Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-06
Charm of French Children

PARIS. June 25.-Helene. the most de-
lightful little French girl I have known.
was almost German: blossom Of an AL
sacian romance Of the war, the loss Of q
chateau, mesaliance, life in Paris I'M
adaptability, death, orphanage.
Helene was at the mercy of her fathers
parents. The old man. personifying honor,
is colonel in the active. smart, grave. just.
The old girl would give her blood for
Helene.
Hot afternoons beneath the trees at
Uriage, a bourgeoise watering-place, sweet
Helene would stand gravely erect and
SAY her fable" Many children have but
one or two, but Helene knew her F1orian
and La Fontaine: The Fox and Crow
The Wolf and Lamb" 1.-THE Ant and
Grasshopper," and we delighted in her
precise diction, delicate intelligent, unaf-
fected. But to the old grandfather 1t
counted nothing.
Say thy English" he would interrupt
for the child to sigh. droop like a tired
flower, and painfully begin:
.'Tnnk lie. trink-ie. lee-tel starrrl
Ow won-ter vat-tu-arrr'
49, stop numbered the ancient colonies:
"Ignorante! Ow.' not 'Ow! Did one ever
hear the Ikea gain!-
low 1 vont-er vat-tu- arrrI'
low l vont-ter,-'Ow,' not 'OwY His
eyes flashed dangerously.
low l Won't"
Crack! smack! OF course, he did not
strike her hard but it seemed barbarous to
u.s. and our hearts swelled as Helene stood
there bravely, never whimpering or finch
ing, never cowing. gentle, respectful, duti-
ful. Two Englishmen and one American
had all they could do not to lay hands on
him, tiresome old martinez.
Now snapped the grandmother
Helene began again:
low l vortter vat-tu-arrr!
Gpp a-bof de-"
Then she collapsed into outrageous Sob
bling. falling in a little heap. Murmurs
of indignation rose among us. Black looks
We're exchanged. Madame la Comtesse,
our grande dame, took up the shaking,
gasping. leaking little bundle and folded
1t about with her social protection-a
wrong thing, for no one should interfere
In the correction of French child. But
the old grandparents sat stern and cold,
and the grandmother said shortly:
Helene, comet"
Alas! Helene left the loving arms. She
Strengthened her 1.-THE little person with
her face and followed her grandmother.
Helene must be severely punished for
losing her self-possession," observed the
grandfather with frigid and Intentional
face, and we were blufred by the old SOL
der. Amen. That is all. We heard no
noise upstairs-the child being too we'll
brought up and too proud to cry again tina.
day.
No Buster Browns
Many American children are odious I
have never known French child who was
not delightful. If only by its gravity po-
likeness, its silence when not directly ad-
dressed, its pleasing diction, it's we'll
modulated voice and it's utter unaffected
ness.
In front of u.s. In the Rue Deves Neuilly,
which is a shad-perfumed Paris suburb,
upon the balcony. They do salon." which
Is playing parlor; they do auto" they
tend their flowers in big boxes; they make
houses with umbrellas. Never does one
hear a voice uplifted. The boy tyrannizes
over the two girls. as males should do In
France, but have no fear the little pieces
have their coauetry and soft ways. their
allurements. their menagements The male
figures to himself that he Is boss-and
he isn't
Why are they all SO charming. the chill
dren Of fair France? 1, who have lived
among them seventeen years. know it Is by
laugh at Buster Brown-and. note our Bus
ter has purposely not been given the ag-
gravation Of a grandmother to make him
worse! /. who was once young, have
souvenir that dims my eyaS-golden, rain
bowed. the TRANSPORTED remembrance of
dear old grandmother who protected me
when did wrong.
There are none such in France Angelo,
to tell you of another child, is a pure happi-
ness to all who know her. In her Neully
garden. a bower groomed by a Scotch gar
dener, the grapes rlpen early; but a neigh
boris grapevine. slightly overhanging, ripens
punches two weeks earlier.
l was In a hammock when the terrible
event burst us. Angelo danced UP with
two big punches Of sweet grapes in her toy,
lace-e edged apron.
"Des rais!ns! Des beaux raisins! she
sang, all flushed and gay. as one who has
made a discovery. "Des rasinsI"
Angelo. whence come those grapes?'
1t was the voice of the accusing spirit of
the Apocalypse. The sun stopped in its
course. The breezes of that rose bower