Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-05-25

enough Tor the impatient candidate
waiting with hope and apprehension TO
the result Of the balloting Sometime.
several ballots have to be taken befor,
any result is reached, Il majority bein:
necessary to election. Each candidat,
is nominated by his particular friend.
and a summary of the various ballots
is published in the newspapers, although
no one knows just how the votes wer,
cast The result is that the old I'm
mortals are perfectly free to play fas
and loose with their supposed protege:
if they feel thus disposed.
The announcement of the successful
candidate is the signal for another com
motion in the literary world. Whoever
he is there are many who will demon
strate his utter unfitneSS for the honor
and the vastly superior claims of some
body else. When lola was beaten the
last time there was much hard feeling
in Paris, and such is always the case
Indeed it cannot be denied that the
Academy frequently seems TO make
laundering selections. Some of the
greatest writers France has ever pro-
duced have never been elected to the
number of Immortals, although their
names will be. perhaps, more immortal
than those who refused them. Moliere,
for lntS;lnce, was not member OF
the Academy, neither was Pascal, nei-
Their was Describes; and today, among
the living writers of the first rank
who have not been honored by the
Academy, may be mentioned Alphorse
Daudet, Georges Ohnet, Emile lola,
Paul Bourget, Guy de Mauspassant and
Catulle MenSen.
On the other hand the Academy has
often chosen men for no other apparent
reason than that they had riches or
social position, or that they had gained
a certain eminenece as compilers of die
tionaries OF books of reference. Among
the present members NJ. de F'reycinet,
although prominent as a statesman,
has never written anything Of cOnSe-
quence and has little claim to literary
distinction. He was successful, how
of well known writer's including Emile
lola. The present Forty" also in
cludeS the Due d'Aumale, the Duo de
Brogile, the Due d'Audiffret-Pasquier,
and other men with great titles but lit
tie else to recommend them.
The Academy does, however, include
at present such great writer's as Alex,
andre Dumas, Victorien Sardou, Sully-
Francois Coppee, LecOnte
de Lisle and the playwright Pailleron.
NJ. Leconte de Lisle succeeded Victor
Hugo when the latter died in 1885, and
was the great poets favorite for his
successor.
After the election of a candidate to
fill one of the vacant places there comes
several months later what is perhaps
the most impressive ceremony connect
ed with the Academy. This is the pub
lie afternoon reception of the new I'm
mortal at the Mazarin palace. All tie
Immortals are present in their grand
robes of state, with a funny short sword
worn aWkWardly at the side-for OF all
men in the world the Immortals art the
least accustomed to carry SWOrdS-:lnd
their dress suits embroid ared with
green palm leaves, the symbols Il their
glory. On their bald heals they wear
the regulation three-cOrn 4r2d hats. also
embroidered with palm leaves Of the
same color They file soleuIity out up
on the platform where the SPEECHES ere
made, and look for all the world like
characters in opera bouffe, so ridiculous
is the contrast between their rather
gaudy makeup and the melancholy eX-
preston of their faces.
Meanwhile the hall, which is con-
Structed like theater and can hold
about 500 people, had been stuffed 10
the point of suffocation with two CT
three times that many representatives
of the upper crust of Paris society.
This is a grave social event, and the
ambassadors of many countries and the
various social lions are present at it
as regularly as at the first night Of a
new opera.
Then come long-winded speeches,
mostly eulogies on the literary world in
general and the Immortals in particular.
The new candidate reads in mOnoto-
nous voice what will make a whole sup
plement of the Temps of that evening,
five or six columns in close print, and
very few people except himself ever
do read it. 1t is almost invariably I'M
qualified praise of the great man whose
place he has been called upon to oc-
cupy.
Ev erybody applauds tremendously
when it is over, and, if the truth must
be told, because it is over. The fash
ionable people of Paris enjoying seeing
the time-honored ceremony. but they do
despise being bored.
One peculiar thing about these speech
es at the academy is the fact that the
public hall where they take place has
wretched acoustic properties, and this.
taken in connection with the fact that
the ImmOrtalS have usually weak voices
and are rarely given to oratory, results
in very few persons in the audience
being able to hear what is said. Some
years ago one of the new candidates,
believe it was NJ. Pasteur, hearing of
this unfortunate peculiarly of the hall,
to investigate in advance,
and actually went there some days be-
fore his speech for a sort Of rehearsal
With his Scientific mind the eminent
savant soon discovered that he could
obtain better results by addressing his
voice in the directions of a small marble
statue of Immortality. And when the
day of his reception came he did this
with good results. There was some sort
of sound focus in that direction which
helped the audience to hear.
One of the bitterest enemies of the