Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1893-09-16

pornographic innuendoes openly sung .
on the Partisan variety stage to-day.
No doubt there were lines in the 4
songs OF lie Colonel and others sung 4
80 charmingly by Jude and Theo that 4
would not be considered quite the 4
proper thing in young ladies' board \
ing school, but most of the songs now 4
sung with such brazen effrontery at (
the Ambassadors, the Ycala and the /
Alcazar, If not as offensive in word as
those sung before male crowd at the !
cider cellars and the coal-hole in
the days of dear old Col Pendennis,
are even more corrupt by implication,
and still more unfit 10 come before a
New York audience of any society or
circle.
We need not ii is true, occupy our
selves with the marvels of foreign
cities, any more than need the Jclla-
bys OF the missionary craze when they
have sayages in the Sums Of their own
land. Hamburg's pollntions made il
necessary for our sanitary officers to
ward OF the cholera bacillus So, the
chansonette bacillus, having in the
last two wears found its way into New
York, ii is only right To expose il in
its foul reality, now that il is re-
ceived into the Vaudeville Club, and
later, perhaps, into New York drawing
rooms.
The French language is less spoken
in New York than ia any metropolis
! in the civilized world. The Admi raj
1 and his officers of the Arethuse, SO
| lately feted here, expressed their as
constituent al the ignorance of the
| language and the difficulty found in
conversation with the majority Of cnl-
I tiyated Americans. The criticism is
| Just, though funny. coming from
| Fir nchmen, VINO VIGOROUSLY give
| themselves less trouble than any ma
| ton 10 learn foreign languages.
/ The fact is that French having for
| centuries been the language Of courts
/ and diplomacy the French have found
1 il easier to find foreigners making
| themselves understood in French than
| IL was 10 try TO make themselves un-
derstood in English or German.
have met Frenehmen who have been
| residents for twenty years in foreign
| land with the bares. vocabulary OF
their adopted country and a pronun
citation like a parrot with impediments
in his speech.
But ali the same, as rule New
| Workers do not know much French.
Then. again. there is no language in
which slang seems so prolific. Every
year in Paris adds 10 the vocabulary
OF the street. the stage and the studio.
! What was a lion" III the time OF Louis
Philippe becomes a 'gandin" in the
Napoleonic Republic, petit
creve" under Napoleon III,
"commeuXn later on. and so
on. So that not only had a Pari-
sian 10 know the new slang, but to
forget the old. On this account il is
possible to introduce into the song Of
the day many expressions and many
forms VI speech not only nisunder-
stood by the provincial visitor 10 Paris,
bat incomprehensible TO the foreign
ers who do not know the language of
the Boulevard, which is as different
from pure Noel and Chapsal as White
House oratory is from Bowery thiefs
lexicon.
To say that this si-gcr or that
among the Fougeres the Bordeaux,
the lompons and others who have in
vaded our variety halls, Is better or
worse than WET Guilbert, now the
recognized planet Of French chanson-
cite singers, does not affect the ques-
tiou. When the committee Of the
Vaudeville invite Mile. Cochonnette,
or whatever her name was, TO sing be-
fore the maids and matrons Of the
400" ii /, presumablc that they them
selves had ut le real knowledge Of the
meaning u much that was sung, but
none the less was il heir duty TO find
cut from some competent individual
whether the songs were iii for publ
cation before any female audience in
New York, whether understood by it
or not
The same feeling that inspires any
man of honor with dislike TO seeing
woman Of known illfame in the
same restaurant or conveyance with
his own female relatives should make
him blush II he hears offensive words
used in their presence, even If the pur-
port Of such words falls unhe sded on
their ears,
Go into any Of New York's best
known variety halls when a French
singer is on omit rarqucrctte, whose
original fun is quite sufficient TO in
sure success without resorting 10 Lam
guage al all-and there you will find
that to that large class of Americans
and Germans who do not understand
the verses gestures are accumulated
for their benefit, while the few French
who are present smoker and nudge
each other in Unsurpassed laughter
| while the frequent obs testify 10
the indeccncies delivered in the most
open way to the delighted listeners
Every ono knows how Yyette came
over TO London last season 70 sing at
stag party" in one of the finest
houses in Belgrave Square. Ladies
were not invited. Poor cause.
do not wish to pose as better than
my neighbor. have roarcd over farces
at the Palais Royal and laughed at
many an after.dinner story in which
wit was palliative for Questionable
taste. but the French song of the pres.
ent day, rs song by Yvette Guilbert
and repeated by all her followers, is
nauseous. rs well as indecent The
prettier the woman, the more offensive
the thing bee mes to my mind, and l
like 10 believe that modesty is still a
virtue in all society,
The Throw Him Down McCloslSies, !"
the Boom ta-ra-ras" and the Daddy
I prnt,,ieaI How. xx.nxx+SH ny iIinfip bttt