Evening High School - Owl Yearbook (Reading, PA)

Page 121 text:

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

Page 120 text:

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

Page 122 text:

110 THE OWL shows whole groups of figures picturing the most noted crimes of England and France, and the Hall of Tableaux showing many parts of English history. We had spent almost an entire day at Madame Tussand's. The shad- ows were growing longer and the figures becoming dim- mer every minute. I realized that this very ineresting day was swiftly coming to a close. Soon we would be out again in one of London's typical fogs and Madame Tussaudis would be but a memory. But wait! Just be- fore we reached the exit, almost before closing time, someone was sitting on a bench fast asleep and snoring. It would be a shame to let him there and have the guards discover him after everything is locked up. I-Iey buddy, Wake up, closing time. After a few shakings with no re- sponse, I was amazed to find that he too was a wax figure with a machine on the inside to do the snoring. Very re- gretfully, I was forced to bring to a close one of the most interesting days of my lifeg and a few years later I regret- ted still more to read of a fire which totally destroyed Madame 'I'ussaud's. S