Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-25

and he recounts the battles by which he gained
his supremacy. There is the jovial drunken
lOafer. staggering along side street, without
money or credit, comically bewailing that the
pleasures Of love are denied him.
Then the gutter girl. who has become grande
cocotte. passes her old companion without rec
ignition. and he curses her between his teeth
Sick men. waiter girls in low resorts. d,sgyaced
soldiers. old women who sit knitting downcast
house servants without characters, coal h-av-
ers who wuI!id rathe- steal begSs-s, loafess
and willing and unwilling deAibeats all pass
In review before this poet OF the wretnhed and
gro;esque.
Bruant never misses an occasion 10 be bizarre
astounding. daring and brutal. One of the
most harsh OF al his songs took on by acct
dent, a special appropriateness last year during
the prolonged cholera scare. and 1t is likely to
have great vogue again next year, if ali which
The scientists predict come true:
The druggists all are saving.
:; comes, The thin sure.
S. buy our disinfeciInI
VI sclpha;e, of chlorure-
Here's ;he cholera. the chO.erai
The cholera = nirh,
Or botiI sides Of the river
livery o1e IS sure 20 die. (bis)
After the clergy have had their saw and the
collins have been sold at the gates of the ceme-
terics and the bodies have been piled up whole
sale Ii winds up with bit of radical politics.
AM the good Co. up At the , Sacred Heart.
While the cszots high lift up the cry
'Creye Ia ReruDEque!"
This is followed by the slow chant Of a verse
from the psalm used by the church in times of
calamity, ''Parce. Domino" &c. at the close Of
which the wild refrain bursts out again:
Here's the cholera, the cholsrai
On both sides o: the river
Every one Is to die!
This song is fin de steele enough. All of
Bruants productions are capable of being used
to illustrate phrase which it Is difficult to de-
fine. What is fin de steele? The words are in
every mouth. On the Grand Boulevard cam
eliot is selling some new and grotesque toy. He
chants in rich, fatty voice: lie petit rigolo,
c'est epatant, cest fin de steele? On M jamais
WI ca.-no one has ever seen thisn' The words
are a peg upon which those who use them hang
the curious fabric of their hopes and prejudices
in these last times, when everything in France
seems new and changing.
To the religious enthusiasts and the young
men Of the neo-Christian movement fin de
steele means the crisis Of fever before it breaks
France, satlated with a century of license, will
begin to seek for God as eagerly as God, . CEN
fury ago, was supposed to seek out man.
On the other hand, there is the army of the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, farceurs These are fed
daily and revived by the fin de steele journals,
which make sport of sin, and by fin de steele
cafe concert singers, among whom Bruant
shines particular star. Hanging over these
with indulgent amusement. the Greek gods
hoated over ancient Troy. is the Olympia of the
great world. the rich and the successful who
find new thrill of emotion in becoming famil-
lar with the least details OF the ignoble, the
wretched, the depraved and the unfortunate.
1t is this fin de steele wave that Bruant rides
SO famously.
Bruant is the proprietor Of a cabaret-the
Miriton-near the top of the Rue DIES Martyrs.
He IS his own proprietor, his own singer his
own policeman to keep order and almost his
own waiter to serve customers. Curious peo-
pie stand around the closed door, which is kept
always locked. You knock and give your name
and Bruant himself introduces YOU into the
hall. He is master in his own house and looks
attentively at the persons whom he admits. He
points out place with some jibing remark. and
then returns to his singing or to receive
new guests. The noisy chorus of the public,
seated before little tables covered with glasses
of beer, keeps up the refrain. He sings his own
verses walking with great strides across the
hall. piano softly touched gives discreet
accompaniment.
The Mirliton is O curious scene The little
room Is profusely lighted, with rows of wooden
tables. where persons OF every rank take their
glasses of weak beer. The single waiter. ma
jestic as one of Napoleon's marshals. has an eye
10 1t that every one shall take something and
pay for what he takes. Then there is humble
assistant, with the look OF a schoolmaster who
sells the latest songs and fills out the pauses
by recitinS verses to which no one listens. Last
Of all Is the domineering master himself
whether swelling his stentorian voice to call
some recalcitrant to order or lisping q fairy
story to some belle, his ewes are everywhere and
on all IN order that nothing may happen in
this place of his outside himself.