The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-27

workman TO a certain asylum for labor
erS who are incapacitated for work, and
| at once starts gu. to see the persons in au-
thority He goes first to visit the wife of
| great banker and financier, Duvillard. This
transports the reader from the atmosphere
or misery to that of luxury. Duvillard Is
type of the bourgeoise he is enormously
wealthy his grandfather began building UP
the fortunes of the family in the days OF the
revolution, first by dealings in the conflS-
Gated estates of the nobility, then in con-
tracts under the empire. His son continued
the process, and when the grandson, the
present Duvilard, arrived on the scene he
followed with increased vigor along the
same lines. He represents bourgeoiSe capt.
tai, the selfshness and greed, the luxury
and corruption of his class. His wife is the
daughter Of an old Jew banker who had
been a business rival, but she has been
converted under the preaching of a fash
ionable ecclesiastic and baptized with great
pomp in the Madelaine She IS forty-slE,
but is still beautiful. She has lover,
man much younger than herself, scion OF
the old nobility, while her husband carries
on without concealment liaison with a
notorious actress. The son and daughter or
this family who are perfectly aware or
these conditions, are supposed TO repre-
sent the decadence of the class to which
they belong. The race has been noted for
three generations for its masterfuI ylgor.
which has enabled the building up of this
fortress OF capital; the son, who represents
the fourth generation, is a weakllng, de-
cadent, q fool, intent only upon his own
follies, while the daughter, ugly, i'll tenn
pered and vindictive, is the rival of her
mother for the possession of the latter's
lover, of whom she desires to make nus
band. The banker is absorbed in all sorts or
speculations and at the opening of the story
there has just appeared in one of the Parl-
sian yellow journals a Scandalous account
OF how he has purchased deputies ana MN
listers to further one of his railroad schemes.
The actress is crazy to appear at the
Coincide Francois in certain role; 1t is ex-
eremely unsuited to her, she is notorious
for her face of virginia. beauty and inno-
cence and for the shamelessnesS OF her
character The banker is willing to over
turn ministries to secure the gratilcatlon
of her ambition.
The abbe's errand of mercy carries him
from the bankers mansion, where we are
shown a picture of voluptuous luxury ana
uties, and there are shown the NTH ana
venality of Partisan politics.; in the same
connection the degradation of the press Is
outlined. Purchased deputies, venal minis
tiers, corrupt journalists, all pass in review
before the reader. The vividness and SOM
berness of these pictures is striking; they
hold the attention closely. The able is
aware of the real meaning OF all that ne
sees. The charge OF corruption 1is,n IN mage DE
is accused of corrupting forms the supJect
of an Interpolation at that days sltlns
and nearly drags down the Ministry.
PANORAMA OF WICKEDNESS.
1t is necessary that the able should see
the banker, and he is forced to seek him
at the house of the actress. This presents
another section of the panorama of wicked
of a princess, where the social world of
Paris has gathered to witness an exhibition
given by a troup of dancers which is too
bad, even, for the music halls. One can
almost scent the heavy perfumed air of the
salons and feel the social virus that stag
mates and testers in that atmosphere of
luxury. The princess is a type well known
| In Paris, woman without character, who
dares all sorts of things, who takes up
with a new fad almost every day, whose
life is one long hunger for sensations.
So the able journeys from one to another
upon his errand to secure the authorization
of this and that fashionable patron of the
asylum for the removal to it's protecting
walls of the starving old man. He has left
him provided for so far as that day is con-
cerned; later in the day he is obliged to
wait two hours, and occupies the time by
going to hear the fashionable preacher, Mgr.
Martina, preach in the Madelaine The
prelate is supposed to represent the ideas of
Leo XIII. After the service the able meets
an old priest who had started him upon his
morning S GRAND of mercy, and learns from
him the poor old man has died alone on his
pile of rags while he has been trying to find
a shelter for him. The imbecility of the So
cal cruelty which condemned this poor old
tOller to death in the midst of plenty strikes
| like blow; his soul revolts against it. The
| incident emphasizes the helplessness of
| charlty to prevent this vast mass of suf
| number to succor the helpless to prevent
| want and crime, society is unable to pre-
| vent one poor old man from dying from
| starvation. 1t showed the collapse of the
whole edifce reared on the theory of char
| 1ty. Pierre departs from the Madelaine in
a whirlwind of despair. He wanders off
through the streets, where twilight is just
beginning to fall. Paris is beginning to
glow and glitter under the flare of gas and
electricity, the night birds are beginning to
come forth, and the mad whirl which goes
on under the cover of darkness begins to
be apparent: So vigorous is the author S
description that one ca almost see the bril-
/ liant streets with their gay throngs, their
contrasting groups of plenty and want, of
happiness and misery. 1t is Paris at night.
Everywhere is pomp and luxury, wretched-
ness and selfishneSs, misery and crime. IN
der all is felt the dumb, inarticulate protest
OF the suffering masses against the system
that robs them even of the ability to live
All through the day, at different stages in
his progress through the city, Pierre has
come upon the workman Salvat, whom he
had seen departing in the morning with his
bag or tools, in search of work. When the
able met him he has got rid of the bag
He comes upon him again in the edge of the
evening, lurking in the street, and under his
blouse there is bunch, the same that
Pierre had noted earlier in the day, and
had taken to be a hunk of bread the man
was saving for his supper. Salvat had
worked for Pierre's older brother, Gull
laume, chemist and mechanician, who has
cut loose from the ties of church. and who
represents the educated workman. He is
well-to-do, and lives with his family of
three sons. their grandmother, and an
adopted daughter He was not married to
his wife in due form, because he did not
OSiACNC III SNSi Dul MS fanny
life is irreproachable. Because Of the differ
ence in their ideas Pierre and his brother
had not had much in common of late years
AS he goes through the streets and comes
upon Salvat again, he decides to follow
him. and while doing so, sees him meet his
brother Guillaume, who shakes Salvat by
the hand, passes him and then turns and
follows him also. Pierre follows BOTH
SALVAT PLANTS A BOMB.
This episode ushers in the second stage;
the attempt of the Anarchist to compel a
social revolution by violence. The two
brothers, the elder unconscious of the
others vicinity, follow Salvat, who goes
without haste yet with steadiness, to the
| home of the banker, Duvillard. There he
| places bomb under the entering archway
and runs away. Guillaume, dfvinng what
the man had done, rushes into the archway
to extinguish the fuse, but too late. A ter
rible explosion comes, in which he is wound
| ed in the wrist a poor, young working
woman, just entering the house with a
| bandboX from a milliner's is instantly
| killed. the mansion is rent and torn but
| nothing else is effected. Duvillard's son and
| daughter, returning from some social func-
| ton in their carriage, have a narrow es-
| cape, bat are unframed. Pierre rushes into
| the smoke and confusion and drags his
brother away ere his presence has been dis
covered. He carries him to his own home,
where such medical treatment as he re-
| quires is furnished 1t is deemed best that
he shall remain there in hiding for the