The Indiana State sentinel., 1880-12-29

Mr.. sarcey's Idea OF the Reasons Why
the Parisisns Do Not Mind Dirt.
THE Parisian.1

The Parisian.l
In the course of his lecture Mr.. Sarcey
explained theory of modesty. The sense of
shame, he said, is not natural or essential
to man. According to the Biblical legend,
the sense of shame is due to the sentiment
of nudity. Mr.. Sarcey suggested that it
might have been born of coquetry. Woman
rendered herself more desirable by hiding
some parts of her person. In short. it will
generally be admitted that moaesty is an
artificial sentiment, the result of education
and civilization. l. changes from age to
age, from nation to nation, and from ipdi-
vidual to individual. There is obviously q
wide difference between the sense ct shame
of the inhabitants of Otaheite and that
of those ultrs-fne Anglo-Saxon ladies
who describe their stomachs as the front
parts of their backs. The sense of shame
is an artificial sentiment fouRded on
certain convictions, the first of which is that
the sentiment of nudity produces the sense
of shame. In order to show how fictitious
the sense Of shame is, Mr.. Sarcey quoted a
number of circumstances in everyday life
where it is counterbalanced by another con-
vention. A woman, for instance, allows
herself to be examined by doctor; an
artists model will pose naked before dozen
men and hide herself when stranger enters
because the dozen painters see only the
beauty Of the form. while the stranger
sees only the nudity of the woman; |;
a lady at her toilet would not
allow q man to see her shoulders; the
same lady at a ball viii be fattered by the
admiring glances attracted by the beauty of
her bust. So in sculpture, painting and
literature it is easy to distinguish chaste
from an offensive work. The sense of shame,
being the result OF the sentiment of nudity,
will always appear when the latter senti-
ment is not counterbalanced by some other,
when the convention of modesty is not can
celed by some other convention. We must
always seek the intention of the artist, and
it will be found that if in his study of the
nude he has sought the realization of some
aesthetic conception, if he has sought to re-
produce beauty, his intention covers his
work as with veil and prevents us from
seeing the nudity of it. The case of litera-
ture is exactly analogous. Baudelaire IL
the ''Fleurs du Nal" Flauoert in MADAME
Bovary," Zola in the "Assommoir," wrote
in good faith and not with the intention of
shocking the modesty of their readers.
Those whose sense Of shame is offended by
"Madame Bovary" are not artists enough to
appreciate it. 1t is only Just in art rs in
literature, to follow the direction which the
artist or the author gives to our attention
in short, to observe his intention. The in
tention of the pornographic journals is to
describe nudity for nudity's sake with
wealth of foul details that are chosen for 10
other reason than their foulness. Such pro-
ductions have nothing to do with literature,
and their suppression in no way affects the
liberty of the press. In country of abso-
Lutte liberty they would be abolished rs you
would abolish nuisance and as the police
take charge of man who is guilty of an in
decency in the public highway. That they
have been allowed to disgrace Paris for more
than three months is only another proof of
the Indifference of the French in matters of
public interest and of the singular slowness
Of public opinion to express itself.