Wichita eagle., 1888-12-07
LOUISE MICHEL.
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HER LATE
LECTURE IN PARIS.

prise of Many OF Her Hearers-A Homely
but Strong Face-Some of the Thing.
Said.
The little Sale des Conferences in the
Boulevard des Capucines was filed last
night by a mixed crowd, assembled to
hear Louise Michel lecture on the Role
OF Woman IN Modern Society" On one
side OF the hall was a group of personal
friends OF the ''grande cheyenne" habi-
tues OF her sort OF political meetings, ana
these had for the occasion donned their
Sunday head covering instead of the
SLOUGH hats they wear usually In the
front row sat the Italian Revolutionary
Cipriani, recently arrived from the
peninsula kingdom, where he has been
spending the last few years Of his life in
prison. He does not seem TO have sUf-
fered much from the long confinement;
his long beard is jet black, his hands are
white, his face bears a contented express
sion, and he wears his broad brimned,
high hat jauntily inclined TO one side,
with the air OF a man who knows that
he Is fine looking fellow.
AMONG THE AUDIENCE.
Among the determined enemies Of So
ciety l noticed also Pere Hyacynthe Low
son and many other well dressed bour-
geois. Indeed the respectable element
formed four-ffths Of the audience, and
most of them were young ladies and
middle aged or venerable matrons who
had come out Of curiosity to see and hear
the monster" whose name appears IN
reports Of ali meetings Ct which incita-
tons TO acts of pillage and violence form
the burden OF the Grafton delivered.
When the monster made her appear
ance she seemed little bit surprised at
finding herself in the presence Of such
nice audience. She had not gotten her
self up especially for the occasion and
wore the shabby black dress, small
Grape bonnet and long veil thrown back
over her shoulders that form her ordi-
nary costume when in public. 1t was
with shal1y accent, and in a rather nasal
voice that she announced her subject,
but as soon as the first words were pro-
nounced Louise Michel, herself again,
had recovered that presence Of mind and
cool holiness which rarely desert her.
As she spoke the physiognomy of most
of her hearers, especially those of the fe-
male portion Of the audience, betrayed
surprise quite amusing to contemplate.
It was easy to read on their faces that
most Of them were saying to themselves:
"Nhat! Is that her? Is that the Louise
Michel we have heard and read so much
abouti That the woman; Why she
looks Ike q Protestant school teacher.
and as ugly as q scareCrow." Yes, Louise
Michel is undoubtedly a very homely
person, but there is a CLEAN OF intelli-
gence about her face which, when she
speaks, becomes exceedingly animated
and mobile. 1t was evident, however,
that most Of the audience were disap-
pointed, and after she had spoken a few
minutes their attention began to flag.
Moreover. what she was saying was not
easy to follow or understand because Of
the dislointed connection between the
ideas and the remarkable rapidity with
which she was speaking. She never picks
her words, but she frequently uses images
of wonderful poetic freshness, which
sound all the moro strange con-
ing from such lips. Once started, she
goes on at break neck gallop, catch
ing at a thought here, throwing off
g daring expression there, leaping over
all obstacles, and apparently endeavoring
to realize some dream of un3ttainable
perfection of which her credulous soul
has caught a glimpse through the mists
that becloud her exceedingly crude con-
CeptiorS of things here below.
RELATING AN ANECDoTE.
Starting with the assertion that "wo-
man has today the faults Of slave and
man those of conqueror," she declared
that women are necessary. and that a
time viii come when the world will learn
how 70 utilize their rare faculties. That
time will be an epoch, and wars viii
no longer be waged, because electric
mitraiIlcuses viii have been invented
which viii suppress thousands of men %
a shot, and thus force nations TO dis
arm" For the present it was the duty
of woman to prepare for the advent Of
that golden age when nothing would
prevent them from reaching perfect
equality with men. To prove that her
sex were capable of that equality, she
related an anecdote from her own ex-
perlence:
when | was attending lectures" said
she, "in order to secure 4 diploma as a
qualified school teacher, / one day heard
an old savant trying 10 demonstrate, with
the aid Of two skulls, that woman's
head was smaller than that OF man,
but he never noticed that, misled by a
change Of labels. made by . pupil with
whom am well acquainted, be was all
lili1c JIG AN1lS-4A4N<iA
for the other
Now and then Miss Michel said things
which pleased the revolutionary group of
her hearers, but We're not at all TO the
liking of the rest of the audience. Speak
ing of woman. as affected by novel i'm
preston, she said that for her part she
had never felt anything comparable TO
the sensation experienced when, march
ing at the head of a battalion of COM
munists. she contemplated the marvellous
picture OF burning Paris spread out be-
fore her eyes against the red back
ground Of the glowing sky. But this
cynical declaration called forth angry
protests, and Louise wisely dropped into
another strain, protesting that she did
not wish TO see women concerning them
selves with politics. Scientific and arts
tic studies were the only ones to which
they should devote themselves. Let Us
have no leagues" said she, for the pur-
pose of demanding rights today which
will no longer be our rights tomorrow.
Woman Is naturally good and virruous,
and when she knows all things she viii
no longer be the charming creature whose
coqUetry troubles man: she VIII no longer
be falthless, because she viii not be ig-
norant of the fact that her neighbours
husband Is not bit superior to her own"
Henry Hayuie IN New Orleans Plea /
yune.
MORTAR BEDS FOR GRANT.
A Story of the Uar-Abrarn : Hewitt