The Opelousas courier., 1899-03-18
MEMORIES OF CHOPIN
Tragedy sad Comedy of His IL 2d
George sands.

Tragedy aRd Comedy 6 HIS Life md
George sands
CHOPIN sleeps in Pere Lachaise and
though the Ariel Of memory viii add
TO the rest morceaux Of his own noe
eurnes and melodies till. II you Will
the place be as full Of noises, sounds
and sweet airs as P~rospero's isle, says
Chambers Journal. It u pleasant TO
rest awhile, listening TO these things,
and looking On at what fancy will 90
to their measures, the visions it will
bring. the figures It will shape and un-
shape from the fugitive brain scraps
you throw It. But among the pictures
which come and go, like the faces over
b witches kettle-dim cathedral.
glartng opera house, t%wilighted draw
inSr room, a yellow 400 over the trees
al, Chopin, what fools you made OF
others Ut an imparsonal
kind, biographical vtgnsttss which
these men around have left on ell our
minds There il the Partisan salon.
Hetne smiling over at Bellini; the tair
lady. amused with the mastro's ca1as
~delicately destroying them with his
cana Not one of them thought that
n fourteen days time poor Bsllini.
curis a1d all, would be under the
ground at Pere Lachaiss. Then ap-
pears a severer apartment; a short,
muscular man there sQuare-jawed and
angry-eyed, as Cherubini turns upon
him half bitterly: "Citoyen General. I
perceive that you love only that mu-
sic which does not prevent You from
thinking OF your politics." And the
Italian moves away. az II adding IN
der his breath, why Ia this man n o
N!das-earsd?" For that little, stout
man. Napoleon, had alone mid ap-
plauding Paris, beltttled his music.
And now rises a room In Florence. a
litter Of books and papers. De Mus
set writing. George Sand debating 1t
is Choptn's dotng-he has reminded "
OF them. But now he appears himself,
his piano before him dreaming through
his finger tips and making more
dreams for his crouching listener, the
same George Sand. The tragedy and
comedy Of those two livesl-they make
rs weep and smile By turnA The
sculptured muse on q composers tomb
sits mourning, Tyre In hand. But 1t
is all past now, that sorrowinS time.
For when Chopin died, did he not
leave Us his better angeli The must
clans soul of him, does 1t not dwell
purely among US, a OF the "choir
invisible" which is ever urging N to
larger ~issues?" One wishes the ng-
ure would lift its head as the sick
hearted do at the last burst In the
March Funebre.' The few poor
bones she weeps yer are not Chopin.
On the other hand, cold blooded ami
mails have no proper temperature II
their own; they are warm In warm
weather and cold in cold weather. A
fish, q snake, a frog. or an insect, when
at rest, Is rarely more than two or
three degrees warmer than the air OF
water in which It Ia living. Mr. suth-
erland placed some lizards in cold
water, which was then gradually
and he found t1at IN all cases
the lizards became warmer as the
water was warmed and cooler a the
was eooled-in other words. they
depended upon external circumstances
for their heat. But this Ia not abso-
lutely true, for when angry, cold
blooded animals, like human beings.
hotter than usual, even Q fish
Using several degrees above the tenn
osrature Of the water when L u sx-