New-York tribune., 1908-11-07

hitherto been held together-have become COM
,,1o+o,,, worn ont. Take, for instance, the duel
To-. many wears the duel in France has been
,,,reIv demonstrative affair, from which all
element of danger to life limb has been
carefully eradicated, and not one duel IN d
hundred thousand has q fatal result WINE as
a rule there is result at all CohsequcHtiS'
fo, a challenge to a duel to be represented III
novel or a play as having any serious tragic
significance means that the writer IL qu''e OUT
Of touch with the real conditions or nooerh me
in France But such is the force OF CUSTOM ana
CO rare is the gift of true and artistic observa-
ton that the incident of the fatal duei sun
crons m in novels and on the stage as the peg
uDon which to hang the tragic denouemeht OF
the sensational situation of the story Even
r,cb an accomplished playwright as NJ. Bern
s+ain does not see the absurdty of making
threatened duel the keystone Of his new play
"Tsraal~ He treats to a scene In wAlch d
duchess beseeches her son not to XIII IN duel
the Jew. Guttlieb. Everybody in the audlehce
,o,,s+ have known perfectly well that had the
d,el taken place there would have been an eN-
change of two balls without result ana that the
seconds on both sides in view OF the soCidi
noei+ion of the antagonists and their own re-
sponsibiIity would have redoubled the Ordinary
nrecautions which practically never fail to pre-
iniur, to the other Thus honor would have
hean ar77ufv satisfied ard the story would nave
come TO ali end, while in the play the young
noblenan having discovered that Guttleo is MS
real father. commits suicide.
Suicide however. on purely social grounds has
hecome much less common than it used to be
This is due to the fact that society is so huch
more liberal than it was generation ago. WI"
the rapid increase during the last hfty years OF
means of locon1oton, social ostraciSfh is uhcuiI
OF applica ton, especially in country "h'Ie So
cietv no longer centres around court ana
,,,hare the man with vast means and several
high power automobiles easily goes Where ne
1ilIas In Paris suicide is in the vast majority Of
cases caused by abject misery or incurahle Ill
ness supplying entry of single hae 10 the
records of the morgue but little nothing 10
tbe noyelist's notebook The facility with Which
divorces are granted nowadays has also deprived
the sensational story teller Of one OF ms most
useful pieces of string Overheard haVr gone
all the problem plays and novels which dealt
with the heartburnings and conscience search
iugs Of the man irremediably tied to woman
he hated or vice versa. The end OF all those
things was death. Now the very worst thdt
could happen would be bankruptcy. entaied by
the cost of the legal proceedings. a literary re-
action was sure to follow from this new and 20
formed state of affairs. II has been reserved
for M Villetard to discover the formula Of the
new type of story, which, while reaching TO
very hish standard Of observation, contains no
tragedies at ALL no suicides or murders, no trea-
sons or stolen documents, and at the same time
is in 10 way deliberately comic, makes no at
tempt to present life a persistent joke or
even as cheerful idylI The new story is often
profoundly sad, and deIicatey coiored with
alterations of brightness and gayety. II Is
neither morbid nor optimistic but is, in fact,
very much like life itself.
NJ Vietafd is a delicate artist His portraits
have the character of silver points. He relates
the. story Of a young peasant whose affcctonate,
ecbeming and pushful mother brings him up To
Paris from Vernon to make bourgeois or pros
I.rous citizen of him. Their early struggles.
I,oIis's love affars-in which he behaves with
an amiable selfshness nearly bringing about
one of the old fashioned tragedies beloved Of
the u1eIodranatist-a told with simple reVer-
ence for truth The girl whom Louis has
v.ronged and abaudons in order that ne may
marry a rich wife forgiVes him because she be-
li.vcs that ne still loves her. and would have
married her in spite Of everything had her posi-