Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-22
Continued from Last IssusD


1 suppose that what leads one to say that
aside from ones inability to give
clearness to a rather vague thought. is
the fact that such light. gay, incense
duential, natural and human things are
impossible in our world any more since
IL entered upon this long and endless
night and the terrible reality of its
nightmare: they are events that belong
20 a world so changed now that II can
never be the same again And yet there
Is u succession of scenes that live vivid
in the memory; 1 can even recall with
perfect distinctiveness phrases that
were uttered, phrases of not the least
Importance, apropOs of nothing at all
the old habit OF memory In which ar
rangements of words have a way of i'm
bedding themselves. For instance, that
night at the Lamberts, when the baron
ess in a kind of naughty beauty was
moving among her guests, with emer-
aids flashing in her hair; Madame Gui-
notte entered the salon with her two
pretty daughters; they were all IN
white and might have been taken for
sisters. a charming sight-and Count
John dOultremon stopping before them
saying. in his direct deliberate way:
.'Bonsoir. Madame. Comment Sc porte
votre nombreuse familleT' (~Good eve
can see the fashionable cohue
Ccrowd) that thronged the salons Of the
Prince Charles de Ligne's house there
on the Avenue des Arts, in those famous
soirees that began at II o'clock; the old
prince is leading Nell out to the dining
room and the handsome Prince Georges
de Ligne is talking TO the Countess
Bottaro-Costa And the old Prince
Charles is dead. and the Baroness Lam
bert is dead, and the Count John dOul-
fremont is prisoner in Germany-they
used to call him lie beau d'Oultremont"
in his youth when he was an officer in
the Guides-and the young Prince
Georges de Ligne is deal, killed at
winghe st. Georges. and the great
salons hung in red and the old house
in the Avenue des Arts arc closed and
dark.
And again that afternoon at Wit
touck's; Debussy is playing the piano,
his finger nails had an odd way Of
striking the counter of the piano as he
played: and there was an actress from
le Coincide Franchise. une diseuse Gan
elecutionis). down from Paris for the
day, who stood and recitsd while De
busy played: she had a voice as sweet
as falling rain.
have a vision OF the Marquis Of
y
Napoleon. near the great palms of a
fountain in the conservatory of Prince
Ernest de Ligne's house in the Rue
Montoyer, looking on the world he esti-
mated to A nicely by every one of its
various standards; the Princess Clemen-
tine is there. ladies are making sweep
ing cOurtesies before her, and gentle
men with orders on their hearts are kiss
ing her hand
And then the ball at the palace and
the dancers under the brilliant chande-
Tiers. the jewels and the CLEAN OF white
shoulders, and the gold lace Of the Of
fcers OF the guides. their trousers of
cherry red, and old generals whose
suddenly The king-in black evening
dress. his arm in a black silk sling, the
result of a fall from a vicious horse in
the Foret dc Soignes the other day.
And then there was the opera. every
night II one cared to go, at the Theater
Royal de Ia Monnaie: all the old operas.
and The Ring OF the Niebelungen,"
sung by a German company from the
opera at Dresden, with German thor
oughness, not line cut-and Wagner
needs a blue pencil. Every ono dined
during the long entr'acte in tho reStau-
rant de Ia Monnais, and a bugler would
blow the Siegfried motif to announce
the curtain. Then "ParSifal." a score
of times, in French. and Electra" and
"Salome," with Richard Straus himself
conducting and the audience gone wild,
standing UP and shouting its enthusi-
astic braves. la Monnaie is the soul
OF the city; IL was in this very theater.
at a performance Of Ia Muette dc
Portici'' that the revolution in 1890
burst forth. Every one goes. tho men
Al
curtain goes up. standing and sweeping
the Ioges with their glasses, and the
royal box to sec IL the little queen who
IS very fond of music. is there, or across
at the BourSmestre's box 70 sec If VI.
Max had come. and this until the CON
dUctoT appears, bows, taps with his
baton. and the lights slowly die away
into darkness. and stiffness falls and
one enters into that other world whose
haTmonies are so impossible to this that
man has so stupidity arranged for him
self.
There was, or course. the theater:
every week the company from the
Coincide Franchise came to &c Pare"
kraus that spring was playing 'Servir,"
the play whose terrible climax was so
soon to be reproduced on a titanic scale
with the whole vast theateT" of Europe
IS its stage; while at la Gallerie Max
Dearly was playing Mon Rebe," the
French adaptation of Baby Mine" in
which for US there was a double amuse-
ment in the inaccurate adaptation of
Chicago scene to the French stage.
Indeed there was the suggestion of
the theater in the whole series of events
that made that season memorable. Not
that il was theatrical i'm its effect much
less in intention. but il provided a sue
cesston OF tableaux known TO our west
crn world only through the theater, as
when the special Chinese mission was
received at the Hotel dc Vile or in tine
first moments Of the dinner dc gala
given by the king to the new Brazilian
minister and the new American minister
the vast hall, the waiting guests, and
The brilliant group of officers at the
great double doors, the sudden cry lie
Roi.' and the doors swinging open ana
the king standing there.
And then there was the queens gar
LaeSen. in those vast Conservatives,
with their masses Of soaring green and
towering palms and the heavy odor. OF
strange flowers. The garden party
usually marks the close of the Official
season. l. is given in May. when the
flowers without as well as the flowers
within the royal gardens are all IN
bloom, but since il is apt TO rain on
any day in Belgium. the party with its
reception 10 the diplomatic corps is
always given in the royal conserva-
tories
But there was another event in that
year that succeeded the garden party