The sun., 1919-08-17
NJ e of the
Weather Not the
Least Impressive
Feature of the Vic
tory Celebration

\ TOT the least impressive thing in
y connection with the Victory
celebration in Paris was the
miracle of the weather. 1t had been
aiming intermittently for days and
threatening clouds hung over head al
most up to the very moment the defis
rgs due to start down the Champs
Eiysees. Then the clouds rolled back
Is if by military orders, and banking
themselves in a great pink mass on
hc horizon formed background for
he approaching pageant, shutting out
Versailles and the rest of the world.
This phenomenon made the Arc de
rriomphe stand out In unnatural pro-
portions-a sort of enchantment 1t
seemed, mirage frightened to weird
beauty by the flood of summer sun
shine. The thousands waiting there
llong the ribbon of the highway no.
iced and remarked this and took 1t as
/ good omen.
At Versailles, according to the testi-
nony of a number of witnesses. a SINH
ar thing occurred when a singer
dressed in white appeared on the bal
:cny before the 0dlerie des 0Idces to
sing the "Marseillaise" to the thou
sands who had come on that day to see
The great fountains play. 1t had been
sprinkling and threatening clouds were
lowering about, but the moment the
ady in white appeared on the balcony
md when the hundreds of fountains
began spouting forth the sun burst
,ut, the clouds scurried away and In
twinkling the great blue bowl OF the
sky. without a fleck or a spot, cano~
pied the thousands of poilus assembled
on the terraces all dressed in new uni
,orms of horizon-bleu.
The big Farman Goliath. painted q
bright green now, came up out OF the
woods, flew steadily in a straight line
elose overhead of the vast throng and
began dropping red, white and blue
parachutes, each with pennant OF
pne Of the Allies attached, until whole
rows of the graceful. bright objects
we're floating in the blue
Showing the Hand of the Tiger.
So much for the unseen hand. But
there was another hand, the identity
of which there was no doubt. that
played an important role in the setting
and arrangement for this. ono Of the
greatest military pageants the worit
has ever seen-the indefatigable hand
pf Clemenceau! The heaps of Bocht
cannon which were piled pele-mele al
The round-point of the Champ Elysees
with the Cog GauIois stamping then
Ne
were put there by his orders. Wher
the artists in charge wanted to pu
Rags on the Arc de Triomphe the OLE
Tiger roared: mot one flag. not Z
shadow Of any decoration whatsoever
on that monument"
The cenotaph, the sepulchral monu
ment to the souls of the dead on thu
Dattlefelds of France, was his idea
This was erected first directly undo
the central point Of the Arc d.
Jriomphe, an imposing catafalqu
g!lded and ornamented by Victories II
bas-rellef. These Victories. sort o
Caryatides which sustain the cenotaph
are the work Of poilu who reveale'
himself at the front on the Mouse a
promising sculptor. In the wood
along the river he found a piece o
marble and with this he fashioned
Venus. The poilus called her Ia FiII
dc Ia mere Lucas (the daughter o
mother Eucas). no one seems to knor
why.
The poilus' Venus is still standin
IN the shadow of the woods on tn
Mouse and will doubtless become on
of the favorite spots for the pilgrimag
of tourists.
The cenotaph is stin standing un
der the Arc de Triomphe guarded b
soldiers. 1t has already become
sacred relic. the symbol OF the soul
of the dead, such as were gathered u
by the Chevauchee in Valhalla. Thou
sands go daily TO visit 1t. and II
buried in flowers, renewed as fast q
they become withered. 1t Is a some
thing created not TO be destroyed
and already the question as to wha
final disposition is to be made OF
is being raised.
This fete was strictly the fete Of III
poilus, where the will Of the Poop
Jlayed the grand role, and that wa
what Clemenceau intended Il shout
be. Certain organizations got permil
mission to erect grand stands along III
route OF tho procession, and frol