The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-19

else is cold, to wrap his coat about it.
somebody, some reporter, wrote a story
which was said to tell of the love of Yvette
Guilbert's life.
Bah Women with eyes like hers don't
tell OF their loves. They suffer them, they
i've IN them, and sometimes they die of
them. Somebody else, meaning to be
polite, and rememb ering her fondness for
the white gown and black gloves, compared
her to a bird. Never. Unless she was a
dove who sat on one of the trees in Para
disc and cooed ard wondered as she heard
the serpent tempting Eve. She looks as If
she might carry out the theory of trans
mlgratlon-as If she had known the his
tory OF every woman's heart since the
world began. And men see her and call
ner chic, which she is, and call her pc
cullar, which she is; but it takes always
a woman to discover what she really is
the Sphinx of the nineteenth century.
like ?' s''---0
There is light in the eyes, those Won
dertul eyes, that suggests femininity and
It's love for chiffOns. And she says, 81
llketa very quiet dress. [ like a black
dress, and one in which while look we'll
am not noticeable"
There IS toss of the head, shrug of
the shoulders, a movement of the beau
tltul hands, and | realize that it is not
GaVroche. the gamin, up to all the argot
and all the tricks of the street, to whom
am talking, but the grande dame.
But for the EVENING"" The hands give
kind OF whirl, as if they comprised all
the lilies in the world, and she answers:
Nv hlte before everything else. White in
beautiful clinging stuffs, and no Jewels"
Then remember what Balzac saws about
colors. BLACK apparently subdues, but it
has an ineXpresslble fascination while
white, although it looks virgin-like. is
powerful in its intensity to draw out"
With woman'S curiosity [ ask another
question. what do you consider beau
tiful woman2"
She looked at me, and then she seemed
to look far off in the distance before she
answered, what is beauty in one climate
IS not beauty in another. l do not admire
the English women; they are too regular
and too lacking in expression. Your
American women come nearer the French
women than any other people, but then
you are new race, and from you should
come the most beautiful women in the
world. And time and time only will prove
whether you have them, although l have
seen many beautiful American women
and l must say for them that thew
dress elegantly and have that indefnable
something which we call chic But a
beautiful woman to me and my people is
woman of expression; woman whose
LOG only IolI IuSif OUT whose
body in its litheness is most artistic No
fat-fat is not beautiful; no dimpIes-
dlmpIes are insipid; but xpression-that
IS what makes a woman charming, and
that is what makes her fascinating to men.
L have been told that your American
men are generous-that they work,
work, work, and are satisfied if their
women are happy. All! what superb
husbands they must make. What do l
love best to read? Old poetry. 1 like
some of the modern novelists, particularly
De Maupassant, because ne wrote first
about this, then about that was universal,
and an artist to his finger TIPS. | love
beautiful lingerie. How do you call it
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. All! 1 can imagine a
lady wearing a plain gown, but [ cannot
imagine gentlewoman who did not wish
her underwear, SO you call it, dainty and
exquisitely made and trimmed with lace
and ribbons"
hear it all. / hear the words, but be-
fore everything else there comes the music
OF that wonderful voice. call it fine; [
can think of no other word for it. 1t has
strength, it is clear, ringing, distinct, and
there Is never note too high or too low.
Every syllable has its value, and [ have
only heard one other woman whose French
compared with that OF Yvette Guilbert,
and that was Sarah Bernhardt. Her work
we'll, you have heard enough about her
work, and yet [ wish instead Of teaching
her plantation melodies, so she may have
some English songs in her repertoire, that
some one would make her understand the
meaning OF the words, and once she did
that, neither you nor l need doubt her