The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-15
om the Philadelphia Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
 N FRY many American readers too WY young to have felt the original
 W pression of La Belle Helene" "Orpheep or La Grande Duchesse;' who scarcely remember "Frou-Frou, ana never thought to ask who write the npret- to of Carmen" will feel thrill Of ln- terest when they hear of the death Of the author of "L'Abbe Constantin. Literary partnerships are often perplexing. It IS impossible to separate the dramatic work of Meilhac and Halevy, or to say certain ly which element of their joint achieve ment were contributed by each In those extraordinary poetical burlesques which they wrote for Offenbach, they and that cosmopolite composer created an actual "art form than which none was more characteristic of it's age-the giitterlng age of the second empire. The books they wrote for Lecoco and others-Le Petit Duc," for example-were equally the "Carmen'-in which Haleyy's kins- man, Bizet, took place with the great masters-in different field, while "f'rou- Frou' is but one of a long list of plays that would alone have secured them rank. It was after the partnership was dissolVed that they went different ways. Meilhacs later plays lacked most of the old charm while Haleyy contributed little to the stage but developed an art of sympa- thetic narrative and limpid prose style that makes such a story as that or "I,Abbe Constantin" pure delight to old and young-one of those little master pieces for which in English we must go back to Goldsmith to find parallel.
 In the light of this separate work we may conclude that the stagecraft of the famous partnership came from the senior member, and the close observation, the poetic feeling and the humor largely from the junior. It was mainly upon his prose work that Halevy was elected to the Academy, though Heilhac obtained this recognition later, and it is Halevy who concerns us now, as an unusual example of an author who made fame and fortune in one line of popular appeal, and then proceeded to efface that reputation by an- other entirely distinct. It is true that his 
 created the immortal figure of Madame Cardinal, had much of the reckless Pa risian gaiety of the Offenbach operettas' but there gradually came over his work a sobriety, tenderness and a delicaey or feeling that found expression in language of exquisite simplicity and purity It IS not for the beauty of the story alone, nor for the sweetness of the characters who are vitalized in it, that "L'Abbe Constan- tinn or the less familiar "Criquette" can be read and re-read with unfailing pleas
 ure: it is most of all for the perfect clarity, the unaffected lightness and grace, that make French fiction high form of art which among our own mod ern writers has been almost lost.
 No one would rank Ludovic Halevy among the great writers. He was not even one of the most distinguished among his contemporaries. He was but one of a large group. Let all the world has recognized him as a typical literary
 artist. and he will be remembered as such. even beyond his own country, when
 most of our own hurrying crowd of
 iournalist-novelists have been forgotten. No doubt the French tongue is more logically exact, in some ways more deli 1 cate than ours, and academic author | ity counts for more. Is not this but a l greater reason that those who would | write in English should pay regard to It, | erary art, and should strive the more for l that sincerity and clearness that underie l the actual classics of any tongue? For l 4Looo x.,ha ro xuoo rad Inv tho looneta r1t output of slovenly English and American l fiction. there is always relief to be found | in the well-considered work of any one oi