The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1883-04-14
"THE RED VIRGINS"
Three Prominent Women of the Present
AnarohIcal Movement In France.

is just as true Of French history as of French
social life. A good deal of that history has
been made by women from the time of Joan
ton you might always know what current of
ideas was strongest by looking at the women
most in influence at the time. There was
Nine. Roland s..movement as there were the
moments OF the hsh-wives. 1t is Just the same
in our day. There have been several Repub
lcan Egerias, and when Mime. Adam held
that Office things were going very differently
from their present course. 1t seems quite a
long time since she not only kept salon, but
affected to govern the destinies of the Repub-
lie. Now she has gone into good work; and
her Presidency of the great Art Lottery for the
poor of Alsace is the sign of great change.
In our day the "Red Virgins" rule. The
name Of this curious Democratic order is a
testimony to the power of words in France.
The crowd does not want religion and mon
archy to have the monopoly Of proselytizing
maidenhood, and SO Louise Michel steps
forth with her newest title as a set-off against
the Maid of Orleans, not to mention higher
name. But the curious sign Of the present
situation is that Louise herself is no longer
the principal figure of the new group She
was the first of the "Red Virgins" the foun-
der OF the sisterhood, but the last to date is
Mdlle. Derlincourt, and there is whole world
of difference between them. Mdlle. Derliu
court put in her appearance on the larger pub
lie stage only on Sunday last, when she tried
to scratch out the eyes OF an orator at a meet
ing whose speech was not to her mind. She
was assisted, as they say in investilures of the
Garter, by one Of the Sterner sex, who held
the head Of the unlucky municipal counselor
in question while she operated. For the mo-
ment, then, she is in far greater prominence
than Louise, and she stands forward as the
representative female figure OF our atter-dsy
revolution, and brings the number OF the vir-
gin sisterhood up to three. The other one,
Mile, now Nine, Paul Minck only fitted
through the order, and as a characteristic way
of showing that she had left it she brought a
male child to the Registrar with the request
that that functionary would enter its name as
"Vercingetorix Robespierre," which he re.
fused to do.
Mile. Derlincourt, then, is in every way the
most considerable member Of the sisterhood
and her prominence signifies a new departure
for ultra democratic faith. The first "Rec
Virgin" is an enthusiast, the last is a virago
Louise Michel, though she would not in the
least mind chopping of your head, would
shrink with horror at the thought of scratch
ing out your eyes. She is possessed woman,
devotee of her peculiar faith, and in hel
personal character and disposition the very
gentlest of human kind. Not to mnce the
matter, she is pauvre folle, as soft and ten
der when the fit is not upon her as Sterne',
Maria. She never was handsome; and is nc
longer young. Mile. Derhneourt, on the
contrary, is something OF beauty, and in q
style captivating to the French with theil
exotic taste, being blond-rousse. The coloi
OF the Revolution is in her very chevelure, a.
we'll as in he big red feather which she
wears in the big hat on public occasions. 1t
is impossible to fail to see her; she contrasts
entirely with the thin skimped figure of tn,
mad sister gliding to meetings in her rusty
black. She has the nerve OF her one-and
twenty years. She comes to her revolution
AIRY opinions by a kind of inheritance. Hel
father, still living, is of a type we'll known il
France. He works in an office, where to al
outward appearance he is a model of small
bourgeois responsibility, while in his secre
heart he nourishes deadly hate against tn,
system which keeps him down. He devote
all his leisure to ultra democratic propsgan
da, founding newspapers with his slender saw
ings, and when these are epgulied after
venture, sitting down once more in resigna
ton to drive the quill. Then the ladies offe
contrast in their parents as well as in then
own persons, for the mother Of Louise sbomi
mates the Revolution, and for its sake every
thing beginning with an r.
Then Louise can only speak, while Mdlle
Derlincourt can sing; it is little, but it i
everything; it means that the last shred Of
pretense to reason is leaving the movement
Where the elderly Red Virgin tried 10 con
vince by monologues on the wickedness o
capital, the younger one tries to enthrall will
her sonr of the "Proletaire" or the "Ma
rianne," rendered in a ch.contralto voice 70
which the professors Of the Conservation
have done everything in their power.
"Sonny, will you please stoop down anC
pick up my glasses? You see | can't benz
very wei" said corpulent gentleman to
| I