The New York herald., 1879-09-27
COMNUNARD MEMORIES.
How the French Communists Lived
in New Caledonia
DREAMS OF HOME.
Political Penancs Tempered BY Cards. Ranquets. Theatres
and sensational Newspapers

difficulty In obtaining visit from certain NJ
s. and from NJ. Massard. an amnestied COM
munist NJ. Massard, he says. is fine looking
man of thirty-two He must have cohstitu-
ton OF iron il the hair is an evidence OF good
physical condition. 1t is in his case nut brown.
glossy thick ana from silver threads. His face
is bronzed. and he might pass for descendant OF
voltaire's proud Huron. if the height and promi-
uence of his forehead and the absence of salient
cheek bones did not preserve him from hav-
Ing the physiognomy of an Intellectual Ameri-
can Indian. In his eager eyes, which hx Well
the object at which they glance, and take IN
zach detail it presents in taking in the whole, there
s the expression of one who had day after day. week
after week month after month, year after year, in
terrogated the horizon. Lille des Pins is In the
watery waste Of the Pacific. and not as large as
Guernsey The ocean was visible from the convicts
settlement There little else to do than to watch
for ships in the ofing and speculate on the news
they might bring. Though found NJ. Massard in
tellgent, quiet and sensible. ne complained Of men
tai drunkenness and Of being dazed by reason Of
the change from New Caledonia to Paris. He felt
his uhgual nerves stultiied- indeed, half par
ayzed. II he attempted to give narrative
with beginning, middle and end, he soon
lost the thread of his IDEAS and when he
had ideas the words that expressed them slipped
from him. more prolonged stay in Pine Tree
Island would have reduced him to the state Of dumb
brute Perceiving his cerebral fatigue and disorder
oonversed at breakfast with M. S. about how
ever, the commune and things pertaining to it. in
order to draw out the other guest. who gradually
shook off his mental torpor But at period of the
ave hours during which retained my visitors was
there q catechetical dialogue. went by zigzag
route and avoided asking point blank questions
which would have brought cerebration to
full stop and hindered speech NJ Massard's
children did not know him. They were wee
things at the time he separated from them
In 1874. wneI lie thought his participation In
the commune as mere soldier had been forgot
vocation as painter, which the obligation OF serv-
Ing in the army had prevented him from steadily
following. OF ferocious cruelty he had not per-
sonally much to complain. The ply scal hardships
and unwholesome, scanty food were bad and hard
enough to bear. even by young man who had bat
tered about as private in barracks and in camps.
What pressed hardest him the moral tor
lures from which he was not free single day from
the hour of his arrest until the hour OF his return
to Paris. great number of his fellow convicts were
long unable to realize the settled discrimination OF
donia. They fancied they would be let off with
sea voyage and good fright" which might serve
lesson tor the rest OF their lives. There were
communists who we're manacled and hogged
and punished for not hogging their fellows. But
ce,nte JortLtse Political convicts there assimi
lated to galley slaves. Simple transportation in
volved residence the central plateau OF the Pine
Tree Island, whero SO long as there was moral
order government in France there daily after
noon roll cali Subsequent to 1876 this forinality,
which was practically an oppressive one. was gone
through every other day OF the week, and convicts
went where they pleased on Sundays Latterly 1t
was altogether dropped. Inc man an VINO aid NOT
punished. As watches were scarce and all those in
the possession OF the communists out of order they
could only guess what O'Clock it was by the course
OF the sun and the changing Of the sentries.
''sPCNTANROUs COMBUSTION.
In 1877 there general relaxation OF rules.
But an event took place which deprived the political
convcts of the shoes to which they were entitled and
to the annual renovation % OF ,ner oio.n,ng. Mi,ons
fortunes made by officials connected with these
magazines Purchases. as was Cleaned from the esti-
mates of the Minister Of the Colonies at Versailles OF
Australian timed meat and breadstuffs were
turned when there were none to dole out. As long
as tiiere WAS moral order government the admins
tration OF New Caledonia turned deaf to the
monstrances few of those sentenced to simple trans
portaion ventured TO make. When it fell and there
was . prospect of commission OF inquiry the
soa the o
loss so caused. On account of "the fire. the pro-
scripts reduced to less than rags for eighteen
penish their wardrobes In 1878 there were further
relaxations. Leave was given 10 publish journal
which was work OF pure imagination and con-
tervals. Up to the year 1874 embargo was placed
all but the Figaro. Gaots, Unice's and Francais
III which the coninunards had the qualification OF
ending themselves painted in the blacklist colors.
yut after that date republican prints were tolerated
The Prosrss de re des Pins was autographed.
and had q circulation Of 2sO 1t dealt ex-
tensively In candrds and ingenious deductions
from the news given IN the European Journals.
october It announced the immediate carriage through
the Chambers Of an Amnesty bill which would ''pnss
igno rant political convcts, who clung to the hope
thus held out not able to bear the disappoiDt
ment which followed and committed suicide. In
others the revusion of feeling brought on acute fits
OF home sickness and the depression coming with It,
ADJUSTMENTS.
theatre was then licensed, and IL was patronized
by the officers and their wives. The dramatic artists
were. without exception, OF the male sex. fair
enough orchestra formed by musical commun-
lists. instruments fetched from sydney and
colors for scene painting. The official ladies gave
their old inery to be altered into stage costumes
supplied poadre de yiz and rouge to those men who
shaved their faces and played feminine characters.
No other device for cheating the tedium OF exile,
beside the theatre, succeeded in the Pine Tree
Island. Chess demanded hxity Of attention. The
mind out OF tune aud unable to concentrate itself,
was unequal to tho exertion OF play ing that game.
single billiard table was in the island; but 1t
at the Residency The amateur actors had not the
cerebral power to commit to memory Dialogues new
to comedies which they had learned by heart at
schools. Racquets and hand ball wearicd. Cards
lost their charm. Men wranged over them, and
tossed their hands In each others faces. The con-
victs inhabited central plateau of the island.
the soil Of which is merely superficial and
terruginous. When they arrived they each
given knife and hatchot and told to construct hus
Tor themselves. This they did by going into tho
priineval woods and cutting down saplngs, with
which they made the framework of their cabins.
Boughs were twisted in between and covered with
an
built assigned to two men. In the lies de Pins
there were upward of four thousand men confined
In OF league In circumference aud the only
women In the island were married to officers and
functonarics. Those proscrpts whose families were
authorized to Join them were ut Noumea Nj. Mas
sard was Pine Tree islander, having for his
chum packer fembaueur). very decent,
gou0 fellow but OF unrenned habits, aud
by no means artistic in his instincts. Men herding
together and removed from all feminine influence
become snarling misanthropes. They do not so to
the trouble hide their native roughness and be-
objects of mutual disgust aud aversion. In
long voyages naval officers OF gcntlemanly breed
ing fall out and snap at one another. AT Pine Tree
Island the male convicts greatest happiness was to
be alone. When rainy weather forced the chums to
remain under the insu ucient shelter of their huts
they sat with their arms folded aud their heads on
their chests trying to evoke images of bygoe scenes
In France or sp.culating what might next happen.
The man who broke the silence brought upon him
sofa OF abuse. HIS interruption produced the
effect which is experienced when one ia awakened
out OF q pleasant dream to an unpleasant reality.
Not every one who wished was able 20 command
come enfecbed. aud wanted coaxing and goading to