Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-12-06

prise of Many of Her Hearers-A Honely
but Strong Face-Some of the Things
Said.
The little Sale DIES Conferences in the
Boulevard DIES Capucines was filed last
night by mixed crowd, assembled to
hear Louise Michel lecture on the .'Role
of Woman in Modern Society,"" On one
: side of the hall was group of personal
friends of the ''grande cheyenne" habi-
tues of her sort of political meetings, and
these had fer 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 docs not seem to have suf-
fered much from the long confinement;
his long beard is jet black, his hands are
white, his face bears q contented express
sion, and he wears his broad brimmed,
high hat jauntily inclined to one side,
with the air of a man who knows that
he is a fine looking fellow.
AMONG THE AUDIENCE.
Among the determined enemies of So
ciety noticed also Pere Hyacynthe 10y
con and many other well dressed bour-
geois Indeed the respectable element
formed four-fifths 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 all meetings at 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 a little bit. surprised at
finding herself In the presence Of such q
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. It was
with shaly accent, and in 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.
1t was easy to read on their faces that
most of them were saying to themselves:
''What! Is that her? Is that the Louise
Michel we have heard and read so much
about? That the woman? Why she
and as ugly as a scarecrowr' Yes, Louise
Michel is undoubtedly q 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 disjointed 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 more strange COM
ing from such lips. Once started. she
goes ON at break neck gallop, catch
ing at thought here, throwing of
a daring expression there, leaping over
all obstacles, and apparently endeavoring
to realize some dream of unattainablo
perfection of which her credulous soul
has caught a glimpse through the misto
that becloud her exceedingly crude con-
ceptions of things here below.
RELATING AN ANECDoTE.
Starting with the assertion that sswo-
man has today the faults of slave and
man those of conqueror," she declared
time will come when the world will learn
how to utilize their rare faculties. That
time viii be an epoch, and ''wars viii
no longer be waged, because electric
mitrailleuses will have been invented
which will suppress thousands of men at
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 a perfect
equality with men. To prove that her
sex were capable of that equality, she
related an anecdote from her own ex-
perience:
'When was attending lectures" said
she. Gin order to secure a diploma as
qualified school teacher, / one day heard
an old savant trying to demonstrate, with
the aid of two skulls, that woman's
head was smaller than that of a man,
but he never noticed that, misled by a
change of labels, made by a pupil with |
whom am well acquainted, he was ell |
the time using one anatomical specimen |
for the other"
Now and then Miss Michel said things |
which pleased the revolutionary group of |
her hearers, but were 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
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
nc 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
VI no longer be our rights tomorrow.
Woman Is naturally good and virtuous,
and when she knows all things she will
no longer be the charming creature whose
,oquetry troubles man; she will no longer
be faithless, because she will not be TO-
norant of the fact that her neighborss
is not a bit superior to her own"
Henry Haynie in New Orleans Plea
yune.