New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-01
La Grande Franchise
From Louis Philippe to President
Poincare

MADAME ADAM. By Winfield stephens: Nus
trsted $40. pp 2j5. i. J.. puiioh q 70
Il was in 1S4S, when the "Citizen
King" was being overthrow in favor
of the "Prince-President." They were
talking politics from morn till night
and. much 10 their mothers disapproval,
they brought their eleyen-year ola
niece into their discussions. "You are
firing the poor little thing to DEATH"
demonstrated the child's great-grand-
mother. mo" said the others, the
child is quite old enough TO listen and
TO understand" And 81 did not yawn,"
said Juliette LANDER in after years,
"for my mind was interested in al
matters political and literary" Now.
in 1917. this same Juliette is actively
engaged in war work, and exclaims;;
1917! 1t is II reversed. That blessed
date rings like the joy bells OF victory
in my old veterans ears"
Between these two extremes,
what marvellously interesting
career has been pursued by this
marvellously interesting woman!
Endowed with exceptional IN
tellectual powers, with the keenest OF
interest in everything that concerns
humanity, with innate leadership IN
society, literature and politics, com
handing the confidence and friendship
of the foremost men of two genera
tions, exerting at times an influence
more potent than that of ministers or
heads of states, she has been and is,
more perhaps than any other one per .
son. an incarnation Of the very soul OF
France. For if Leon Gambetta was the
creator of the new France OF the
Third Republic, Juliette Adam was his
Egeria.
To relate the public and the privats
stories of this eminent and fascinating
career. happily not yet by any means at
an end, was a most grateful undertak-
ing, and gratefully has Winifred Ste
phens accomplished it. For the task
she was kell prepared by her former
studies of and writings upon French
history, and to it we may we'll believe
she was attracted with stronger SYM
pathv and enthusiasm than she had felt
toward any other theme. She has, OF
course, drawn largely upon Nine. Ad-
ANS own Souvenirs" That was inev-
table. Who would write OF Johnson
without drawing upon Boswell? But
her book is far from being mere
synopsis or paraphrase of his "Souve-
Mrs" She has drawn information
from many sources, including in
great NEE sure her own observation,
and she has crowded her pages with
incident. anecdote, Characterization,
epigram, and what not, until it is
veritably an illustrated octave edition
of one of Nine. Adams own most
brilliant and sparkling salons.
There is, too, wealth o. matter
about George Sand, Dumas. the Con
courts, Flaubert, and other members
of the literary coterie in which in
early life she lived and moved, as
we'll as of Gambetta. Skobeleff, Nine.
Novikoff, and the other political and
diplomatic personages who were the
friends IF her later years. There is no
attempt unduly TO exploit her above
her contemporaries, or to exaggerate
the part which she played in public
affairs, but simply to portray her truly,
with sympathetic vitality. in a just
setting. In this the author has ad.
mirably succeeded, with the result Of
giving us one of the most entertain
ing and instructive biographies of the
| time.