Evening star., 1923-10-28

n a. Pari5 garden full of great old
trees. behind high walls, a dozen
fashionable women do solemn
ritual. They sing low, in unison,
simple praises of great things and
good. of ideal and of effort and of
harmony and sweetness hidden in
all riaces.
With Joined hands they weave a
! circle round their mystic leader. q
majestic girl with her hair down,
bare armed, burning incense on a
short stone pedestal. She Is an Amer
lean Of wide culture. and strong ma
ture. writing successful French verse
under a mans name.
Another, of the coterie travelled in
the orient and sat under a sage
whose teachings of self-mastery (and
of power and beauty to. be brought
out of nature thereby are at the
basis Of this garden ritual.
The garden. belongs to one Of the
older American fortunes of New Eng
land. Something OF old Puritan in
tensity is in the daughter of the
house-third priestess of an eclectic
doctrine that ranges from oriental
mysticism to Keats "Ode to a Gre
clan Urn.
theef
20 Grace. O Power, We, who seek
thee!
20 Charm. Power! We, who seek
thee! ."
So they intone their liturgy. re-
sponsive to their leaders. gliding
through long ceremonies that have
dignity, intensity and yearning.
Their names may not be given-it
is promised. And truly. there are
other gardens in Paris and London,
and other rituals of similar object.
Here is a rather mysterious fad Of
girls and women in Paris and London
that has nothing very mysterious
about it when you know it!
Mysticism in all its moods is coming
to be an obsession over Europe, even
clear headed. reasonable France yield
ing for the moment to influences be-
lieyed to be natural consequences of
the war.
!. = = !:
r Asst year artistic circles of Paris
l. professed to receive inspiration
from little bronze Buddhas. In
studios the ceremonies were perform
ed in pajamas, as most nearly ap-
preaching the garb of the east.
Fashionable folks laughed at this
craze for paganism: but the spirit of
It spread.
In Paris a new cult broke out. led
by the daughter of high French
functionary. with her fathers palace
garden for sanctuary. Its girl adopts.
called new Joans of Arc, at the
climax OF their, ecstasy, tell the un-.
known" AS a fact. they certainly
do get hold Of notable political
stories-so that city editors send re-
porters to them. y .s..
Rumania is stirred up over the So
called Metropolitan of Bucharest, who
promises worldly success to believers.
Vienna has gone in strong for as
trology. Hungary and Serbia have
religious prophets who proclaim the
end of the world. North Germany has
spiritual fascisti'' young folks
with a secret doctrine of "all for
Youth" Even Poland is in the throes
of a mystic revival, with believers
kneeling in the midst of open fields,
with white squares Of sheeting over
their shoulders.
Between all this and nature dane
ing is further than from nature
dancing to the rituals of refined
American women in aristocratic Paris
gardens. But spirit of the times
breathes through the whole.
When the princess takes a fancy
to other women she asks them to
purify themselves and pay a visit to
her villa. Eat no meat for three
days, and take the 1O:40 train for
Versailles" runs the invitation. Il
smell decadence and weakness in
meat eaters" she explains. $50 will
you. when you have done the better
way"
Jacques Delcroze may have started
nature dancing; but, seventeen years
back, certainly, the princess and her
friends had every principle and fea-
ture of it as their own. While others
were interpreting" general ideas on
sunny lawns, these seekers learned
wild grace from lion. goat, wolf and
bullfrog. .t
The lions. reared. by two fearless
young women, were as active and
playful as kittens. To music of PAN
pipes (and. perhaps, delight to be in
freedom) they would bound across
the garden after big orange-colored
rubber balls.
Copy the free harmonies of
Ferdinand" the girls excIaimed-and