The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-12
The Paris of To-day
In Letters and Life
BY PANAME.

who know how to show at moments
like this both human feeling and bal,
ance, and who are always proving
that what we lack most is not char
acter but a method of government.
saw the people yesterday, with
my eyes and with my heart, when the
great cortege passed before us bear
Ing the frail body of an unknown SOL
dier-"petit soldat.' yet mighty in
what he represented.
First came the ragged, soiled ban
ners emblems of the heroic resistance
of all the soldiers. At their approach
cheers and cries, "Vive la France! :"
One voice mounted from a thousand
breasts crowded close together upon
the Place de la Concorde. beautiful In
its harmonies of color and form and
seen in a soft, incompatible light.
| Then there was a silence, a silence
so unbroken that one heard the very
heart beat in the same breasts from
which had risen the clamor and eyes
filled with tears. With a motion less
impulsive, more grave and thought
can express the meaning Of such mo-
ments, but the experience is a divine
gift that enlarges and uplifts.
In the afternoon a visit to the
Coincide Franchise, where a free en-
tertainment was offered. 1.-THE Mar
riage of Figaro was given-that
masterpiece of Beaumarchais, who sent
over ships to aid you in the Revo-
lutionary War. In the audience were
faces weary and hardened by toll and
anxiety, quiZzical masks of laborers or
midinettes, uniformed yet earnest fea-
lures of boys and girls hardly separ-
ated from childhood-all refreshed and
lighted up by the penetrating psy-
chology, the wit, the irony, the dash
of that eighteenth century master,
interpreted so finely by the actors of
our first theatre.
The song of Cherubin was encored
twice, thrice, and Marie Leconte, who
plays that role. told me afterward
that the response Of that audience was
one of the greatest Joys Of her career.
Cheers and tears and a reverent ST.
lence in the morning, comedy in the
afternoon, and always the same people
-intuitive, understanding, ready to
respond. One must love them.
We have been reading here two
novels quite different in character:
'LAmour ct lie Secret" by Andre
Beaunier, and "Une Enlisee,'' by Mar
celle Rioux. In the first a close
woven study of psychology, the plot is
rapid, the action full of fire and pas
sion. The style follows the theme,
sometimes warmly colored as a sun
set, sometimes lightly touched as a
pastel drawing. 1t is always rich and
harmonious.
The other story, ''Une Enlisee." has
won the prize Of the Rosita Malta
foundation. offered in aid Of women
Of the liberal professions. Marcelle
Rioux takes for her subject a poor
orphan who has a glimpse of happi-
ness and then Is left by the man she
loves to fall into the depths. After
time she RECEIVERS herself and at last
wins again the lover who had been
unable to forget her.
But now comes the pity of It. The
period of despairing abandonment be-
tween first love and the return had
introduced. such complications into the
woman's life that she could not dis
entagle herself.
1t often happens that the best feat
ures of current literature are found
among the regular departments of our
newspapers. Paul Souday has crowded
into his latest feuileton in lie Tennis
the value of whole volume on Litter
allure Under the Third Republic" He
discusses the relationship between
Government and the authors, and his
conclusion-the inevitable one-is that
kings do not produce art with a wave
of their sceptres. It is rather art
that has dethroned kings. The fact
that a great period in literature was
called "the century of Louis Quatorze"
is only seeming contradiction.
will quote few paragraphs from Sou
days essay. though 1t is a pity to
break up so close woven an argument:
THE most precious gift the state
can give to literature, and the one
which ours has received from the
Third Republic. is liberty For at least
two centuries French letters and phil
osophy labored to establish freedom
at home and throughout the world.
Critics have identified, in order to dis
credit both, romanticism and the revo-
luton; the animus is too plain. but the
charge is true. All the great writer's
OF the eighteenth century were in the
opposition and helped to prepare the
way for 1888; such was then the. in
fluence of the monarchy upon let
ters-an inspiration to revolt"
Souday names as great achieve
ment of the Third Republic its crea-
ton of common schools and it's de-
velopment of superior instruction
This is a matter that concerns litera-
ture. since education enlarges the in
fiuence and value of books i'm the ma
ton. ut furnishes a public more at
tentive and more numerous"
'As for the birth of talent" he
continues. that Is phenomenon
whose law nobody knows; 1t seems to
be governed by Natures caprice. All
that can be said Is that great writer's
have more chance to arise and to
prosper in an atmosphere of cultiva-
ton and liberty than i'm a barbarous