The sun., 1912-07-20
The Passing Of the Red PantalOOu.

Paris dispatches which seek to OBJ
scure a national catastrophe by prasing
parade shall not blind us to the really
vital circumstance Of the latest Long
champs review. Paragraphs devoted
- describing the enthusiasm of the Bey
81 Tunis, the ex-Qucen OF Madagascar
and FL MOKRI of Morocco a, French
martial display deceive no one. Bas-
tile Day, 1912, will he forever memora-
bic, lamentable as the day that marked
the passing Of the red pantaloon.
How much of the charm of the Midi,
how much of the color of these other
wise sOmbre northern provincial towns
has vanished with those absurd, ridicu-
lous, delightful red pantaloons of the
little infantrymani Will not Paris
herself take on the sombre shades of
London now that dull hued khaki has
entered upon its sway there too? What
advantage has the Rue de la Paix over
Piccadilly. with the madden stained
trousers gone
What pleasure is left in visiting art
galleries when We can discover no more
halted. not before the battle pictures,
not before the imperfect representation
of the stand of the Old Guard or the ex-
plosion of the last cartridge, but before
the portrait Of a meek Madonna or
peaceful landscape, the diminutive in
fantryman, always two of him?
Let us grant cheerfully it was the
| in, In ,r-0,.ll
own lack OF aesthetic charm the tiny in
fantryman added a pinch of genius by
the carelessness with which he wore and
kept it. A British sergeant would have
suffered apoplcxy at the sight of it: u
Prussian grenadicr would have died
rather than put it on. Yet beneath the
most unmartial disguise in the world
the French infan'ryman remained a
soldier. not to he feared by friends, nor
yet quite disregardcd by foes
What. too, will the artists do now
How easy to picture the capture of
Algiers, IN" storming Of Scbas'opol
the astonishing Glorics of Magenta and
Solferino, victories in Africa and Asia
when tho final charge was made by the
wcarers of those rod pantaloons. far
more glorious than the rod bonnc,s of
the Revolution. Even the sombrc hours
OF the Terrible Year have a modifying
eolace in the impossible valor OF the
wearers Of this beloved uniform not
quite wasted. even in defeat.
II is impossible to g'icss tho emotion.
! 80 a., Dc q
Madagascar a. they saw tho rnonoto.
nous thousands Of Khaki clad troops file
by. Yet il it too much tO hazard tho
suspicion that their feeling was one Of
regret, regret that the armies tha,
conquered their Kingdom. had no.,
worn tho khaki, conviction that then all
would have been different? For from
f'cz to Saigon, from Timbuctoo to An,au-
anarivo conquest and the red trousers
are inscparablc ideas.
, Yet it is not Of his martial vloric.
that his friends would speak irsl il,
mourning the passing OF the rcd pan
: talooncd soldier. OF all his many de-
, lightful qualities, his uniform was in a
!" certain fashion she embodiment The
, man and the uniform were in fact in
separable. Together they gave to the
street, the city, tho country touch OF
, color and of likablc human nature
which no khaki clad warrior can replace
These madder red trousers were the
best thing We ever saw connected with
war. What strange place France will
be without them.