Evening star., 1923-02-04

hideously disputing. made the most
beautiful gardens of Paris a triie less
perfectly attractive than would GER
tainly be otherwise.
Does not the nasty corvus cornix
arrive in Paris in October and re-.
main till March. when he moves north?
And he's an extra.
AS the war went into trenches It
was noticed, with much gossip, that
the crows no longer came to nest and
conventicle around the French White
House. Last spring, even, I looked in
vain for them.
Then. suddenly. in the summer just
past, f1ocks reappeared in a night,
first looking over the jolly old home
stead, making inventory of leaky
nest. Tapping happily to nail a cock
roach on a walk between the flower
beds, and retiring to sing, all to-
gether, in the tree tops. All through
this mild winter clans have gathered.
Talk of gossip OF Parisians. This
started the real gossip-you guess,
ha: not of Parisians only IT is a
queer thing that every raven" tale
Two seen tmostly in British papers)
has been tendential to bear on bad
luck for Franco curse"
Now. let's do the square thing by
this French people.
= < Il
Is President Millerand taking any
/ real chance on crows? Yes, in
this sense, perhaps. that he is not
seeking to dislodge them, as Nine.
La Pompadour, kings favorite, at
tempted to do persistently-in vain.
The MarQuise de Pompadour glossy
proposition. nee Jeanne Antoinette
Poisson) was the first royal owner.
so to speak, Of the Elysee Palace
She bought it with the kings money
from the Evreux estate. And Presi-
dent Millerand, should he desire to
do so (Which he does not), could
have the old trapdoor oiled to work
again in the floor of the presiden-
up by magici
The French presidents bedroom Is
a great south room. 1t looks upon
the gardens through a glorious bay
window-where La Pompadour took
sun baths. When the king lunched
with her the lunch rose up. on that
table, through the floor trap.
From that sun room. through that
bay window. one bright morning in
the year 174s, she whom the king
delighted to honor (she began life
as Jane Fish) beheld a sorry sight
Her beautiful gardens Of the Elysee
were full OF horrid black crows,
There had never been a crow with
in those walls,
Crows do not, did not, frequent
Paris.
But, now, suddenly, the birds of
bad luck came. irrupting all around
the Elysee. Their filthy nests of
sticks were going up at time and a
half for overtime. And Pompadour
knew why. Jane Fish knew why.
The curse Of French royalty had
come upon her.
Crows" sobbed La Pompadour.
ITS what I get for mixing in with
your majesty, What a punishment"
The king smiled-but sQuirmed.
"If you are looking for a punish
ment,' he said, II think the crows
have come to haunt you for a more
personal reason. (Which was his
delicate, royal way Of saying: But.
no. at times. do you think YOU are Of
my family, poor child?) What about
those strips of land You stole from
A. IA - Do -
the peoples park? Corbie was a
city, yes, and I admit crows are the
high avengers OF agglomerations-
ugly birds and common people. But,
dear marquise, do not bring me into
1t. This is your house, not mine
your crime. My hands are clean"
Her crime is as evident today as 1t
was in 174s, though few Parisians
have seen the evidence. 1t was the
cynicism of a Pompadour in stealing
great strips from the peoples play
ground.
THE old (nner) wall which marks
i the limits of the property she
bought from Evreux still stands.
Jane Fish took land from Paris and
built up the higher, outer wall, to
guard it!
Bother she said. 1.-THE crows
wouldn't notice, but this thing will
make me a general laughing-stock.
I'll thank you, king. to send an in
fantry company, with poles. and
few ladders from the fire department.
know the reason why"
She did. And she didn't.
The crows clung to the gardens of
the Elysee.
They clung.
Why clinsf Why did sudden crows
cling to this quasi-royal garden only,