New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-12
BERNHARDT AND THE NEW
FRANCE
By ELBRIDGE COLBY
From The BelImdr)

u
scum in two stirring pieces, Les Ca
thedrales" and "Du Theatre All Champ
! d'Honneur."
There is something pathetic in the
sight Of this glorious actress Of other
days presenting herself in subdued
lighting, playing parts which permit
her TO remain seated, overwhelmed
with fowery tributes to her past glory,
receiving stupendous oyations-coming,
finally, from a serious and dangerous
sickness TO fulfil what she deems q
patriotic duty for her country, and dis
covering untold quantities of her old
/ energy and fire. Yet 1t was not Bern
hardt on the stage that night | saw her
who hurled forth in those rapid sylla-
bles tempestuous torrents Of high cour-
age and stanch faith. II was France
France faithful to its ideal, France
moved less with the actualities Of dis
| tress than with the insistence Of her
own fervor and faith; words are be-
come things, realism romance. The
soul fights as we'll as the body.
les Cathedrales" has its scene laid
on the battlefield, but is far from strife
| itself. 1t is the dream of a soldier
fatigued one of those in whom the
hope of the nation is centred, and the
dream is represented in the moving
verse of NJ. Eugene Morand and the in
terpretive music of NJ. Gabriel Pierne.
| The sound of cannon dies, church bells
sound through the darkness, and emery
ing from stormy clouds cathedral tow
ers appear against the pale heavens,
with motionless statues Of stone. In
the foreground, seated on stately
chairs, pale speaking figures take form
and represent the communion of the
spirits which in ages long gone raised
these huge structures into dreams OF
an unearthly peace, created and en-
bodied aspirations which appall by
their grandeur even the unimaginative.
had almost said the Communion Of
Saints.
Aries begins:
II Is the hour when we. cathedrals Of France,
Who touch the clouds Of dsrkened skies.
Who stand mid wind and rain, snow and
storm,
Above invaded and embattled towns and
fields.
Keeping keen our faith. strong our hopes,
May speak together tender word and phrase.
o sister churches. talking each to each,
From end to end OF this our land.
So they speak. They recite the evils
done by the invader; they praise the
soldiers, mos enfants parts au grand
devoir," whom they revere almost as
much as the Blessed Sacrament itself.
And then Bernhard herself appears,
and her voice, speaking for exiled
Strassbourg, peals out clear and strong
as a cathedral bell:
Since here they fight, I think my place Is
here.
Forty years have l waited, now
claim my place. your loyal sister church,
Strassbourg!
Always distant, always patient.
o France, the great voice of my tower stones
Has not been heard for forty years.
Forty years have l been outraged thus.
Forty years, o sisters, at my feet
Tho ancient Rhine has cursed it German
bonds.
IL Is Strassbourg whose dream Is the
most beautiful because IL shall be true.
The German sword shall be broken;
the invaders have died in vain; the
German eagle has fallen In the Rhine;
the eagle is dead and the world Is free!
Non. tout celia nest pas un revs.
C'est reel
France, ties Ais SO levent
Tous ties enfa9ts. Patrie. entendent ton appel.
No. all this Is not 4 dream
It's reali
France, your sons arise,
All your children hear your call
Then the peroration, the conclusion,
is hurled out Of the gloom with all the
old fire of Bernhard; the power that
has called forth the applause Of thou
sands Is with her again as she tells Of
the spirit which animates those fight
ers Of the frontier who, like the revo-
lutionary armies Of old, seem always
to be marching into the dawn. Though
their hearts are young, they have the
/ traditions of heroism behind them. The
early months of war TEEN with legends
that do not SAVIOR of twentieth century
daylight so much as of medieval early
morning twilight. There were some
who said they saw angels on the field
near Charleroi; others, ghosts Of he
roes half forgotten in modern days Of
stress and strain. Joan Of Arc passed
in spirit over Paris through the skies
as well as from lip to lip as the coun-
| tersign of the day of the Marine. St.
| George was there and st. Denis, as we'll
! as the archers of the Middle Ages, who
/ fought for their own lands and for the
faith that was in them. Such a cohort
Nine. Bernhard calls once more onto
the battlefelds Of to-day. Like apos-
/ tolic invocation her voice rings forth
as she replies,
, They hear the call. See. all Of France
Behind her drums marches toward the Rhine
Our sons hearing the high appeals
Seem 70 see the knights Of old. armed
With iron. lance In place: and footmen. too.
With Bonded bows, muskets. and with pikes,
/ All the guns and arms and, II these fail.
| The hallowed weapon In the peasants hand
And then the visions that our soldiers see
! The glory OF the ancient regiments,
Ancestral dead are formed again in ranks,
And each one fights once more to-day.
/ Meath blowing banners Of blue and red and
white
France of old is marching on before.
Strong traditions. all the former faith,
Now arise from out the distant past
All who ever fought. o my sisters,
And who died standing. face to the foei
All are there! We hear in the depth of