The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-12-07
VIRTUE IN FRANCE
A Charaeteristie Scene In the French Acads.
my-llow Virtue IL Rewarded.

A Charaeteristis Scene In the French Aeads.
my-Mow Virtue IL Rewarded.
PARIS, Nov. al" Gentlemen. we are sim
guar peoplel" exclaimed NJ. Pailleron. In his
speech on the Montyon prizes. delivered yes.
terday at tho French Academy. The reader
may remember that at tho end OF the last cen-
fury NJ. dc Montyon. economist and phian-
thropist founded money prizes for the encour-
agement OF virtue. and charged the French
Academy with their annual distribution. The
prizes for acts Of virtue distributed yesterday
wero thirty-seven in number. and OF whole
value OF $3.50. Tho prizes vary from 5000 to
$50. Considering the population OF France We
can only say that virtue Is very poorly en-
lowed. At the same time tho Academy dis
tributed q quantity OF literary prizes. founded
by various persons. to reward authors OF works
OF different kinds. Thus prize OF $4,000 was
awarded to Leconte de Lisle for his "Poemes
TragIues :" another prize Of 81 800 was divided
equally between NM. Gustave Droz and Mis-
trel. the Provencal poet. for the whole OF
discourse on "Agrippa d'AubIgne" The whole
number OF literary prizes was 49, and tho total
sra pS so {, the number Of Int
But 1t was not for this reason that NJ. Pail
leron remarked the singularity of his compa-
triots; The French. he said, were as richly
gifted as any people. AS in the fairy tale. all
tism, and to have oyerwheimed it with gifts
put the fairy Iidicule was forgotten and 1t is
ary Reas tina, i orSos bs h hs
their Qualities and make parade OF their de-
iects. Thanks to the fear OF ridcue. they nf
what is beautiful and delicate: they call their
chauvinism: they give women higher place
IN society than any other nation they lovo their
children more than any other nation they pay
their taxes better than any other nation and
yet Frenchman regards it as an insult to be-
called q good citizen. good husband and
The noun virtue" and tho adjective wiz
tu9us" have fallen into. disuse ana since
DO yirtuous. NJ. Paieron then wsnt on to show
by the examples OF humble herosm. duty. and
charity rewarded by the Academy this, year
the ACCOMMODATION OF foreigners and adven.
turers whose exploits occupy the daily talk of
Certainly NJ: pailleron is right but. .uniortu-
natey what first meets tho eye OF the foreigner
Ministers are qualified by the newspapers as
brlgands liars. and Intriguers: the admins:
TrGmonteIs. accuse each other Of maversation
and defamation the President Of the repubIie
Is daily held up to rdic9ie as vulgar old
Of employing mounted couriers of the Garde
tresses: the so-caIIed social clubs are closed BY
the police because the members are all swim
dlers and card sharpers: commerce has become
the art OF duping the customer and adulteration
has become so common that s1uadrons OF
chemists are keptnp. not to prevent the fraud
financiers and bankers are thieves on a big
scale: the aristocrats are spectators who live
is nothing but dishonesty swindlng. trickery
in every detail Of life. There is even trickery
In love. and in this age Of decadence the women
rssllnements Of corruption which, sarpass
And oddly enough Just at moment when
real probity has disappeared, there is more talk
is affirmed and defended with the wea pons OF the
duelist, One thing is certain, that never in the
Whole history OF France has there been SO much
emit day. On the boulevards. in the book shops
In every street. pornographIc volumes. full
for sale, and French work OF fiction 1T to be
placed ia the hands of a decent woman is now
are singular people and happily ~ de M Mont.
na the ths OF VIZ
praises once q year; otherwise the French
newspaper and novel writer's might have for
gotten how to spell the word. Happily, too. for
the French. az NJ. Palleron tells us. the fairy
kidicule forces them to caumniate themselves.
They are not so bad IA they seem.
The audience at the Academy to listen to NJ
Pal leron's speech was fairly brilliant. but it is
useless to try to conceal the fact that at the
The cholera hn. oriven away more than 3O.O 900
toreiGners: MANY Parsians have fed. too; the
no business. and the commercial season is
irremediably compromised. During the past
:ew days. however the epidemic which has
never been violent has been diminishing very
rapidly. and at the present moment OF writing
treatment This is not enormous for a city
like Paris. Nevertheless. even supposing this
diminntion continues. 1t will take many weeks
and foreigners back to tho capital. The big
dry good shops. ike the Bon Marche. have
their employees the pastry cooks have re-
duced their stalls by two-thirds. there being no
makers arc simply at n standStill. The fear
OF contagon has naturally put stop to all eX-
port business. and to think that since the out:
deaths has not yet reached 500!