New-York tribune., 1901-01-12
THE REAL PARIS.
PICTURES BY AN UNUSUALLY CLEVER
OBSERVER.

OBSERVER
PARIS OF THE PARIsIANs. BY, John, F. Mac
donald. 12no. pp. xviii. I9S. Philadelphia: }. b.
Lppincott Company
When some Of the papers brought together in
this book were first printed in The Saturday
Review" they picked out by more than one
reader as exceptional contributions to the light
er literature of Partisan life. The theme seems,
of course one of the least battling in the world.
What could be easier the young writer asks
himself than putting into words just what one
sees in the French capital? It is SO Materials
tic a spectacle. Its elements swiftly
grasped. They lie the surface. In fact. the
average writer who comes fresh to the task is a
little puzzled at the failure Of his predecessors
to do what he means to do so well and so soon.
Needless to say, he is presently in the category
OF failures himself The explanation is obvious.
If you write about Partisan life from the outside
you represent. alas only the outside. If you
get at the inside Of things your report, if you
are human. is almost certain to be colored un-
duly by the prejudices Of your surroundings.
Mr.. Macdonald is rarely equipped. He knows
his Paris and write about it from the in
side. But while he does so he detaches himself
from his subject, looks all around it. it as
dispassionately as though he had never in his
life danced at Bullier's OF made friends with a
student of the Latin Quarter. The result is a
book OF remarkable vitality. truth and interest.
We have had all manner Of fiashy, would-be
brilliant articles about the poets who haunt the
cabarets Of Montmartre singing songs of which
both the words and the music are their own.
Mr.. Macdonald, in a brief chapter Georges
Miandy, author of Les Freles Chansons." "
gives US, last, exactly the right picture of the
type, thus:
There are fifty or more such poets; each af-
fected with the mysterious melancholy.
Forlorn themes attract them: the amours Of
the Pierrot, no happier, no more lasting, than
their own. They love his pallor, his inYariable
wistfulness. They have fellow feeling for this
suffering suitor, always refused, always dlsap-
pointed. Musicians most of them, they attach
suitable airs TO their lines. Not merry music
you may be sure. but sad and slow and monoto-
nous At the Boudiniere and Pompadour, frail
theatres. fashionable at five, tEey sing. No
noisy orchestra accompanies them. They step
nstlessly on to a fral stage. lean languidly
against the piano. and wait for frail camarade
with frail fingers TO begin.
lis etaient trois petits enfants.
Qui sen allaient glaner aux champs,
nurmurs NJ Millandy with his accustomed
melancholy. The first child looks for lilies, and
finds only thorns. The second seeks fairies The
third learns 'tristement qu'on reve desespere-
ment." And emotion oVertakes the sale. Sym
pathetic sighs are heard. The PompadOur is
touched Sadder grows NJ. Millandy, softer his
voice. Each child drOops Each child dies; dies
d'avoir vainement
Cherche du bonheur, supplement.
And NJ Milandy passes away, in a mist so far
as the ladies of the Pompadour are concerned.
His camarades follow: Theodore Botrel EaXer
Privas and Montoya Each sings his song, lean
ing listlessy against the piano Each passes
away, leaving the audience moved by his sor-
ROW. Artificial sentiment this may be. Chill
dren do not die of despair finding thorns in
stead Of lilies: and although they equally
unlikely to fade away from sheer want of a
fairy. il pleases the Partisan for the moment TO
believe the anomaly. Stern realities bore him.
He cares nothing for age, or time, or date He
loves incongruities. He will mix up the seasons;
make October May by decking the trees on the
Champs Elysees with artificial blossoms and
buds. Mysteries enchant him. He pursues
them to the Pompadour, where he hears, and
learns. 'Pourquoi sont pales les Pierrots" from
the trembling lips of NJ Millandy. And he goes
home the better for it, because these chansons'
however artificial, are delicate and pure
This is all admirably done. but more perhaps
in the last sentence than in any Of the others
does Mr.. Macdonald prove how faithful he is TO
the facts of the case He has no illusions about
the hectic morbid phases of Partisan life. He
knows they are unhealthy. He does not pre-
tend that because they are sometimes super
hciaIly gay and attractive they are also right.
But he has perceived the strange mixture in the
Partisan of simplicity and cynicism; he has
identified the vein of sweet sentimentality.
mawkish no doubt. but least innocent. which
runs through much Of the noisy. fevered exist
ence Of the bouIevards and cafes. He notes the
ParisIan's love of the country and of children;
he appreciates his subjects appreciation of
simple pleasures. He writes Of La Rive
Gauche' and its naTvely riotous 'jeunesse." and
tells US of the disreputable but delightful ''Bibi
"a Puree' who the hanger of Verlane,
always stole umbrellas. and helped Karl. the
student trick NJ Quesnay de Beaurepaire.
The bourgeois and the student figure in his
pages and he is in such perfect sympathy with
both that. though by a miracle, he escapes
doing injustice TO either Of them. Street balls
and the burning of the Francaise; the EXposi-
tion and the ineffaby patient anglers by the side
of the Seine, equally inspire him. 1t is the
merest Journalism; brief topical" and unpre-
tentious. But we are not sure that it is ephem-
eral. There is not a false note in this book,
where in most cases the true note would be the
rarity and il is beguiling from cover TO cover