New-York tribune., 1922-10-01
4 Paris News Letter
ByL.ewis Galantiere

h other, in tic basilica Of Sacrd
CmGr. that white, un- Christian
III. church whose faery dome, like
5hat Of mosque in which good
Iussalnan8 should rock in prayer,
dominates Paris from the height of
Montmartre, yoa might encounter a
man IN 8 vor&man's blouse who Is ono
of its most fcrvent habitues. His
friends, dining in thS open on the
Place du Tertre, cali him 80 share their
wine, and the name they cry is Man
Jacob. When, with Pablo picasso for
sponsor, he was converted to the true
faith, this jew bern in Brittany a jew
born in brittany is rarcr than da3 IN
June), was named for Saint Cyprien.
/ When ] last saw him, ne was boardinor
with q woman who owned little grc-
Gerry on the Hill and he spent most o.
hiS evenings listening to the old wives
tales Of his neiahBors as thew sat
over their "pinard" in the back Of the
( shop. He tod fortunes and drew horo-
scopes; ms one luxury was collection
OF ties OF varying color, selected fer
daily wear appropriate TO the CORE
spending planet. His personality gave
on mingling Of sweetness, careless
ness and restlessness combined with
satanic malice; he appeared and dis
appeared irregularly, and his appear
anee was always marked by repent
ance, his disappearance always the re-
suit of season of folly. From time
to time, he let himself be DRAGGED off
to the great houses of the cosmonoli
tan elite, then for a while he would
live like Il hermit He has published
his own books, and sold them himself
he has painted, exhibited in the chic
establishment of Bernheim, and had
high prices for his canvases. He re-
sembies in many ways his late friend
Guiilaume Anpolinaire, and like the
latter he is the apostle of ''futurist'
and 'nutty' literature. The two books
which he published in the last year
"Le Roi de Beote" and lie Cabinet
NOR class him as a humorist of quail
ity who, beneath a mask of ferocious
and sarcastic gayety, writes feelingly
OF the misery OF existence.
There is little in these books of Ja-
cob's theories of poetic transposi-
ton and "situation.' Here his real
ISM is not transposed but direct; it is
the Photographic imitation. the copv.
OF life. We lean viii him over the
shoulder Of woman 20 look at this
letter which she writes to the lover
VINO has abandoned her:
Charles! After what has passed
| must write TO you. Alas, .he time
is past when we were rolling happily
on the sand: the dial of our hearts
marks graver hour. You under
stood this, Charles. An author
whose name | don't remember said,
ON ne badine pas avec ramour.'
You played with mine. | haven't
piano any more; why, or, rather, for
whom? There are three kinds of
apartments stylish, serious ard ar
tistic. You don't like white lacquer!
You are responsible for the changes.
Ny apartment was stylish. We be-
gan by playing under the big UNI
brella on the beach, and now you
tell me that have weighed on your
life and that you have to go back
to your JOB with the United Ship
pers Do you think it is nothing TO
have changed my furniture because
you don't like white lacquer?"
There are six-no, there are three
hundred pages like this, exposing the
poor, sordid lives in all their detail of
the French lower middle class. Since
Courteiinc has stopped writing, Andre
Billy remarks, there is only Jacob to
replace him.
Henry Becque is known to all who
are interested in French drama as the
author of Lies Corbeaux." In GO
media" of August 20 I happened upon
the first publication of sonnet which
he wrote long years ago and which,
for its verisimilitude, it's tragic hon
esty and the force of its spare econ