The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-12-01
Err FROM FRENCH CAPITAL
" 3. Seabrook: Writes Of His
sit Famous Cemetery and Sx-
perience Placing Wreath
On Tomb Abelarc.
{By w. B. Seabrook.)
ial to The Herald and News.


Paris, France.
sAaN never cease to regret visiting
ere La Chaise, the most famous
emetery in the world, for T buried
here the lifeless remains Of an ideal.
The disappointment was in no sense
he fault Of the cemetery, but rather
ne result Of a certain preeoneelved,
4 roneous mental picture had form
Ii after eading Guy de Manessant
and other authors, who use the hlstor-
&c SPOT as a background for their ro-
mances. had imagined dark, ma
;estic garden with silent, shaded ave-
nues, peepled by shadows odorous
with the perfume Of immortelles, and
enshrined in some secluded spot the
tomb Of Heloise and Abelard sacred
to illfated lovers. What I found was
a literal "city of the dead,' densely
populated, with paved streets, only
occasional lawns, interminable houses,
a police system, and all the other
drawbacks of the ordinary munich
pahty; while the tall chimney OF the
crematory, smoking like Pittsburs
factory. seemed to carry out the Illus
ion. Twas difficult to recollect that
the principal inhabitants of this COM
munity we're corpses, for eight out OF
ten Of the tombs were in the form OF
little houses, not vaults, but actual
miniature dwellings, with front doors,
windows, occasionally chair visible
in the "hallways,' and for the most
part topped by mansard roofs, al
though in the aristocratic quarters OF
the city flamboyant gothic and pure
classic architecture predominated. Ut
course there were hundreds OF statues,
slabs and shafts, but these were in the
minority. A moment ago l used the
haekneyed phrase "aristocrat1e quar-
ter" but perhaps it was we'll chosen,
for here, as in any other city, the dis
tinction Of rank and caste are rigor-
ously observed, not only preserved
but emphasized so that he who runs
may read. In one quarter are the muir
BILE mansions and brownstone fronts OF
the nobility and oaillionaires; in an
other the respectable bourgeoiSle III
their neat slate rooted homes, content
to pass without pretense for What
they really are; in another section are
the parvenus, the neuveaux-rrcheS, and
how easy it is to distinguish them by
their gaudy and ostentatiously expan-
siye habitations.
Over the gateway of this city, as
everywhere in France, appear the blr-
terlv ;ronic words, 'Liberte, Egalite,
e. Franternite. Monstrous, mirthless
mockery, true nowhere on earth. eth
er in life or death.
In the northwest corner OF the
cemetery, in an isolated byzantine
palace, surnounted by dubious, glld-
ed domes, dwells, mean, lies-a Rus
sian prince of the blood, and IN To-
cality just to his right, the foreign
quarter, as it we're, the cross and cru
cifix disappear, and in their place is
raised the Moslem crescent; by pass
inc beneath a Moorish horseshoe
arch. richly carved with arabesques,
entered an avenue reserved for the
Musselma.s, and strove, naturally Ill
vain, to decipher the inscriptions. A
sergeant de Vile told me one OF the
tombs was that Of a Turkish noble
man, uncle IF the rel gning Sultan. As
everybody knows, the Pere La Chalse
contains such illustrious citizens as
Moliere, La Fontaine, Chopin, Cheru-
bini. Theirs. Casimer Perier, la Due
de valmy. Felix Faure, and number
less other great men-but the guide
books and encyclopedias tell all that.
About some Of the tombs there IS
r a frankness, consistency an: sense OF
the appropriate that is peculiarly
French. Moliere's monument bears
no symbol suggestive Of grief, but is
decor>ted instead by a series OF
laughing figures in bronze, embody-
! ling the soul of raillery and mirth. The
tomb Of a notorious alehemist and
astrologer Of the early eighteenth
century. whose name I have unbappl-
" forgotten, is embellished by death 5
leads, owls. cats and devices sugees-
he of the black art. More than one
|ulchre bears the candid announce
nt that it holds the body OF all