The Washington times., 1921-09-04
BY ANDRE LESlANDE

TT is quite the regular thing and
considered In the best Of taste
TO have ones fling at the Academi-
clans, or. az certain wits call them.
the Academies" Youthful writer's.
to emphasize their spirit Of indie
pendence. never fail to do 90. and,
even some OF those who wear the
green coat itself are not above
showing occasionally great lack
OF restraint regarding the learned
society which has deigned to wei.
come them.
We know that the finest of poets.
La Fontaine. took the longest way
about whsn he attended the acad-
emy. and that shrss centuries later.
his grandson in gentle skepticism.
Anatole France. does not attend II
at all. The last.named, through
the daily speeches which he placed
In the mouth of fictitious Adde 'Je-
rome Coignard. even addresses to
his exalted colleagues wittily i'm
pertinent and amazingly ironicai re-
marks.
But the Academicians are neither
startled nor disturbed. They know
themselves invulnerable.
Thunder then against this Acad-
emician. burn that one IN effigy,
wound stili another with tho most
poisoned darts. So much vain talk
and wasted motion. The Academy.
rightly or wrongly, remav,s the
prize which the vast majority Of
French writer's have an appetite to
secure. either because she crowns
them with the zenith Of their glory,
or because she gives them some
thing like the extreme JUNCTION Of
genius.
EXCUSES RIDICULED.
Since the French Academy brings
together our nobiemen of letters.
since she consecrates them and
causes them to enter upon that
luminous pathway which she pomp-
ousiy calls Immortality. people are
asking why she rejects. from preju-
dice. one whole group Of writer's.
Who will explain why the acad-
emy replies with naughty and ter
rible Nescios vos-"I know you not"
Ito all women writersf
The academicians recently con-
suited on this matter. in 'Excelsior,"
by Madame Huguette GARNER. re-
piled with all the gravity which be-
fits their state, and all the courtesy
which the subject demands. ALI
excepting Paul Bourget- were
pleased to acknowledge, today a. In
the past. the talent Of women writ
ers. They named names from amons
the most celebrated. They even took
q flyer at filtration. In regretting
that these names were not Of their
number. One would consequently
imagine that the conclusion was in
escapable.
Not so-and what IL stranger still.
our Academicians. 90 respectful to-
ward their rejected contemporaries,
were full Of irreverence toward the
ancient daughter Of Richelieu,.
whom they pretend to defend.
do. not touch her." said they.
no not disarrange single fold of
her robe. Do not disturb q fieck Of
dust upon her sleeve. The academy
is immovabie. her regulations un-
changeable. She 10 not m institu.
ton. but Q belief. Tamper with her
and you condemn her to instant
DEATH"
Let us try to find out what are
the true reasons for her refusal,
hidden behind the extreme polite
ness Of the academic style.
BOURGET'S EXPLANATION.
M. Paul Bourget, whose frankness
glosses over nothing. reveals to US
for himself and for those who have
not the courage, the depths Of her
thought. He says:
"The founding Of the French
Academy was not, as a matter Of
fact, exclusively literary. The
great statesman who originated
the idea did not think solely Of re-
warding talent. His dream seems
to have been to interest talent In
the social order. He conceived the
academy as an ennoblement Of the
individual and in order to mark
well the social character OF his IN
stitution he took care to call In
other forces than literature.
"Men Of letters. great lords, men
OF the church and the sword. dipio-
mats, found themselves brought to-
gether, He desired to give these
the taste for letters. and to help
literary men. by such association,
to avoid allowing themselves to
develop the tendency toward an
archy. toward excess Of individual
ism. which Is always the tempta-