The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-13
WILDE'S LAST
YEAR IN PARIS
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FRENCH
AND ENGLISH VIEW.
How He Was Able to Live Comfortably
in the Gay Capital-Story Of His Last
Hours-He Dreamed s'that He Had
Dined with the Dead"-His Last
Words.
ST. James Gazette.

l
The French possess the faculty, very
rare in England, of differentiating be-
tween a man and his work. They are |
utterly incapable of Judging literary
work by the moral character of its au-
thor. | have never yet met French
man who was able to comprehend the
attitude Of the English public towards
Oscar Wilde after his release from
prison. They were completely mysti..
letters said to me one day: "You have
a man of genius, he commits crimes, you
put him in prison, you destroy his
whole life. you take away his fortune,
you ruin his health, you kill his mother,
his wife and his brother (sic), you re-
fuse to speak to him, you exile him
from your country. That is very Sc
vere In France we should never so
treat a man of genius.''
Fortunately for Oscar Wilde, the
French took another view of the atti-
tude to adopt towards d man who has
offended against society, and who has
been punished for it. Never by word
or a hint did they show that they re-
membered that offense, which. in their
out. Oscar Wilde remained for them al
ways un grand homme, I'm maitre,. a
distinguished man, to be treated with
Difference and respect, and, because he
had suffered much, with sympathy. It
says a great deal for the innate cour-
tesy and chivalry Of the French charac-
ton. as we'll known by sight, as she he
once remarked to me, as the Eiffel
tower, should have been able to go
freely about in theaters, restaurants
and cafes without encounterin any
kind Of hostility or even impertinent
curiosity. .s III
It was this benevolent attitude of
Paris toward him that enabled him to
live in a fashion to enjoy life. His
audience was sadly reduced and preca-
rious, and except on some few occa-
sions it was of inferior intellectual cal
an audience with him was everything.
Nor was he altogether deprived of the
society of men of his own class and
value. Many Of the most brilliant young
writer's in France were proud to sit at
his feet and enjoy his brilliant CONVEX
sation, chief among whom I may men
tion that accomplished critic and es-
sayist. M. Ernest Lajeunesse, who
is the author of what is perhaps
the best posthumous notice Of him that
has been published in France in that
Blanche; among older men who kept
up their friendship with him, Octave
Mirabeau, Moreas, Paul Fort, Henri
Bauer and Jean Lorrain may be men
toned.
In contrast to this attitude taken up
toward him by so many distinguished
and eminent men, I cannot refrain from
recalling the attitude adopted by the
general run of English-speaking resi-
dents in Paris. FOR the credit of my
country am glad to be able to put
them down mostly as Americans, or, at
any rate, so Americanized by the con
slant absorption of " American drinks
as to be indistinguishable from the gen
they didn' It want Oscar Wilde to be
sitting aroundO in the bars where they
were in the habit Of shedding the light
of their presence, and from one Of these
establishments Oscar Wilde was re
quested by the proprietor to Withdraw
at the instance of one Of our g Amer
lean cousins,' who is now serving {
term of two years penal servitude fol
holding up and robbing a bank!
Oscar Wilde, to do him justice, bore
this sort Of rebuff with astonishing
good temper and sweetness. His sense
Of humor and his invincible self esteem
another man might have appeared in
tolerable, and he certainly possessed
the philosophical temperament to !,
! greater extent than any other man
have ever come across. Every now ant
then one or another of the very few
| faithful English friends left to him
fwould turn up in Paris and take him t.
dinner at one Of the best restaurants
and anyone who met him on one O.
difficult to believe that he had eve
n passed thru such awful experiences.
To have lived, in his lifetime and no
to have heard him talk, is as tho on
had lived for years at Athens withou
going to look at the Parthenon.
I wish I could remember one-hun
dredth part of the good things he said
He was extraordinarily quick in answe
, and repartee, and anyone who says tina
, his wit was the result of preparatio,
and midnight oil can never have. hear
. friend of his, who had formerly bee
, in the "Blues,' poihting out that i
: the opening stanza of "The Ballad O
. Reading JAIL" he had made mistak
, in speaking of the "scarlet coat' o
: the man who was hanged; he was, a
the dedication of the poem says, a Or
vate in the "Blues,' and his Goa
3 would therefore naturally not be seal
: let. The lines go
He did not wear his scarlet coat,
For blood and wine are red.
"Wel, what could I lo,D said Osca
Wilde plaintively, ct couldn't yer
: well say
He did not wear his azure coat,
For blood and wine are blue
8 could IT,
/. The last time I saw him was abo1
4 three months before he died. too
G him to dinner at the Grand cafe. H
was then perfectly well and in the higl
I est spirits. All thru dinner he kept n
e delighted and amused. Only afterwar
n just before left him, he became rath,
depressed. He actually told me tn:
he didn It think he was going to Ii,
!. long; he had presentiment, he sal
9 I tried to turn it off into joke, b,
he was quite serious. Somehow |
J said. ~ don It think shall live to 81
!, the new century, Then long paus
p eff another century began and / w;
still alive, it would be really more thu
the English could stand.' And so
!. left him, never to see him alive agai
Just, before he died he came to aft
! q long period Of Inconsistencies al
. said to a faithful friend who sat by h
y bedside: 81 have had a dreadf
: dream. I dreamed that I dined wi
n the dead. My dear Oscar, repli,
' hisfriend, II am sure you were Il
+ life and soul Of the party. Real
I you are sometimes very witty, repli
4 Oscar Wilde, and I believe those a
"a his last recorded words. The jest w
IL admirable and in hissown genre; it w
n prompted by ready wit and kindne.
+ and because of it Oscar Wilde went
4 L. L. L. IL L y