The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-20

The funeral of Victor Hugo was the most
colossal popular fete that Paris has ever seen.
There was no sadness, no soiemnity but, on the
contrary, pagan gayety. the festivity OF q tn
umph. 1t was the manifestation OF q purely
human worship In modern France, faith mas
almost disappeared, or has been devoured oy
dogma while worship has degenerated into
tradition. The skeptical Parisians, essentially
artistic in their nature, have retained only the
worship Of the dead, which is pagan rather
than Christian practice They have come
TO believe in a god which is not the Goo
OF the church, in progress, justice, virtue, III
something In short which they nave
formulated vaguely for themselves. What the
god OF the Parisians is it would be naro 10 say,
they seem to have found some satisfaction To-
their need of faith and worship in the imper-
sonal fete of July and in the great day OF the
obsequies of Gambetta. Both of these cere-
monies were. however purely political The
worship of Victor Hugo, on the other hand, is
comprehensive. In his life are summed up and
expressed the struggles, the variations, the
aspirations of the country Victor Hugo was
not Catholic, but he was deist and almost
mystic he was a conservative and socialist,
philanthropist and patriot. Unconsciously
the French are returning to pagan practices. In
their amusements we are constantly reminded
of ancient Rome ana Byzantium; in their rellgl
Gus sentimentalism they are perhaps accomplish
ing pagan evolution. Hero, demi-god or gOd
the symbol of the cultus of humanity which Au-
guste Comte preached, Victor Hugo has been
uelHeu DIS no m0Cern man mas oeen OeIOro HiiH,
and his tomb has become an altar. What king
or emperor ever had go, 900 men follow behind
his coffin, while more than million people chung
to the very walls and chimneys of the houses to
see the triumphant procession pass?
In the ceremony of yesterday there were pal
try and even ridiculous details Many grotesque
personages made the corpse of Hugo pedestal
for their vanity. Others took advantage of the
procession as chance for industrial advertising
Many regarded the whole affair as grand holt
Hau RI1f inc 70 rf fen
ures the immense crowd of yesterday was pene
trated with mighty sentiment of admiration.
The fete was colossal manifestation of pure
ly human worship, OF a current of sentiments
and of ideas of which no one is master, and
which leads no one knows where.
1t is difficult for contemporaries to analyze
the elements of contemporary popu!a thought
There can, however he no doubt that there is
taking place in the French mind an entirely
new development of sentiment and aspirations,
apparently in the direction above indicated.
We are assisting at the evolution Of new form
of positivism. AS for the mere aspect of the
Hugo funeral, no words can describe 1t. The
fete for fete it was, lasted two full days and the
preparations amused Paris for whole week.
In the decorations there was excess and error.
The immense catafalque, built from III. Charles
Carriers design under the Arc do Triomphe,
looked like a great big irkstand the veil of
Grape stretched over Falguiere's group of the
triumphant Republic foated in the breeze like
big spiders web; the sling of Grape down one
side of the Arc, the festoons of Grape round the
frieZe. were paltry mi]liner's work. All the can
delabra of wood and painted canvas, the tin
tears, the escutcheons of painted wood. the black
hangings the miserable little green flames. the
mufing of the street lamps In widows vels--all
this looked silly and mean. The Arc de Triomphe
is too grand monument to admit OF such trihlng
old clothes shop adornment
On Sunday morning the coffin was placed In
the cenotaph under the Arc and covered with
pall Of black velvet spangled with silver tears.
Over half the ceno.aph were piled up wresths of
flowers The guard of honor was composed OF
attachments of the scholar battalions who
were relieved every half hour while at night
mounted cuirassiers, holding flaming torches
formed an avenue in front of the bier. All the
lamps from the Arc de Triomphe 30 the Pan
theon were muffied with crape the Pantheon
itself was draped with black, and cenotaph sur
mounted by dals erected at the top of the steps
All day on Sunday the crowd defiled past the
catafal9ue of the Arc de Triomphe, and ali night
there was surgiug and dsorderly crowd around
the Place de lEtoile, climbing trees and ladders
to get glimpse of the green flames and the
torches burning in the obscurlty. The scene at
the Arc on Sunday night was disgracefu but it
may be remembered, by way of consolation. that
popular manifestation which does not bring OUT
the dregs of the people is manifestation at all.
On Monday morning the Place de rEtoile was
cleared at o'clock by police cavalry and
mounted gendarmes; and already at this early
hour Populations began to arrive with music
and bugle sounds Gradually as the hour ad-
vanced ali the roads leading toward the Arc
were filled with torrents of humanity. The
whole system of organization was excellent and
the cortege was formed without any other in
cident than the seizure Of a few red flags
brought by soma silly Anarchists and revolu
tionists. The procession itself was grand, on
account of its immensity rather than on account
of its elements which were very varied--civil
ians, infantry schoolboy soldiers, gymnastic
societies. fremen, freethinking societies and
Populations of the most heterogeneous deScrip-
tons, each carrying some floral tribute. The
fashion of carrying immense crowns and wreaths
of flowers at great public funerals was begun at
that of THEIRS when it has been calculated some
SIG, 900 worth of flowers were used At Gambet
tas funeral there were $40, 600 worth of flowers;
at Victor Hugos funeral yesterday there were at
least $500, 600 worth Never has such guam
tity of splendid crowns. Tyres and wreaths been
seen. Ten chariots laden with flowers headed
the procession, and each deputation carried
wreaths, the majority of which cost from 500 to
5000 each.
All this was wonderful to behold, but what
was still more wonderful and, indeed. alto
gether unparalleled was the crowd along the
route Every tree. every lamp post, every win
dow, every balcony, every ledge, every roof,
and even every chimney pot had its swarms of
spectators clingins like flies by prehensile
means unknown to the ordinary experience of
man. In the side streets, the crowd rose in
heaps, resting ladders wagons. stages-a
human sea of heads The Place Gle la Concorde
was another sea of humanity, through the
midst of which passage was kept clear by the
military. Each statue, covered with men who
had clambered up there nobody knows how,
formed living pyramid. In the basins of the
fountains spectators swarmed with their feet in
the water The quays and wharves on either
side of the Pont de la Concorde were thronged
with people, and those in the front rows stood up
to their knees in water. In the Boulevard Saint
German the crowd was thicker than ever. On
many houses flying scaffoldings had been sus-
pended from the windows to give standing or
sitting room. Between two trees an ingenious
man had slung hammock, and Witnessed the
show recumbent and at ease. Never before has
such crowd been seen at Paris. Never before
has funeral assumed such festive air. But
in reality it was not funeral but an apotheosis.
1t is useless to attempt description Of the pro-
cession. One fact alone will give an idea of its
immensely The head of the cortege arrived at
the Pantheon at 2 o'clock and the last squadron