Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 297, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1912 — Thrift and Shrewdness of Napoleon [ARTICLE]

Thrift and Shrewdness of Napoleon

The Emperor Napoleon I- dressed In plain clothes, often visited the kets of Paris, In order to learn the current prices of food, and find out whether his household officers served him with honesty and economy. In "Foreign Reminiscences’’ Richard Lord Holland Says that this was only one Illustration of the emperor's thrift and' shrewdness. When the Tuileries was being re**

paired, Napoleon suspected that the upholsterer's charges were higher than they should be. So he asked one of his ministers, who was with him,, how much the ivory egg at the end of the fell-rope ought to cost? "I do not know,” was the answer. >* "It shall be ascertained,” said Napoleon. Thereupon he cut off the Ivory handle, called for a valet, bade him dress himself in plain clothes, in- - f-A ■'; . V"*

quire the price of such articles at several shops In Paris, and order a dozen as if for himself. ;Tbe valet bought them for twothirds of the price that the emperor had had to pay. Napoleon, Inferring that the same overcharge had been made In the other articles, deducted a third from the entire account, and Informed the tradesman that It was done at his own express command, because on investigation, he had found the charges to be exorbitant. —Youth’s Companion.