New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-12
LIFE IN PARIS.
LETTER FROM ARsENE HoUssAYE.


rs A MAN BORN TO DO NOTHING EDGAR rOE AND
ALFRED DIX MUssET-MATERSAL HERoIsM-BATH-
ERs OF THE BosPHORUs-DUETs-M. oEDiNAIRE
THE BARONESS DE MAIsTRF-MATER DOLoRosA.
IFRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE rRIEuSE.l
PARIS, July 5.-Rosy fingered Aurora opens the
gates of dawn-the image is hackneyed but always
serviceable. A Regular Correspondent must get out
of bed and put on his red working gown like
butcher about to slaughter ideas.
Il labor then, tho human lot We asked ourselves
that question at Versailles when the horrible Com
une at Paris obliged to take forced frlp 10 IN"
country, before the Palace Of Louis NV. FOR TWO
months we watched with folded arns that frightfni
representation of the tragedy of " the Hosu'e
Brothers, One gets used to everything. even 10
doing nothing. even to murder and arson The
good Lafontaine said with some reason: IL VIII
doubtless he disagreable for me to go to hell. but
Am snrc that the damned get accustomed to the
flames and that they end by being rs comfortable
there as fish in the water"
The Commune which invented nothing. wanted
TO SUPPRESS the hours of labor for the workngfnan
SO that there should he an eternal Sunday with no
blue Monday Ever since S4S the laborer had been
diminishing his hours of work. until he arrived at
the ideal Of the true Partisan workman not dong
anything AT all. The philosophers OF the beersiopS
crossing their arms came to the sage conclusion tha
labor il an invention of capital All paradoxes had
at that time FREQ fight man was an accident OF
Providence born of a ray of sunlight OH the amorous
void Why could he not live like the fishes ana
beasts, who have nothing to do' II IL true tha'
they eat each other. but cannot man 90 likewise
In Oceanica and Africa he makes excellent CUISINE
ont of his enomies or in dull Seasons ms Irieh"S
Hunger takes precedence of friendship.
Trees and flowers do not work. Pascal talks OF
=, rA.If tnr.n
work. but if they had "A representative government
thew would never consent to draw cabs ana would
break with more confidence their riders rccks
Dogs work. but that is because the dog Is the friend
of man. IL is pure flattery toward his master The
monkey has been made to work in the circus, but
how he revots under the whip.
Conclusion - man is not made for work 81.
Simon WIS right labor should he made attractlve
fiJdes for some bottles for Others but III the pha-
lanstery everybody would want more than his share
of the drinking and the counting. While awaiting
this fine social regeneration. tine workingiheh say
that ,hc best thing 10 do is to do nothing Heaven
will be good enough to make the radisiies, peas
cabbages, and squashes grow without tho sphie
We shall find everywhere a country iuil OF game
covered with fruits of purple and GOLD. FROM inc
harvest we shall 90 Ia the vintage. according to the
savng of 81. Just The Commune believed itself Ia
work il excused the bakers from night-baking
thinking that bread would. cook itself somehow in
tho interest of labor reform. God hal experience,
they said, in the multiplication Of leaves. Tho Com
mune got no further than subtraction.
Al present work has come into favor again. Vol
taire said There is only remedy for all disas
ters: that is time" i should say after Votairc
there is hut one remedy for all disasters and that Is
work There are drcamers who are not of my opiE-
ion Those fox instance of the school Oi yOnr great
poet. Edgar Poe, and Of or great poet. Alfred do
Musse; those who seek illusion in abslnthe beer or
brandy eaters of opium or hasheesh those who try
10 lapse nt that state of fire where, according to
Kh6yam one sees a hundred miracles az once, and
penetrates the mystery of all things. IL was III tins
condition that Edgar Poe sang the admirable ballad
of "Ienorc' and Alfred dc Musset The Nights"
Imbecie drlnkards imagine that they have only TO
drink 10 become Edgar pOes and Alfred de MuSsets
The forget that they must begin by being men OF
genius But will describe 10 yOu some other time
our abSintho drinkers.
Alas for the present we have only water-drinkers
The South Of France is drowned in tears after
having been drowned in floods 1t is a lost year,
the beginning OF ruin for that beautiful country,
whose normal state is sunshine and JOY The jour
mails and the tecgraphS have told you all about
these ni.fortuncs, but you know little about the
nrivatc tr.gcdie, which have melted even Paris 10
tears ] will tell YOU one story among many. young
mother is awakened by the inundation She has
two children. twins. at the breast adorable little
girls The water inyades her house it is night and
the hour is full of terror The husband takes care
of himself and mounts on the roof. But The woman
thinks only OF her children she ties them to her
breast with scarf and she is about to swim from
ihe house she think that the brcaatrough will serve
A. boat. The house is tottcring a. the mother
enbarks in her fa boat. She is scarcely ont Of the
house when il goes to pieces. The husband fisaI-
nears in the rnins The little boat floats away but
strikes against tree and is overturned. The poor
woman seizeS a branch and climbs into the tree with
tie strength of a lioncss fighting for her Young Bu
the tree is young it bends; 1t will not hold all three.
The neither sees that the end has come, but her
motherhood is not conquered. She ties her children
TO the strongest branch she kisses them again and
ao-,i she signs them with the sign of the cross and
cries ITO the mercy of God"i
This pltrols drama was witnessed by spectators
who could do nothing i'll aid until quarter OF an
hour was gone The mother was drowned. but the
children were saved like Moses. They were adopted
BY the Sisters of Charity of Castelsarrazn. The
mothers funeral was an occasion of mourning i'll the
midst of the general soTrow. Her face seemed sane
tilted by her action. One of my friends said to me,
:" never saw such beauty" Her ewes were half
closed, her lips slightly open. her hands crossed
above her breast as if she were still praying 10 God
for her children. There is no spectacle more divine
than that Of maternity i'll sacrifice.
We have in Paris a national society for the en-
enlargement of virtuous actions, which distributes
medals every year. There never medals enough.
Just as at the Academy, there mover enough
Monthyon prizes. At the last distribution of medals
We saluted that of the Countess do Vogue. En-
bassadress of France in Constantinople. You have
heard endless witticsms at the expense of mothers