In exuberant delight we exclaimed, "Oh, grandma, how did you learn to
make such wonderful things?"
"I did not learn, it is a gift," she replied.
Then she spoke of her modelling in childhood, and her subsequent
masterpiece, which had won the commendation of Napoleon and Empress
Josephine.
At that auspicious time, she was but eighteen years of age, and second
cook in the principal tavern of Neuchatel, Switzerland. Georgia and I
sat entranced, as with animated words and gestures she pictured the
appearance of the buglers and heralds who came weeks in advance to
announce the date on which the Emperor and Empress would arrive in that
town and dine at the tavern; then the excitement and enthusiastic
preparations which followed. She described the consultations between
the _Herr Wirth_ and the _Frau Wirthin_ and their maids; and how,
finally, Marie's butter-piece for the christening feast of the child of
the Herr Graf was remembered; and she, the lowly second cook, was told
that a corner in the cellar would be set apart for her especial use,
and that she should have her evenings to devote to the work, and three
_groschen_ (seven and a half cents) added to her week's wages, if she
would produce a fitting centrepiece for the Emperor's table.
Five consecutive nights, she designed and modelled until the watchman's
midnight cry drove her from work, and at three o'clock in the morning
of the sixth day, she finished.
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