Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-02

GILLES MENACE IS the Joe Miller or
- France; but a Joe Miller of infinitely
more intellect than his English counterpart.
OF all collections of anecdotes published in
France under the name or suffix of ANA"
the "Mfnagiana is most famous.
Menage was lawyers son, and was born
| in Anglers, France, on August Is, 1913, and
was educated for his fathers profession.
| Though admitted to the bar, both in his
native city and in Paris, at the unusually
early age of nineteen, he gave up law for the
church. A benehce was offered him that
was practically a sinecure, and SO left him
abundant leisure for the literary pursuits
that he preferred. Being admitted into the
| household of the famous Cardinal de Reta,
| his sharp tongue and reckless wit raised SO
many enemies that he was eventually re-
moved to the cloisters of Notre Dame. Here
| he held receptions every Wednesday, which
were frequented by all that was learned and
| brilliant in Partisan society. In 1850 he
published an chronological Dictionary of
the French Language, which he followed up
with similar work on the Italian language.
These, together with his numerous satirical
works and his poems in four languages,
Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, are
practically forgotten today, and he survives
only in the "Menagiana. He died at Paris
in 1892 at the age of seventy-nin
The following jokes and anecdotes were
selected from an early edition of "Menagi-
ana:
FATHER A'HARROIUS once said to me,
"When Bourdalone preached at Rouen
the tradesmen all left their shops to go hear
him, the merchants left their business, the
physicians their patients, the lawyers for
sock the courthouse. When l came and
preached there next year | restored every
thing to order; nobody left his work"
COUNT X, like many others, possessed
- title without county. Once, In my
company, he started to banter an able, who,
according to current custom, had assumed
his title without benefice.
Monsieur Able" he said, there is one
thing that troubles me. We have known
each other many years; but | do not yet
know where your abbey IS"
"Why," replied the Able, Il thought you
knew it was in your county"
MADAME DE S. and Madame de H.,
AvA both in the decline of life, did every
| thing they could do to disguise their age.
Hence Madame de S., paying visit to
Madame de H. at the beginning of every
year, would say.
Il come, my dear, to learn how old you
| wish to be this year"
| A MAN took great care of his beard 1t
cost him three crowns a month. Said
Cardinal Campege:
| Before long the beard will have cost
more than the whole head is worth
A BBE DE LA VICTOIRE used to say of
G., who never took meal at home, and
spoke i'll of everyone, that he never opened
his mouth save at some other persons ex-
pense.
| A T Rome, when public penances were Gus
tomary, confessor thought fit to order
that one of his female penitents should be
fogged. She told her husband, and he vol
unteered to undergo the penance for her.
The wife was present, and whenever the
confessor's energies tagged she would cry:
| "Flog harder, Father; for you know I'm
great sinner!'
| A POET having presented to the Duke of
Orleans an epitaph on Moliere, the
Duke said to him:
| II should have preferred that it were
Moliere bringing me an epitaph on you.
| A MAN who possessed much land and had
many younger brothers was asked why
/ L @1,x~ Il Il