The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-02
LEAN RICHEPIN.
The Eccentric Author of "Le Chemi-
 neau"

hanged, eXClaluleu' But TOT tHd grace of God, here goes -," mentioning his own name? The prelate had been the reverse of an exemplary character in his early manhood, but had reformed in time. "Le Chemineau," who has no other appellation in the play, is not criminal. he simply suffers from an i'm vtnclble spirit of unrest. Jean Riche- pin was until very recently similarly afflicted, and but for different educa- tion and the grace of literature he would have ended as ends the charac- ter he has so powerfully portrayed
 It would not have been Richepins fault, any more than it is the fault o1 the irreclaimable but withal sympa- thetic vagabond whose fortunes we are to follow tonight. The nomad's in- stinct Is in Richepin's blood; he inheri- ted it. though not in the first degree. His parents were sober, prosaic, stay at-home folks, and only too happy to remain under their own roof-tree whenever they could secure one, which was not often, inasmuch as his father was an army surgeon, and as such bound to follow his regiment in it's ire quent change of quarters.
 A single glance at Jean Richepn suffices to explain the irresistible crav- Ing for change, for no man ever bore the unmlstakable stamp of his gipsy origin on his face as he does. The swarthy skin, the strongly marked fea- lures, crowned by mass of seml-lus- trous. fuzzy hair, absolve the genealo- aust from all further inquiry in that re- spect, even if the metallic but never the less melodious voice, the Asiatic poise of the figure, and, above all, tho love of bright colors, left a doubt on the subject in the genealogist's mind.
 remember as if it were yesterday the effect of Richepin's gorgeous plu- mage" on me. Even at the period Of my first meeting with him, the stu dents of the Latin Quarter had ceased tO make themselves conspicuous by ec- oentricity of attire. There were still few who paid grudging and rare visits to the barber, and flew more who, like a certain head master of Eton, dressed, but didn't wash" Upon the whole, though the brasseries where a friend and were spending part of the evening offered little or no vestural va riety, as far as its male patrons went. Suddenly the door was flung open, and there entered a magnificent specimen Of manhood, facially and bodily like a warrior figure from the antique Greek frtezes.
 His dress might have been designed by the costumier of the Opera Comipue; no other sartorial artist could have in vented it. Theatrical as it looked, it became its wearer admirably admira- bly,. His splendidly shaped lower limbs were cased in tight t-fitting cash mere brooches and patent leather he's sians; the statuesque head was cov- cred with a grayish Tyrolese hat adorned with a crimson cord and tas- sels the upper part of his finely pro- portioned frame in a dazzlngly white shirt of soft material, it's collar thrown back over black velvet or velveteen jacket The human athlete was ac- companied by a canine one, colossal Great Dane, as 1.-the and supple as his master, and comedy young woman particularly trim and nlaat, who, how ever, passed unnoticed between the two.
 Without being told, knew that this was Jean Richepin. I had seen several of his portraits five years previously when he made his first hit with La
 
 led to fame, but also to prison-for one calendar month. The poet came up tc our table and shook hands with my friend, M. Leon Cadart, who. although young, was then already the head o1 the well-known art publishers whici disappeared with him. Leon Cadar was Richepin's junior only a couple ot years, and had some knowledge of him tad to 1d al ff others His fathers establishment which devolved upon the son at th' stre's death, had Haen for a long time the daily resort of every one distin guished in art and literature, and thei satellites. ceased to be constan visitor In the latter capacity almos immediately after the war, when
 took up my quarters In London. My exit from the pleasant scene of Pari' life coincided with Jean Richepins en trance on it. that was the reason wh! we had not met before that evening.
 From our conversation, which wal prolonged to the small hours, and iron what l learned subsequently,, feel jus titled in my belief that "Le Chemineau' is a fragment of an autobiography
 Born under the burning sun of Afri Ca CnT1Slefl6u Uy dl eISIWHllS LOudN who had become priest, his certificat of birth made out by staff captain discharging the duties of department al register, the lad Richepin practical }y led the life of wild cult up to thu age of five, when his father, having gone to the Crimea, left his mother an him in modest lodging in the some what unsavory quarter of Belleville then a mere suburb of Paris, but thel as now a hot-bed of ever-simmerinl sedition and blatant demagogism. was not an ideal home for futur poet, but such as it was the recollec ton of the squalor and poverty wit messed there stood him in good stea when he wrote La Chanson de Gueux" For, while not keeping aloo from his fellow -urchins, the lad did no neglect his lessons. and one feels sure observed keenly for his age. Then hi father returned from Russia, and tn boy accompanied him from one bar racks to another, apparently learnin hdthing but to beat the drum in mas nerly fashion Apparently only; a sixteen he stood first on the list of tn Lycee Napoleon, and the distinctio gained him @ scholarship at the Ecol