Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-27

R.N\ ~ fact of their feEli-
ninity, their commun-
ism, their Parisianism and their power of
making themselves heard. In everything
else the flaming old woman of the people is
almost at the opposite pole from the gentle
featured, ladylike little bourgeoise rejoicing
in the nom de plume of Severine. Yet such
is their similarity of aim and sentiment
that those who looked at Louise Michel one
time with such wide-eyed interest now are
contemplating Severine with the same SEN
timent. 1t seems that Paris must contin-
ually have some woman of this sort to
voice the unnappiness of her unfortunate s
Nine. Seyerine is Paris newspaper wri-
ter who has made her fame and her for
tune by her articles in favor of people be-
longing to the seamy side of life. She has
protected anarchists, innocent and guilty;
lived with communists, obtained pardons
for convicts interfered in strikes and cleo
lions, and collected money for declasse
women. In general, any oppressed person
or thing has her sympathy; wherefore she
encouraged Naundorff, pretender to the
throne of France; defended Philippe dor
leans, the 'conscript prisoner" with equal
ardor; interviewed the pope and set him
right before the world, and, after having
cried against Boulanger, wept for pity of
him when he fell.
Writes FeelinEly.
She has cultivated a style of hysterlcal
wailing which has originality of its own,
unquestionahly makes moving reading and
gives people the sentimental thrills Tor
which they ask today. Certainly she is
woman of feeling, or she would not be able
to express feeling 80 touChingly. And, just
as she has need of feeling in order to write
feelingly, SO she has need of the oppressed,
in order that she may continue to feel
fro 1,a,
early life that she would become the best
paid journalist of Paris, contributing, as
she does, at a fixed rate of $50 apiece, five
leading articles each week, which appear
IN as many prominent journals of Paris.
The Ec!air, Matin. Gaulois, journal and Gil
Bias are her regular papers She writes
frequently for the Figaro and Petit Journal
as well Her vogue Isl equal to that of
Kochefort or Drumont. The poet has spok-
en- OF tears, idle tears. y. l know not what
they mean. These are not idle tears the
tears of Sevcrine, and every one does know
what they mean.
Her First Flight.
She is Parisienne OF the petite bour-
geoisie. that self-respecting, struggling
lower middle. class, whose existence is so
painfully passed in making both ends meet
and proudly concealing its efforts. Her
father, a los.-child detective attached to
the prefecture Of police was At once man
n
senist Roman Catholic tyre. Her mother
appears to have been an admirable house
keeper tranquil. religious and cold. The
nome LIE was rigid. Whether as a result
Oh tnis rlgidity or as merely premature
pickering of the holy flame, while she was
yet child of seven years she profited by
her mothers tales CT kidnapping tramps
and gipsies to put on her hat and walk
away one morning. Taking with her her
doll, the remains of cherry pie, and a
laurel crown won at a school examination,
she fled across Paris. gained the Place des
Invalldes, where gypsy fair was in course
ana. carefully selecting the blacklist old
witch OF the caravan, bowed politely with
the words: Madame, 1 have come to be
stolen"
Later Childhood.
There are glimpses of her later childhood
and early maiden life, where nine hours
day of the piano seem with difficulty to ac-
commodate themselves with the ground
work of a profound erudition in Latin,
Greek and mathematics We have it from
her own account. given to the anarchist
student Zevaco, that "for an instant she
thought of God The tenderness which
shoulders in this burning soul sought a
refuge In the mysticism Of which she will
never be cured; so much SO that in the con-
vent school the superior said to her:
Daughter, remain with us. You will be
the Saint Theresa of our ORDER" Never
theless, at fifteen years of age, she was
married to an honorable man. who was
able TO support her in material plenty.
In 1880 Madame Severine found herself
in Brussels on a pleasure trip with her
husband. There she made the acquaintance
OF the arch-communist Wales. VINO had
escaped being shot against the wall with
his fellows to languish in exile in the pleas
ure-loving capital of Belgium. She UNDER
stood that she was born for the second
time.
In the same year an amnesty brought
n PQrtS Ono nf h c first to
was to propose a career to Severine. She
should work with him; he would teach her
the trade" Of jol rnalist. She accepted
with enthusiasm, and, all happy and glow
Ing, communicated the news to her hus-
band. He with the rest of the family, OBJ
jected, and Severine, despairing. shot her
self In the breast, after having written
pathetic letter to Wales, attached to her
pillow by hatpin. Two months later,
being again on her feet, they permitted her
to follow her destiny. She became the pu-
Pill, secretary and companion of Wales.
Communicate Beginnings.
Nov, the true nature of Severine ito
quote from the account of one Of her hang
ers-on). her true nature, made up at once
of tenderness and gayety, bloomed into
magnificent Towering" Seated at little
table beside the master, aceHally dipping
her pen into his ink bottle, she copied his
manuscripts in a hand more acceptable to
tAC C1iuPoslloIS. LII tHSc eNcL4uS lucy WALL
dered to q neighboring Restaurant. interro-
eating the street, that enormous book, al
ways open, whose every page contains
romance. drama or a comedy. He taught
her to see and interpret.
At other times they staye6in the house.
and the fair pupil, transformed to nurse.
prepared the dinner for the already aging
and sickly Wales. CoopF book in hand, she
gave herself up earnestly to- the study Of
the cuisine au beurre, and she did not seek
to hide the pride with which her progress
In the science filed her. Wales grew rap
idly worse. and more important duties were
tntrusted to her. "a
Where she had copied MSS. she now cor
rected proofs. Soon she wassinserting adj
jectives-always submitted beforehand to
the master. At last she became active col
laborateur. And the articles Of Wales APP
pearing during the last three years of his
hfe-he died early in 1SS5-are known to be
made up of large proportion Of the work
OF this new Partisan journalist, the only
VIC man journalist of Paris then, as now.
In 1883 Wales began to float the Cri du
Peuple, and In 1t Severine appeared for the
first time over her own name. Two stormy
years, in which the fear of the police was
mingled with the. fear Of creditors. brought
the master to the peace of the grave
Whatever else may be said Of him, he was
an old man. and a faithful revolutionist to
f11o 10 0f yfc A.