I asked direc- tion to one of these places, I was asked Whether I intend- ed to visit Madame Tussaud's. I Was told to be sure not to leave London Without a visit there as it would interest me as much as anything to be seen in England. Madame Tussaud's was the name of the World's greatest and most famous wax museum. It contained the Wax figures of practically all of the notable persons of' history as Well as many figures of famous living people. Madame Tussaud,,the ,foundress of the Exhibition, was born at Strasburg, the French Capital of Alsace-Lorraine, in 1760. Being left an orphan at an early age, she was sent to Paris and placed under the care of her uncle, M. Curtius, a noted artist of the period, from whom she learned the art of modeling in Wax. Madame Elizabeth, sister of the King, engaged her to instruct her in modeling. and she resided with Elizabeth at Versailles until 1789.

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THE OWL 109 presidents down to Woodrow Wilson. And not to slight humor or sport, there Were Charlie Chaplin and Jack Dempsey too. Each minute I became more and more fascinated and fully realized that I had been well directed when I was told not to miss Madame Tussaud's. We passed on to the Napoleon Rooms, which are a separate part of the mu- seum, and were still more amazed at the Wonderful col- lection of relics there. In addition to the figures of Na- poleon, Joan of Arc, Henry IV, Francis I, King of France, there Were the Wax heads of Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Ravaillac, and Fouquier-Tinvilleg the originals having been taken immediately after execution by Mad- ame Tussaud. There was the real camp bedstead of the Duke of Wellington on which he slept the night before the Battle of Waterloo, the real camp bedstead used by Napoleon during nearly six years detention as a prisoner at St. I-Ielena, With the mattresses and pillow on Which he died and on Which he is represented lying in his uni- form he Wore at the Battle of Marengo in 1800. There is the celebrated flag of Elba, presented by Napoleon to the National Guards of Elba, and afterwards used by him on his return to France. There is a glass case containing the waistcoat, morn- ing gown, and sword-belt usually worn by Napoleon. His state carriage, built especially for his Coronation as King of Italy, is there together with the celebrated military traveling carriage in which he made the campaign of Russia and which was captured on the eve of the battle of Waterloo. There are numerous articles of clothing of Na- poleon and the famous atlas used by him in which are plans of several battles drawn in his own hand. Last of all in the Napoleon Rooms is what is referred to as the most extraordinary relic in the world. It is a gruesome relic of the French Revolution and is the original knife and lu- nette, the identical instrument, that decapitated over five thousand persons. There were many other interesting parts in this Wonder- ful museum including the The Chamber of Horrors which