New-York tribune., 1911-02-12

| himself another drink All, there Is your
real absinthe artist now. See with how
| steady a hand he pours that unvarying
/ thread of a trickle: not faster than that
must It go. not slower. See him turn the
, glass TO the light to mark the progress OF
| the green stain in the white body OF the
cracked ice. AS Ii touches the bottom
the pouring stops. the glass is twirled
once or twice and then lifted 10 the lips
and drained. Just as much water as a
thread-sized trickle OF warm absinthe
will melt from the ice in fnding it's way
to the bottom OF the glass and back to
the rim; offer it to him any other way.
after those first mad gulps, and he would
probably refuse to touch IT, Thus absinthe
la Cercle Colonial de Papeete.
AT 5:3O or thereabouts. an army officer
looks at his watch. stretches himself.
pours final hasty glass and picks his
hasty way to the door and out into the
still sitting air. Two officers OF the gum
boat follow suit. and from then on until 7
O'Clock dinnertme, by occasional twos
and threes. but for the most part singly. a
half, perhaps OF the strange company
at the call OF family, military or social
dutes-takes its departure. The residue
unmarried officers, departmental officials
and few uncIassfhed--is made up of tho
regular voyageurs the commuters. We
might call them. You will find them still
in their places when you look IN again
after dinner.
As you saunter down to the hotel In the
gathering twilight, you note that tho hot,
humid air body Of the afternoon Is cut
| bar nd ptth ~
which, descending from above. are Great
ing numerous erratic little whirlwinds
that dodge hither and thither at every
turn. In the west hangs the remains Of
an ugly sulphur-and- nd-copper sunset, In the
north is an unbroken line of olive-and-
coaldust clouds. and. even In your mex
perence, you hardly need to note tho $40
reading on the hotel lanai" barometer to
tell you that there is going to be wind be-
fore midnight
Nine o'clock at tho Cercle Colonial. The
blinds have been opened during your alb
sence and closed again, this time to keep
out the scurrying vanguards OF the rising
wind. The air is cooler now. and you give
the waiter a recipe for an American gin
! fzz, 10 get something which refuses to
fzz and is built. apparently on a base Of
bay rum. You solace yourself with the
thought that you didn't como for drink,
| anyway, and turn your attention to your
friends Of the afternoon, the voyageurs.
Most Of them seem to have arrived" by
now. and II they are aware at all OF the
relief Of the cooling atmosphere II Is only
to tell themselves that IT is good to breathe
again the air OF la belle France after
those accursed tropics. Each sits solitary.
as when you went away two hours ago.
but where they were then separated by a
few scant yards at the most now they are
scattered from Paris TO the Riviera.
But It is plain that It is Paris with the
most Of them. The youth with the yellow
skin is still sitting by the window, but his
eyes are now fixed admiringly on a colored
lithograph OF a ballet dancer in its gilt
frame on the wall Maybe he is doing"
the Louvre. you think. Oh. no. Look at
his eyes. That picture is flesh and blood
for him. She's the headliner at Rizzis.
and she's coming down TO drink with him
as soon as the crowd stops those accursed
encores and let's her leave the stage.
The dapper fellow with the spike" mus
taches and the lieutenant's epaulettes who
sits so straight in his chair. where is he?
Riding? No, walking Don't you see the
swagger Of his shoulders and that twitch-
ing movement of the fingers is the twirling
OF his cane. You saw him stiffen up and
twirl his mustaches he looked your way
just now. No. he didn't care a rap about
impressing the Yankee visitor TO Tahiti;
you were a carriage or a motor car, with
the latest concert hall favorite in it, pulled
up against the curb
That tall civilian there with the gray
hair at the temples and the high bred
but dissipated looking face-you recognize
him now as one of the highest officials on
the island, who, they told you at the hotel
was reduced" TO Tahiti as punishment
for his pecUlatlon while occupying an i'm
| portart place e. home-is at Maxims.
That Cna.- aci oss the top OF which he is
! gazing so intently is not as empty TO him
as Il looks TO you. and-there-didnt you
see his lips move? You wonder who she
is and what he is telling her.
| That other civilian with the clear cut
profile and the concentrated gaze OF the
professional man and thinker-ah, he Is the
| learned Partisan doctor from whom the
medical world has awaited for two years
the announcement Of the discovery OF a
cure for the dreaded elephantiasis. He had
| his goal and deathless renown in sight
months ago, you have been told. when he
| began seeing green" and has since,
| through the Generalization OF his special
| hospital, lost most OF the ground he had
| gained That must be a clinic for which
! he is drawing those intricate diagrams on
| the green baize with his cigarette holder.
olI
with the benevolent face and the beam!ng
eyes? You think he's with the others In
the cafes chantant or on the boulevards.
Look again. See that tender smile. He
has-or has had-a wife and children and
| he's with them now. A look like that for
concert hall girl? No, indeed. He Is In
the bosom OF his family
| But listen to the noise outside. The storm
is sweeping in from the sea and the outer
Il eef is roaring like an avalanche. But why
no sign OF excitement from the silent
dreamers? Is 1t because they are telling
themselves that II is only the roar OF the
| traffic on the Partisan pavements? Listen
to those changing bells and the frantic
choruses OF yells which sound above the
threshing of the trees and the grind OF the
surf Only a fire in the quarter Latin.
they tell themselves, and go on with their
dreams
! Now the batteries OF the storm have got
/ their ranges and the shot begins TO fly
Snap Bang Hear those cocoanut trunks
/ cracking. and right around the club. too
All this viii rouse somebody. With
heavy crash the top of a broken palm is
thrown against a shuttered window and the
glass and bottle Of the slllow faced youth