The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-20
WALTER GRAY IS
 FAVORED ARTIST Fine Painting Find Market in
 France SOCIETY PEOPLE LEAVE Flee From Floods of Paris to Nice and the Riviera-Latin Quarter Is Reforming-Art Students
 Go to Church
SOCIETY PEOPLE LEAVE

Paris, March 19.-(Special)-I am pleased to note that our minister of fine arts has shown his appreciation of the work of American artists by purchasing one of the pictures of MT. Walter Gay of Massachusetts. The painting in question is view of Dordrecht. It is a water color, whose execution is large and supple and the general effect grand. This pie ture, with three others by the same paint CT, may be seen at the exhibition of the International Society of Water-Colorists in the Gallery of Modern Artists in Paris. | France has already shown it's apprecia- tion of MT. Gays work by purchasing one of his pictures for the Luxembourg gall lery. Another is in the museum at Amiens. The late Jules Verne loved to point this out to his friends. MT. Gays paintings may also be seen In the Metro politan museum of New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
 But I am concerned only with French appreciation of his genius. Indeed we should much like to claim him as our own- We almost feel we have that privilege. for MT. Gay has lived here for 30 years and is a member of our leading artistic societies. He exhibits every year in our National Gallery of Fine Arts, of which he is not only a distinguished member, + but a gold medalist as we'll
 Paris has seen little of the beautiful American society favorites lately. The recent flood and epidemic scare has driven many of our fashionables away. Nice | and the Riviera in general has, of course, profited Why not? What more beauti- full setting for beautiful ladies. The Riviera would be indeed dull without | them.
 1 drop into the Duke de Pomar's dance and I get a glimpse of the magnificent Mrs. Elbrdge Gerry and Mrs. Keep. I see Mrs. J. B. Riyes of New York re- [ splendent in white satin and diamonds. At another soiree at a fashionable hotel in Nice I find Miss Roberta Benten of New Jersey taking the lead In the cotilon.
 At the Hotel Majestic am presented to
 the beautiful Mrs. Day, wife of
 Major Day of Dubuque, Ia., who is by
 far one of the handsomest dressed women
 1 have ever had the pleasure of seeing.
 Major and Mrs. Day are en route for
 Paris, where they are to spend few weeks at the Hotel Crnlion.
 At another function I meet MT. and | of her rich crepe de chine appealed to my
 eye most pleasingly. She sings like a
 nightingale. too, Indeed, all the ac-
 complishments seem to be hers.
 Speaking of magnificent dresses, must f mention one worn by your own Mrs. New
 ton Ford. It was entirely made of tissue I of pale gold. She wore gold ornaments
 and gold slippers and more resplendant
 vision I have never seen, even in my
 dreams. She was chaperoned by her
 mother, Mrs. Hillhouse. At Monte Carlo
 met the famous General Gpiridovtch of
 Russia paying marked attention to Mrs.
 Larson of Montana The s6.0O0,OOO of this
 charming widow fnterfered in no way
 with the wooing of the Russian general.
 Whither are we going! One of the Magi or dressmaker kings of the Rue de la Paix has Just given an enter tainment, which, for splendor and or iginality, has had no equal since the days of the empire. This King of Clothes Is no other than Monsieur Jacques Doucet On the confines of the Bois de Boulogne, hard by the man sion of Dr. James Hagen Hyde, Jacques Doucet has built himself palace. The furniture and decoration and works of art all bear testimony to MT. Doucets excellent taste; and are one and all genuine and authentic. I assure you there was much eagerness for in- vitations to this entertainment as chac- acterized those given in days of old by the Empress Eugenie at the Palace of the Tuilleries. The ball was mas querade. The guests appeared in ancient Grecian or Roman costumes. MT. Doucet wore a Chasuable in symbor of his office of high priest to the enter tainment. Dancing continued until o'clock in the morning.
 The Latin quarter is really observ- ing Lent Even the merry students are reforming. They don't go to the Bal Tabarin this year and after midnight one sees nor hears nothing of them. So think the world must be coming to an end. This Is all so very diff ferent from the Latin quarter of Gam betta and the days of my youth. I felt curious to make a little investi- gation.
 First of all I happened in at Holy Trinity lodge. This American insti- tuition is in charge of an austere dea- coness and I can assure you Lent is observed here with the rigidity of the Apostolic age. Then I paid a visit to the Students Hostel in the Boule- yard Saint Michel, another American Institution for young girls studying art Here I found equally strict ob- servance of Lent. A course of Lenten sermons were being preached with the fervor of the fathers of Notre Dame in better and purer days A littl ther along to the Boulevard Mon, ..f- nasse, found doctor of divinity from the University of Louvain holding fort to the Saint Genevive club. Further on still in this historical boulevard in students atelier an American clergy l man was aiming at conversion of the students and exhorting them to mend their naughty ways.
 In the American Students Club for Women Mrs. Whitelaw Reid was in charge. Finally I came to St. Luke's chapel where Dr. Isaac Fan Wrinkle of the diocese of New York was holding special Lenten services for the young students. Were Munger, author of the l''Vie de Boh eme,' to come back to earth and casually happen in on the old quar- ter I wonder what he would say or think? One thing Is sure, he would not recognize the old Latin quarter of