Evening star., 1901-08-24
THE CODE OF HONOR
Duels in France Are as Frequent and
Popular as Ever.
WHAT HAPPENED In AMERICAN
A New Hand, but He Pinked His
Opponent in Fine Style.
ALL PLEASED EITHER WAY
,pecial Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


PARIS, August Is. 1901.
1t Is imprudent for young American in
Paris. knowing neither how to fence nor
shoot. to slap. punch. jolt or otherwise
maitreat Frenchman OF his own class of
society.
He may find hinself-fike the young man
in this story-in the cruel predicament of
having to accept duel and get run
through the gizzard. or refuse a duel and
find himself tabooed by half his friends,
for there is no getting away from it that
In a country where the duel Is rooted in
stitution Its refusal puts silly kind of
stain upon the reputation.
It was in one Of those cafes Of the Latin
quarter where students spend the leisure
time gained by their complete abstention
from all college athletics. outdoor sports
and daily bathing: and the young Ameri-
can sat in it, his lapel decorated with the
stars and stripes Now. 1t has done no
harm of late to wear the little flag; great
deal has happened since the days OF the
Cuban war and the s'hoiy alliance" The
Latin quarter has 'deInonstrated'' for the
Beers and worked itself UP to a nasty feel
ing against everything English. Therefore.
as few of us indeed manage to rid ourselves
OF the betraying Aoh yes! accent, II Is
Englishman. Even English students have
discovered this.
The young American sporting his flag
dreamed no evil. With two friends. enc
French and one American, he sat chatting
in the ''Aoh yes!" dialect. Sitting near
them was a university acquaintance Oh a
somewhat different category from them
selves. 1t was bushy-bearded person, an
"Old student an authority In the quarter,
who had seen many students come and go
while he remained. He might be learned
dilettante specialist, or merely man OF
means enamored of the student lie; Tor
there are many such; they go their way
and nobody inquiries what they are doing.
By degrees he mixed himself into the con-
versation, and soon he was saying unkind
things about America, its politics, It's peo-
pie and it's social conditions. One word
brought on another, until our American. to
relieve the warm feeling near his necktie,
fetched the bush-bearded Gaul hard one
on the cheek with his right palm.
just What Was Needed.
The cafe was Immediately In an uproar.
AS the two principals were evidently OF the
same social class and knew each other the
proprietor thought 1t discreet not to inter-
fere There was no more violence, but
deal Of talking; for mutual acquaintances
sprang up from an around. AS for the
bearded one. he acted with more than Cor
rectness. Leaning over the little table with
its upset glasses. he rendered the young
American his card All knew what this
meant, and admired greatly. At once the
quarrel assumed q new dignity These
French young men grew grave, thoughtful,
polite, steady, consequential worthy. Their
compatriot was Offering this foreigner the
privilege Of giving him the satisfaction OF
gentleman on the field of honor.
But it is ahsurdi' exclaimed the young
ly, Immediately left the cafe, accompanied
by a number OF adn1iring friends
Nobody fights .duels nowadays?" in
quired the Frenchmen, increduiously. pity
Duels are fought every day right here in
Paris If you read the papers you would
know that. You had better say that every
body fights duels nowadays"
They were right. Statistics show that in
present-day Paris duels are three times as
frequent as they were during the imperial
period of Napoleon III: and since every one
today passes through the army and picks
up the point-of- honor sentiment together
with an elementary knowledge Of fencing,
the best authorities agree that the man of
honor cannot refuse the clerk. the counter
jumper or even the Workingman satisfac-
tion If he has been so imprudent as to give
him Just offense. This is one Of the rea-
sons why men Of position show such ex-
Quisite courtesy to those below them.
In for 1t Sure Enough.
Thus It soon was made only too clear to
the young American that the feeling OF all
his French friends was that he must fight
or make q formal and public apology; and
he OWNED that to apologize would hurt his
reputation. More annoying still. when he
sought comfort from Americans he found
them undecided. Some said doubtfully that
the good name Of American students ought
not to be jeopardized. Others weakly de-
clared themselves incompetent to give an
opinion. One or two were quite sure that
having got into 1t he ought to take the
usual way out. But none OF them came out
on principle against the barbarity Of duel
ing. He was astonfsned at them. An
American physician, here a special student.
actually volunteered his services as sur-
geon. Others hinted that they would never
leave him in the lurch, but would stand by
him to the end. He discovered that by
standing by" him they meant they would
not refuse to act as secondsi
You ought to go Immediately home and
wait for his friends to call on YOU" he was
told. So he went home and they went with
him. RELY on u.s." they had said. It be-
gan to look as IL they were relying on him
on him to give them q
chance to distinguish themselves as Sec
to talk about warning the papers," he al
most became convinced that he would en-
JOY publicity. Warn the papers Of what?.'
he asked. He gathered that tfIey thoupht
the papers should be warned not to publish
anything about the duel-at least but a
very little@o get the matter put CORRECTLY
before the public. But If we don't tell
them they won't know anything" replied
the innocent one. "Hm!-hm! lyon can
never KNOW" they answered.
Prompt I'm Calling.
They had not waited an hour before there
was q knock at the door. Two gentlemen.
one of whom they knew for freauenter Of
their cafe. the other a young painter quite
popular in the quarter. made their en-
trance. Both were In frock coats, high hats
and dark gloves. Both had canes. They
told their erralld with a charming courtesy
explaining that they ought not to talk with
him, but be referred to two of his friends
.sThese two gentlemen are my friends" he
said; and though all four to his certain
knowledge were at least on nodding ac-
quaintance each with the other. he formal-
iy presented them.
The four retired together to a neutral
cafe. leaving the young American a short
period OF leisure which he might have oc-
cupied in writing to his dear ones. Instead
he put In the time kicking himself yehe-
ment1y.
When his two friends returned their faces
were SO bright with satisfaction that he
thought the trouble must have been ami
cably adjusted after all.
Its all right. they said.
"How?' inquired the principal, oyerioyed.
"We fight tomorrow morning with duel