Evening star., 1902-03-01
THE MARSE|LLES FAIR
Where the Old FrenchGayety
Holds.
ALL TYPES ARE THERE
CONGLOMERATIoN OF MENAG-
ERIE AND THEATER.
Sunlight, Tea and Lovely Flowers
Fill Out the Pic
ILL TYPES ARE THERE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

MARSEILLES, February IA, 19O2.
Are you going to the fair?" Are you
going to the wrestling?" We heard the
questions at our hotel, in cafes and in the
street. We had also heard considerable
amount of Dragging on the subject of Mar
seilles wrestling. To believe these enthu-
siastic men Of the south, the Graeco-Roman
tradition mas been preserved here and here
only. Here. too. at the Marseilles fair is
to be found in an exclusive way, the old
French gayety.
II noise be gayety, we knew that we had
found it. In the broad plaza golden dust,
In an ocean Of sunlight, danced above the
enthusiastic multitude; wild shrieks of
melody from the brass throats of CALI
opes mingled with the thin but penetrating
walls of lost children: they were answered
by the roars of performing lions and the
appeals of showmen on their platforms
while the southern crowd called. whooped
and sung itself into a kind of drunken
ness of noise
Enter! 1t says papa and 'maman"
Entrrrrrrezz!' an ink-bearded. high-com-
pieXioned brigand was vociferating in front
of tent. Behold the mammoth-saper-
louth! This animal has all the graces of
woman with the surface of fish! Half
shark. half mother-of-a- family. half lam
pery-eel! 1t says papa and maman'
while you throw cent! You must see!
must see!"
We entered. The shark who is a mo-
ther-of-a family tmere de famille) and a
lampery-eel. lifted her head and snorted
delicately for our benefit. She was a young
and rather pretty girl, with flowing hair,
well-greased. her face as red and round as
an apple her eyes tricky and pretendedly
stupid. Her body from the waist down
was was enyeloped in green "maillot''
marine tail. Above the waist it was not
enveloped-unless you count the flowing
hair. But she did not look like the mother
of a family.
"Tobacco" begged the monster.
She coaXed like a wheedlng child.
'Messieurs, little 'fif' to grill one, A
little caporal messeurs! 1t was Paris
ian slang. very intelligent animal. A
dozen sightseers entered and enjoyed the
view of her while we were there. They did
not stare silently and stupidity, like country
people. They were not surprised to find
the neutrality-suspicious. fake. They
took the sight in joyously, like children
making believe in play. spirit that
went far toward ging the Snowman
as he improviSed witticisms, and the brid-
ling saperlouth herself. This is the kind
of a show that would be killed by cold
criticism.
Beside 1t the Theatre ArChiartistique of
fered twenty-five minutes Of spectacle, rep
resented by men, women and children of
the most splendid beauty, with ma agnificent
accessories. each belonging to its own age
of the world. Cupid and Psyche, executed
by the celebrated Phidias for the gardens
of Versailles: the Venus of Milo, due to
the celebrated Michael Angelo; Susanna
and the Elders. by the illustriouS Rem
brandt, and finished too late for the ex-
position of 1900: Napoleon at Waterloo at
tributed to Leonardo da Vinci. and The
Last Survivors of the Deluge, from a con-
temporary photograph.
Record Hard to Beat
At the Museum of Progress "metem-
psychosis'' was taking place every ten
minutes. At the Panoptcum a celebrated
specialist rejoicing in the name of "ko-
bols' was drinking so glasses of beer every
Is minutes. In a tent beside him an Arab
boy was sticking long nails and knitting
needles up his nose and In his eyes A sail
or had sea devil in tub And then
beside cafe of Death''-modeed on the
Partisan mirror illusiOn-We came on the
first Of the wrestling booths.
Ladies and gentlemen,' one Of the beef
lest and reddest-faced athletes l ever saw
in my life, in wrestling tights and naked
from the waist up. stood upon broad plat
form and harrangued the crowd Here is
the veritable Graeco-Roman wrestling, from
the head to the waist, as 1t is daily prac-
ticed in all the south and at the Arena of
Aries! No English tricks; no American
surprises! Ladies and gentlemen! The
Americans practice two subterfuges which
are forbidden in France! The Romans
were strangers to them! The Greeks would
have disdained them! Heroic antiquity
knew them not! One is called the collar
and the other is the twisting of the arm.
They are forbidden by the Marseilles po-
lice! Go on musicD" (The music went
onD
Gentlemen and ladiesr rose the below
ing voice above the strains of melody.
I'VE present to you the Rampant Of Avig-
non, together with your humble servant,
the Terror Of Aries and Mademoiselle
Berthe de Grandcourt and Bonnelles, who
x1t,N1@ n fNF
arms Of France and Italy! With five
strokes of the foil she will rivet the nail
of any living fencer! (Go on, musicD
who will have the glove? You little
lean man? (The glove was at this moment
thrown into the crowd. Who will you en-
counter? The Rampant Of Avignon? Go,
eclipse yourself while there is yet time!
There is woods to hide in yonder! Do
you persist? Take it, brother, l salute
you! l embrace you. Three cents for the
common places, five cents for the reserved
seatsr"
Imagine a large. tent with an elevated
platform running across its front and with
broad steps leading up to it. The entrance
by way Of the platform is made of paint
ed canvas, like a stage scene. with paint
ed canOpies and pillars. To enter, the pub
ers. in the tent. Along the platform struts
Snowman. the financial chief Of the troupe
Beside him. now and again. stand other
members of it, in their wrestling costume,
heshly giants with great swaying stOmachs,
fierce-faced, with threatening eyes and
spiked mustaches. their immense lumpy
arms folded over their lumpy, hairy breasts.
while at one side the music composed of
two horns, two clarinets, a drum a bass
drum and cymbals let itself loose without
ceasing. The wrestling most appreciated
being always that with "unknowns" from
the people the mode of challenging Is as
follows:
Who Takes q Glove.
The haranguing Snowman at the proper
moment. displays three big dogskin gloves
Who'll have the first glOve?' he inquiries