The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-03

Had she renowned the mother she could
nave been flne lady, pampered her life
long. with the luxuries of wealth. But
loyalty to her mother came first; every
thing else was subserVient to that
Her father was kind TO her, but he died
when she was young. Her early years
We're spent in the paternal chateau in
the south of France, where she received
the instruction given to the young girls
of good family at that time. Upon the
death Of the marquis, her father, the lat
ter's wife turned her out because of her
affection for the peasant woman, her
mother. Perhaps this act had more 10
do with planting the seeds of anarchy
in the soul Of Louise Michel than the
sufferings of dumb animals. Before she
was turned out she was very religious
and intended entering a convent She
wrote a little book of verses full Of senti-
ment and girlish piety and they earned
the praise of both Victor Hugo and De
ter contempt of her girlish illusions, al
though from a poetic standpoint they
possessed real worth.
To support herself and her mother she
taught one of the church schools in the
village of Chaumont but later she moved
to Paris, where she hoped to better her
circumstances by literary work. But she
made the acquaintance of the leading an
archists of the day, and being possessed
of wonderful powers of oratory and the
gift of passionate address, she soon be-
came a noted figure at the public meet
ings of these societies.
Subsequently in the dark days of the
Commune. she was one of its central fig
ures Like many other valiant-hearted
women of that time, she fought at the
barricades. She risked her life a hundred
times and fought like a demon side by
side with her lover. When cannon cut
him in two his blood splashed in her face.
Yet she kept on fighting with the frenzy
of tigress.
There were only a few whof survived
the attack on that barricade, and Louise
Michel was one of them. Two of the men
who We're captured with her were shot.
She defied the government to put her to
death and tried to spit in the faces of the
judges when her trial day came. She
was the personihcation of turbulent an
archy in the court room Her ringing
cries of 'Vive la Commune!' could be
heard blocks away. She laughed when
of transportation for life in New Gale
donia.
After the amnesty of 1880 she returned
to Paris, bringing with her curious red
cat of some wild Species That cat be-
came almost as famous as its owner and
every anarchist in Paris knew it, on her
return the revolutonists of the capital
turned out to meet her and the next day
she renewed her work. preaching the doc
trine of anarchy. The police cautioned
her, but she laughed at them and con-
tinued her efforts in the streets and in
the clubs to make converts. She was ar
rested and imprisoned, but on her release
she began preaching again.
OF late years the efforts of the police to
been prosecuted with such vigor that il
would have been impossible for her to
stay there, unless she was content to re-
main in prieon until the end of her days
Like others of her sect, she moved with
heIS old mother to London, where she
has lived the most frugal of lives.
In Paris her home was the poorest
place imaginable. For time she and her
mother lived with her nephew and his
wife in the garnet of a large apartment
house outside the Notifications of Paris.
Her room was a squalid den, with two
desks heaped high with papers, and a
table Uttered with odds and ends, a stove.
a parrot and a dirty dog. The owner.
Mile. Michel, was about the only clean
thing to be found in the place
She has deep faith in women. She saws;
when the great strike comes, the strike
of despair, which will give the world to
humanity, women will not be in the rear"
OF herself she says: Il am an anarchist.
but ! do not associate with any class of
socialists. l am in favor Of right and
harmony, instead of force. Women must
do their work individually. l do not be-
lieve in giving them the ballot Look at
the foolish things men have done with IT.
Would women be less foolish?"
She predicts that Germany will soon be
a republic, and a better one than France
for the reason that the men are cleaner
and less stupid