The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-29

ceives, and the very atmosphere grows
intellectual, the walls seem to have not
ears, but echoes which deepen the value Of
each repartee. AS you set foot over the
threshold a desire takes you of interchang-
ing other than empty words; nay, there is
a delight in the very manner of saying
''good evening"" of drawing nearer, of
asking a question among these people of
distinction, and the uninitiated stranger
feels it and perceives that he has seldom
been present at a feast like this.
First of ali, the news of the day
flies from one end of the room to
the other; the matter in hand may
be what they call in Paris *potiae, a
scandal, crime, new play or book just
published, but be it what it will, every
body has a special opinion, a word to say,
tale to tell, bit of information to add.
Then all at once, stimulated by
some uttered thought, discussion dawns
and springs up, thought grows
.Potine is a Partisan word which means title
tattle scandal, SANDER.
A potnier is one who goes in the Bots de
Boulogna, where people meet and talk scandal
fpotine)
generalized, speakers grow eager and real
talk proceeds to the full length, either
dealing with the same topic or with hum
dred others as they rise to the surface.
One by one other guests come in; they
listen; in minute or two they are abreast
of the current. or perhaps they ask for ex-
plantations. Then some speaker will sum
up what has been said, and If he interprets
according to his own bias, and is not ex-
act, another will protest, and second dis
cussion arises within the circle of the first.
There are some Partisan salons, as there
were in the eighteenth century, in which
the mistress of the house has singular art
of bringing forward questions-which are
sometimes the strangest questions imagin-
able, likely, one would think, to provoke
only answers of no interest at all.
remember one such lady who. about a
fortnight ago. suddenly asked a distin-
guished sculptor:
What do you think of Troppmann?"
THAT he mi ssed his vocation, which
dren," replied S.: whereupon everybody
exclaimed, one louder than another.
because he made them into angels by
killing them ~ some one suggested.
"He was such monster that he did not
even spare his victims the sight of the
massacre of the others" SAID the lady of
the house.
a great pity for childhood"
"What an abominable paradox! 1t is an
outrage to humanity TO talk like that-to
use such a word as pity in connection
with Troppmann, they cried.
Il will prove what say" answered s.,
cooliy. "Troppmann worked in cotton
mill. He saw wretched children OF
years old tied IN, up to the waist, in tin
boxes. and placed under the looms to tie
the threads; he invented machine TO tie
them, and he thus saved the lives of an
immense number OF poor little wretches
who used to be kept immovable for hours
together in these boxes and to be lifted
out half paralyzed their arms only being
at liberty, hour after hour"
At the beginning OF this debate people
had laughed nervously; il left every one
thinking of the infinite contradictions
that Turk in he human soul.
The editor of little magazine in which
great writers made their first appearances
used u like 10 gather together poor Maui
PEASANT. now so dangerously i'll, Jules
Iemaltre and Paul Bourget--to name only
the leaders among the young men who
were at that time coming to the front.
Twenty Others used to surround and cate
chise them, and all three We're generous
beyond example in lavishing their store
of talent their varied and special
temperaments standing out sharply
nlain To brutality in the expression OF
his thought; he was massive, but always
with a really curious precision and sobriety
/ OF phrases, crossed by a gIeam OF the I'M
expected in his choice Of words: to startle
by his absence of sentimentality wos a
thing that gave him pleasure; nothing ap-
pealed TO him except the impression, the
Shock; he detested all idealism and per
ceived in life only that side which has to
| do with action. Norman 10 the backbone
as he was, he had a passion for ali sorts
| of sports, and used to put his mind
through such gymnastics that at las.
| one dav it got strained beyond recovery
Bourget. so nervously delicate, sought the
soul OF things, as Maupassant sought their
| sem blance. Feminine by nature-jusi
! as the other was masculine-his attention
was directed towards woman and he had
| an Infinite insight into her instincts. hel
desires. her receptions and her devotions
seeing her as Stendhal did, who dreaded