Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-06-25
from Last Photograph Taken Be-
fore His Death.

man than his traducers in striving to
undo the wrong committed to the vic.
tim of Devils island, but even then
his funeral was the occasion for dis
orders that approached dangerously
near to being riots.
When 1t was suggested that Drey-
fus, who owed his life to the inter
ference Of lola at that critical in
slant when all France had about be-
come convinced of his guilt, should
speak at the funeral, there was
storm of protest, and it was not until
Nine. lola appealed for the privilege
of being allowed to bury her dead
quietly and without pomp that the
funeral was permitted to proceed
The decision to remove the ashes
of lola from his present resting place
in the lola lot to the Pantheon was
made in 1906. 1t might have been ac-
complished sooner except that Nine.
lola was never in full sympathy with
the project. She has always contended,
perhaps a little bitterly, that no fur
Their honors are necessary to the fame
of her husband. The work he did in
literature and the heroic fight for
Dreyfus are held by her to be greater
monuments to his reputation than any
possible action on the part of his con-
temporaries.
But the nation wants lola in the
Pantheon. Perhaps a little pricking of
the conscience, an echo of the recent
remarkable reaction in public senti-
ment evinced when Dreyfus restored
to rank was wildly applauded by the
very people who formerly Kissed him,
has extended to the memory of his
only friend of power in the dark days.
March 81 was the first date set for
the removal of the body to the Pan
theon, then there was a postponement
till April 2. Then it was found that
the Pantheon could not be made ready
that early and the date was set for
June.
Therefore, with the foremost men
of France assisting, the body will be
removed. and taken in state to the
place set apart by the nation for per-
petual homage to the country's great.
Not even now in the face of even
this signal honor has the last enemy
been pacified. The duke of Monte
bello has asked permission of Premier
Clemenceau to remove the remains OF
his illustrious grandfather the famous
Marshal Lannes, from the Pantheon
before the remains of lola, "traducer
of the army" have been inferred there
The premier has Indignantly refused.
and there will be no such insult per-
mitted.
In his life lola ever thirsted for
honor, and the fact that il was denied
him by his own people was a source
of bitterest disappointment to him. He
lived in the period when he saw the
announcement of one of his novels an
event of international literary impor-
lance. Before one of his books had
appeared even in his own tongue. ar
rangements had been made to publish
II in dozen other languages, and the
privileges sold. Wealth came to the
author, more than with his modest
tastes he could ever hope to spend,
but he would have given half of 1t
for the privilege of the academician's
green coat steadily denied him.
Alphonse Daudet, great contem-
porary of lola, was also denied adj
mission, but he reviled the academy,
laughed and made light OF his exclu-
sion, saying that he had no desire to
belong to an institution that had been
so blind as to keep out Balzac.
But lola never shared this view.
point. He was perpetual candidate,
and every time vacancy occurred he
sought votes. Sometimes he got a
few, but the total was never carried
far enough to enable him to go
through.
The excuse always urged for the ex-
clusion of lola was the character Of
his literary output.
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