Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-30

even LHe Slope from WHICH Ine fortress hill
rises is freshly plowed. An earnest this. 81
what you are soon to behold even when be.
meath the monstrous missiles of great guns
screaming over your head. Life the vitality OF
nature and the heart of man, triumphant over
deaths temporary ravaging.
Gay Paree Trying to Be Gay
Another picture of spring, as it struggles
to surmount the horror of the European
maelstrom is given by Vogue a. in gos-
sipy letter from Paris
Spring in Paris, indeed. is welcome. sunshinss
Is JOY after the months of rain and dull
weather, and 1t is an added comfort to think
of the men in the trenches warm, instead Of
half frozen and as dry, instead of standing all
=, day In mud and water, chilled by a damp raw
wind. But the work for their relief goes on
much as usual. Women knit without ceasing
and thousands of pairs of socks and muffers
are still being sent regularly to the front,
1t is said that in England, when a sturdy
young chap is encountered in the street in
civilians dress, he is presented with a small
white feather This may account for the num-
bers Of young khaki-clad Englshmen who have
suddenly appeared on the Continent; and al
most every Engllshman who crosses the Chan.
mel comes to Paris. Dull as the French capital
is, 1t proves as Irresistible a magnet as when
clad in its usual gay attire. The tearooms and
cafes are more and more crowded with uni-
FORMS and their terraces literally blazing
with medals pinned to army coats Of varied
color. The recent warm days have restored
to the open-air cafes their old-time air OF
gayety and unconcern, and except that the
brandy and soda has replaced to a certain ex.
tent the sweet sirups to which the Partisan IL
so devoted. the life of the cafes goes on much
as usual.
The Porte Dauphine is open for vehicle trahio
and the trench dug there early in September
has been filled UP. The sheep and cattle herded
at Longchamps during the first days of the
war have long ago been led to fields and pas
lures new, and the marks of their hoofs are
being slowly but carefully obllterated. Lave
de BOiS de BOulOEne has been raDaVed. and
along the broad walk nurse maids in Yolumn-
GUS cloaks and gay beribboned caps push the
fiag-decorated 'prams' containing their small
charges while little tots of four or five launch
their toy aircraft or drag their small cannon
alongside. The bride path alone is deserted.
No one rides in Paris when horses are needed
at the front.
In Everybodys (5), Virginia Roderick de-
scribes "The Springtime GEN." the emerald.
'It is springtime-always springtme," q
great American gem expert who loved emeralds
said to me-said II in dingy Office In busiest
downtown New York, with eyes lighting as II
1t were. indeed, the fresh green of new leaves
and grass that filled his vision. For Pliny the
emerald ut-greened nature ''No other color"
he said. 'is so pleasing to the sight; for grass
and green foliage We View indeed with pleas.
ure, but emeralds with so much the greater
delight, inasmuch as nothing in creation COM
pared with them equals the intensity Of their
green. Besides they are the only gems that
fill the eye with their view. yet do not fatigue
Just now the perennial appeal of the emerald
is specially reinforced The wave OF fashion.
which Affects Jewels as we'll as sleeves and
skirts, has tossed It high. No other stone is
so liable to defects--not only unevenness or
color, but cracks and Enclosures OF foreign
material that make its clear green ''mossy
At present $1,000 or even 5000 carat is not ex-
ceptional for average sizes. Two emeralds,
weighing nearly II carats each, owned In New
York. are easily worth $4,000 each. The
Cars superb collection includes one OF 80 earata
which is considered the finest cut emerald IN
the world.
Perhaps 1t is through the intrinsic slgnia.
cance OF its living greenness that the emerala
has gathered benehcent rather than baneful
associations. With it's "undying freshness
has been accounted the symbol OF immortality
and OF conquered sin and trial. It was sup
posed to have been brought by miners at n-
finite peril from the mythical home OF tns
grimm. One curious notion. quite untraceapls'
was that the emerald rendered its wearer NJ
visible II he were unmarried. II served, 700
a test for the constancy OF lovers;
II faithful, Il is like the leaves OF spring,
II faithless, like those leaves when wttherln4.