New-York tribune., 1908-08-09
Gbe Ne4ao'a1orls G1.ib,asogness G1.iE,asos
SUNDAY, AUGUST o, 1903.

to owe its passing success to the disposition Of
its supporters to be, above all things, grand,
Hoomy and peculiar about it. They have a
horror Of common sense and Of humor. But
ahese enemies Of solemn Stiffness usually
triumph in the end. There is delightful story
told by Mr. Francis GrbbIe in the Fortnight
Iy'' about the breakup Of the "-Esthetic Move
ment' at Oxford. 1t seems that Punch had
been ridiculing the New Renaissance" where
upon certain .Esthete offered resolution at
the Union, proposing that the offending journal
should be dropped. The proposal was re-
jected but the business did not end there. \
party of boating men, fellow-collegiars of the
Hsthete, raded his quarters, threw his blue
china out Of the window, and put him under
the college pump. incidentally they threatened
to take similar measures with similar offenders. |
Their intervention had magical effects. "The |
leading HstheteS hurried as man to the |
BARRIERS to get their hair cut, and to the
haberdasher's to buy high collars Men who, |
on the previous day, had Iesembled owls staring |
out of ivy bushes, now cultivated the appear |
ance of timid shyly peeping over white |
walls" Mr. Gribbe describes the Decadents
who succeeded the Esthetes as disappearing |
not quite suddenly but none the less COM |
pletely. "One Decadent came to Il mysteri- |
ousy tragic end in Paris; a second drank him |
self to death; third run over by cab. |
Others seeded and relapsed into common |
place orderly courses" To be a Decadent |
nowadays is to be almost as old-fashoned as |
if you were Esthete. Thus the little fever |
ish Movements fade. They cannot endure |
the harsh touch of a rational world.
The long and affectionate study of the life |
and works of the late CASTOR Boissier, which |
nj. Rene Pichon prints in the current number |
of the Revue des Deux Mondes,' forms a |
charming tribute to a charming type. BoSSier |
was Il true son of the Ulidi-he was born at |
Nimes-and brought to his career as a scholar |
and professor in Paris some beguilingly human |
traits The freedom from pedantry which we
have noted in speaking of his books also |
marked his walk and demeanor as a man. |
CASTOR PhGbus, his young disciples at the Ecole |
Normae loved to call him, testifying to the |
brance alike of his personality and his talk. r
He liked to talk, NJ Pichon tells US, and knew
that he talked we'll; but neither in collegiate |
halls nor in society, neither q member of the |
Academy nor as figure in the intimacy of pri- |
vate fe did it ever occur to him to talk too |
much. Sydney Smith once observed that Ma |
cauay mot only Overlowed with learning, but
stood in the slops." CASTOR Phpbus would have
regarded such Il proceeding with horror. Paris
modified if it did not quench his Southern ex-
uberance, and in his talk in his writing he
had the quality of an artist. The portrait of
him drawn by NJ. Pichon shows Us a scholar
who gave himself with all his heart to the cause
of learning, but who remained from beginning
to end delightful man of the world
In a sprightly paper contributed to the
"North American Review" by Elizabeth Bis
land, attention is called to "The Morals of
the Modern Heroine They cOntrasted TO
their disadvantage with the morals of an
earlier generation of fictitious types, and the
result is that the essayist comes to rather
gloomy conclusion. The truth is she says,
"the modern herOneS do not stir enthusiasm,
for the modern heroine, the whole, is a
pretty bad lot In this age of investigation the
muck raker might employ his spare time in eX
posing her" It is an apt suggestion. The
modern heroine is indeed n fearful and Won
derful creature, with manners as bad as her
morals. Oddly enough she is rarely obnoX-
iouS when she is invented by woman. We
say invented because. while society in all ages
has produced it's due quota of unedifying
women, no society, at any time, has been af
fictcd by quite the sort Of petticoated nuisance
that observe in many novels. These
teasing sisters are not simply cGnSCienCeleSS, |
vulgar, and fairly sick with vanity. They are