The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-03-13

the battle of Moscow, and so eScap-
ed the horrible fate of dying from cold
or starvation; instead, he was carried
off the field by some humane RUSSIAN
officers, and was treated with all honor
as a prisoner of war. In fact, it was
as an inmate of one of the grimmest
of Russian fortresses that he fell in
love with the young Russian lady who
afterWard became my grandmother.
At the time the marriage took place
the whole face of things in France had
completely altered.
THE Grande Armee was but phan-
tom memory; my grandfather's beloved
chief was heartbroken prisoner III st.
Helena, and so, yielding to his bride S
wishes, he determined to remain among
the aliens who had been so good to
him. He founded at Moscow fenc-
ing school, which soon became famous.
My father died when 1 was IL, and
in spite of all that my friends had to
say against the idea, / applied at the
French Embassy in order to know
what would be the best way in which
to fulfill the obligation. which I knew
devolved on every young Frenchman,
of serving a certain time in the French
army Once 1 had obtained this, to
me, very important information, Istart-
ed gayly for France with very little
money in my pocket, but with high
AlcpCo anu d1llpAllOiio odi lllSo
through my brain.
when young / had drawn a little,
but only for my own pleasure. One day
some one presented me with book of
French drawings and among them were
some by Detaille They impressed me
greatly. So when l reached Paris, in
my forlorn condition, / boldly presented
myself at M. Detaille's door, portfolio
of sketches under my arm.
kindly is not the word for the man
ner in which 1 was received. Edouard
Detaille received me in a fashion that
proved him to possess what is perhaps
rarer than great genius-a great heart.
He looked over my poor little drawings,
encouraged me to persevere and then,
after I became a private in the French
army, he never lost sight of me.
mot till I became attached to the
War Office, however. did find time to
do work with a view to publication. To
market for my wares, and it was then
that l first signed my drawings 'Caran
d'Ache,' which,~as you may know, sig
nifies in Russian lead pencil"
And did you gradually make your
way? Or, If it is not an impertinent
question, to what do you attribute your
first great vogue as a caricaturiSt?"
Nay, I consider that very legiti-
mate question, for there must be in
every artists life a moment when he
finds himself trembling between OBJ
security and popular success. AS for
myself. my first great stroke of luck
was undoubtedly the production of
L'Epopee' at the Chat Noir."
And as my host uttered these words
there suddenly came into my mind the
half-forgotten recollection of an even
ing at Montmartre, spent in gazing at
the wonderful shadow performance
which was at that time the talk, not
only of Paris, but of Europe.
Many of those to whom 'TEpopee'
stands out among their own cherished
recollections of a visit to Paris are
probably unaware that they owed this
rare artistic pleasure to the now ia
nous draughtsman; for at the time
when the original performance took
place in the strange Bohemian cafe
concert, now numbered among the dead
glories of vanished Paris. Caran d'Acf1e
was quite unknown save to small
group of Montmartre Bohemians.
"As to what suggested 1'Epopee,'
he added, that was very simple mat
ter A friend asked me to design an IL
Illustrated cover for comic song I at
tempted to carry out my idea by an
application of the old-fashioned silhou-
cite. Suddenly it struck me that my
initial idea was capable of unending
developments. I threw myself with ar
dor into the work. and as the result of
hundreds of experiments finally pro-
duced the leading scenes of the great
Napoleonic drama, carefully divided
into thirty tableaux. The whole was
engineered, as 1t were, with the help
of four thousand figures and horses