The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-19

in my sight, and to disguest me with
 her point out all the faults you can see
 in her."
 Which the valet promised to do; but no
 sooner does he point out some fault than
 his loye-lorn master denies 1t with in-
 creasing anger and impatlence. Thus;
 ITO begin with; her eyes are too small.
 That is true; her eyes are small, but
 then they are full of fire-the most bril-
 liant the tenderest that one can possibly
 see."
 ''She has a large mouth.'
 "Yes; but one finds there charms that
 one does not find in other mouths It
 is the most attractive, the most adorable
 in the world'
 "She affects a carelessness in her
 speech and department"
 "It is true. but there is grace in it
 all"
 Her conversation"
 Her conversation is charming
 Tt Is always serious.' Would you have unrestrained liveliness
 and bosterous gayety? Is there anything more annoying than woman who laugh at every word that is spoken?" The picture would be pathetic were 1t not humorous. A man begging his valet to help him kill his affection-poor Cle- onte. or should we say poor Moliere?" Certainly we see Armande the Wor- shipped who "could not brook contradic- , ton, and pretended that lover ought to be as submissive slave" Coquettish, feline changeable, and elu- | sive; what a quaint glimpse we are given across the centuries in these few words :: | Above the last resting place of her hus- | band Armande placed a large tombstone" ]" | This stone is cracked down the middle. l which was occasioned by a very noble ] and a very remarkable action on the | part of his widow. Two or three years | after Moiere's death there was a very | severe winter, and she ordered to be con- i veyed to the cemetery hundred loads of wood which were burned on her hus- 1 bands tomb to warm all the poor of the | quarter: the great heat of the fire caused the stone to crack in two | Turn now to Mile. de Camargo. whose l talents were exalted by chroniclers, sung 1 by poets, and immortalized by Vol l taire.
 Never" says a contemporary writer, had the auditorium resounded with such applause as that which greeted the debut ante. On the second night on which she appeared there were twenty duels and uuarrels without number at the doors of | the opera: all Paris was determined to get in. even at the sword point" 1 Mile. de Camargo was not beautiful; | indeed. some of her contemporaries go I SO far as to assert that she was positive l ly ugly. Noverre says neither tall pretty nor well formed" But whatever may have been her defects of face or figure. 1 they did not interfere with her profess 1 sional success. .'The moment she began | to dance people forgot her face. Besides no one had time to see whether she were I ugly or beautiful, so light and rapid were l her movements'
 l -"Camargo," says Grimm, twas the first
 who ventured to abbreviate her skirts | The Jansenists in the pit cried out her esy and scandal. and refused to tolerate l the shortened skirts. The Molinists, on | the contrary. maintained that this inno- vaton brought us near to the spirit ! of the primitive church, which objected | to seeing pirouettes and gargoulllades hampered by the length of petticoats. 1 The Sorbonne of the Opera held a great many sittings before 1t could decide which | of the contending parties adhered to the , orthodox doctrine. Finally it pronounced l in favor of the shortened skirts. l Although as we have mentioned, the young denseuse had no pretensions to beauty, she was nevertheless capable of arousing grandes passions. and her ador- l CTS were many.
 ]! For two years. however, after her first 1 appearance at the opera, the '.frigid dig nity'' of her demeanor and the unsleepins 1 vigilance of the worthy M. de Cupis kept l them at a distance. until all, save one, perceiying that their efforts were fruit less. had retired from the field. 1 The exception was Jean Alexandre The odose. Comte de Melun who loved the | lady with a passion which no rebuffs could extinguish, no difficulties subdue.