Evening star., 1923-07-01
Continued from First Page)

magnates and treasurers and presi-
dents of God knows what not!
When he heard some careless word
dropped of their incomes he had q
| gone" feeling in the stomach. But
he braced himself with truth. He.
| Heilig, was the fortunate youth. He
had made the great discovery!
| He had always worked hard. every
| morning. all the morning. a long
morning, without interruptions. So.
he found every afternoon free.
The great discovery! 1t remained
invariable. Every afternoon free, in
the City Of Pleasure" Now. there's
a regime to keep a man young!
| Bah! Bah!
Young in pocket!
II.
Heilig Tells
TN those days there were no motor
i cars. It was thought good fun to
| pile into an open cab Gao cents per
hour, one good horse and one jolly
cabby In white coat, white top-hat
and red nose); and, my gosh. yes,
think we sang as we logged out to
Bougival on the river!
We splashed In canoes and drank
pink wine in "bosquets" (shady little
playhouses Of greenery) while lot
of clothes were drying on the bushes.
The pink wine was thin and safe
| (white Loire wine blushing for its
| weakness is strong Spanish red wine
! casks) with just enough kick to con-
tinue singing nicely. And, because
| we had no motor car, we had time
for everything, and in particular to
eat what luscious cookery. and how
much of it! We logged homo at twi-
light, the cab piled with lilacs or any
old weed in season.
Only once the pink stuff got US.
Two heroes Zone a high placed Amer
ican diplomat today in Britain's
produest centerD certainly sat on a
bench In the Auten commissariat.
| Where were Joe and Jim and Polly
and her aunty. and the others?
Saved. we hoped fervently, not
drowned! "You will get two years
for this!" a big. round-faced police
man rumbled. And the pens scratched
as the hours passed.
Interrupted suddenly the Auteuil COM
missary. And. with him, surprise in
person! Are you better? Are you
sleepy?" he cooed, patting, mother
like, the future diplomat If you
have no money left, why I can loan
you" hesitating, blushing, even.
the good big man patted the pride of
the Sunday papers with the other
hand. 1--WE have pacifed your cab
man, who was quite ferocious. Such
a niais. foolish. silly! He Is at your
servicey'
Then, consulting at the desk, "Bien.
bien, we have their money Henri,
give them back their money, in-te-
grale-ment! Now, young gentlemen,
I need not tell you. Paris Is gentle
city, but one does not invite danger.
1t was thirty years ago. tell you.
A police commissary Is still very
big man. AS he strolled with US in
the starlight to the grinning cabman.
the dread chief asked. timidly and
low, a service Of US.
You, messieurs, are foreigners.
Americans, and doubtless receive
many letters. My young SON makes
collection Of postage stamps, and so
Intelligent. ambitious, in lad of ten!
Even duplicates, he tells me, dupli-
Gates in number, he can exchange
them. All are useful. Messieurs,
could you, perhaps, would you
yUST like that, he said II. We re-
j piled appropriately. AS we rode
off, diplomat-to- said: MY dear
Watson, you perceived his motive
Truly, there was the French polite
ness which one reads of. French tact
French care for the gentle name OF
Paris, French Judgment of character
not to injure two young men OF
value. He desired to put US at oui
ease"
HE did," said grateful.
HE sacrificed himself to save oul
pride. He found a way to put him
self under obligation. He don't want
those common American stamps"
Thirty years agoi 4 deemed my
companions reasoning good. 1t en-
tered into my consciousness And
I'll say this-thirty times In the
years intervening, l have stopped ir
time, turned down my glass, ane
,
to that French man of heart ant
brain, the Commissary Of Auteuil!
tell my little story large. because
1t seems to sum up, really. all the
changes that have come to Pari.
from the Paris that we loved-ant
loved to write about.
!. Do not trust to postage stamps to-
day, or heart. or tact, at Auteuil
Rougival. or Montmartre. So coule
certify two of our very first-clas!
men and the helpful secretary of thu
Anglo-American Association on whom
they called their S. o. S. so vehem
emily.
For that matter, I cannot see VIII,
any regular newspaper man shoult
take the Paris post. OF course,
was not one such. But, also, 1e
youths fresh from law studies hest
tate to come and write of life ant
living. AS for the trained newspaper
man from home, he sleeps late In th'
morning, heavily-from sheer fatigue
He has no time for life or. living.
Every afternoon he works In th'
City of Pleasure. Daily he must pre-
!: pare himself by carefully reading
twenty papers. He must skim the
needfui from them. Then the worl
begins. Work, worry. Worry les
some smart competitor beats him or
items; worry lest he lose his Job b,
] leable; rush about Paris for squib in