The herald., 1897-08-18

To study the world as he studied it 1t
was necessary for him to make his per-
sonality unknown. He ignored it him.
| self. In order to meet, as he did, out
| laws, thieves, the prosecuted and the
disgraced, 1t was necessary for him to be
penniless, for Eugene Sues Prince of
Gerolstein, disguised under blouse and
hiding in his shirt pocketbook filled
with money, does not seem real. At
| regular intervals Constantinoff'S rela-
tives sent him a sum of money, amount
| ing ordinarily to $1,000. He got rid of 1t
promptly. He did this without much
! trouble, for he was literally the friend of
! women.
There was in the Rue de la Harpe an
eating house keeper whose shop was the
last stage of human misery. One could
eat there for a few cents nameless things
fixed up in two minutes in the most bar
barous fashion. The cook was not bad;
he was even man of genius. but he was
lacking in all the necessary elements
for good or bad cooking. He lacked,
notably, money. which flew from him
with extraordinary obstanacy. But, like
many poor people, he had a heart, and
his shop was refuge for poor women.
he went to that eating house. To the
women who were huddled there, pale
and badly dressed, he would say: II
invite you to dinner. Get all your
friends who haven't dined." The poor
girls ran like a lot of trembling spar
rows to the places where hunger lowered
that is, everywhere; and Constantinoff
put money in the eating house keepers
hands. The latter bought food and
candles.
Constant tinoff stood in front of the
cabaret, and soon in the night, under the
red lights of the street lamps, he could
perceive a crowd of women in rage as
numerous as the clouds of locusts that
devoured antique Egypt. They came
weary, frightened, pale with hunger and
hope. They piled themselves up in the
poor little hall. You could see them
around the tables, on the tables, on the
floor, on the stairs, in the kitchen. The
smoking dishes were in an instant
cleaned. The meal lasted as long as they
were hungry or until they were tired
of eating. Constantinoff urged the wait
ers. urged the eaters, animated the en-
thusia sm of the eating house keeper, and
did not leave without letting his silver
coin fall like a brook into the extended
hands of the guests.
Become poor again, he knew how to
be poor with elegance. He dined al the
baker Cretaine's, on Damphine street
where students assembled to hear him
talk. He spoke always, and at any time
with the most vivid ina agination and the
brightest wit. He had an open account
at the bakers for loaves of bread at
one cent apiece. At one cent apiece, and
his bill was once $100!
His name was the synonym of poverty
in Paris in Vienna, in Rome and even
in Sofia. One night on the plains of
highwaymen stopped him. II
am Constantinoff," he said, laughngly
They laughed as heartily as he and in
vited him to supper. He accepted He
learned their adventures and drank
champagne under the stars They in
vited him to return, but he answered,
wittily: Let us not pledge the future"
Constantinoff has been mistaken often
for his friend, DR.. Takeff. the politician.
The fact of one recalled that of the
other. They had the same air and ges-
ture. But they did not resemble each
other to those who saw them side by
York Journal