Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-27
The Chesters Visit a Cinema
Palace and Interrupt the
Hand-holding Of a Poilu
and His Girl; They Watch
the Joy That Music Gives
to Three Veterans of Yer
dun.
(By George Randolph Chester
and Lillian Chester.)

NSopyTlSnt 1918, by the Newspaper
Enterprise Association.)
Paris, Feb. 27.-There was a sud-
den noise overhead which startled us
$ much as a bomb could have done.
we looked at each other stupidity, and
Men with comprehension and delight.
Now we knew what we had been miss
inG all this time: now we knew the
cause of u vague unrest; now we
knew what was the matter with the
luncheon n tea, and dinner places;
with everything. Music! That il. the
lack Of It!
Somebody up there had opened a
piano, and was wildly hammering
away at little snatches Of everything.
ragtine. Work? 1t became suddenly
impossible, for we had made a great
discovery; we had been as serious
about the war as the war itself, which
was the anne thing as trying to be as
big as the infinite. q
Of coarse, we all know that the war
is no joke! A man who could find
real humor in this international. in
sanity could. probably have the time
well-knoWn fable Of the frog which
tried to swell himself up to be as big
as the OK he wished to fight. and, re-
membering his highly scattered fate.
we ceased, for the time being, to try
to attain, in receptiveness at least,
the dimensions of the cloud which
hangs over Europe and civilization,
and started out to find amusement;
not placid. rigid. stiff amusement, like
dining out or a symphony concert or a
lecture. but real live amusement, such
as regular restless Americans know
The novies!s The sign ahsOrchestre-
Cinema" with it's insidious pronise,
in the name. of quenching the fever
which burned in our veins, settled the
question. AZ -
1t was much more like home than
ANYTHING. All dark in there. n an
usher with an inadequate 41ashlight
to guide your stumbling footsteps, and
a fve-piece orchestra saving away at
the latest musical comedy hits from
broadway. Piccadilly. and the Roule-
wards: the same ineffable essence of
air which has felt sunlight, and
the same big with the fat
knees, who makes no. more room for
you to pass when She stands up than
when she's sitting.
We finally found our places: seats
they called a lose. In the dense
blackness a stirring and a stumbling!
somehow. madame had been inserted
Uto one of the two front seats. by a
Frenchman who. in his politeness.
nohly upheld the traditions of his
race: and monsieur. finding himself in
two feet OF ~unoccupied space. took a
chance and Sat. successfully. Only for
a moment. however! Out OF the
darkness there came the voice OF the
fourth occurant of the 1oge. a LADY,:
she was whispering. rapidly, and she
was Whispering to Us: but. while we
have very fair;article. of war French.
we. discovered that it was of positively
no use in the dark. The French
which is spoken to- us needs arface
to make it understandable, so nnonst-
eur, with great shame, confessed that
he knew only American. oh. very
we'll; monsieur spoke Americaine-
Great relief in the voice of the lady.
and she said, politely:
will you sit?"
| A blue funk seized upon n1onsieur's
intellect. as he explained. with equal
~politeness, that, while it might not be
|apparent in the darkness, he was sit
ting!
Panied silence for an instant, and a,
slight trace of distress in the voice OF
the lady. as she inquired, more or
less plaintively:
Will YOU sit down
Monsieur. who is anxious to have
his countrymen we'll reputed for po-
likeness and odation. felt his
ears purplins. and his tongue thick
ening, as he explained most patiently,
in two languages, or at least a
language and a half. that he was not
only sitting. but ale down!
He began to have doubts about his
physical structure, he began to feel
that his estimate Of his W sitting
height must always have been at
fault. he began to feel as tall as a