Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-24

Of Clemenceau falls before his great
, ness. The great service he rendered the
fatherland pardons many things
Sister Theoneste told me one of his
last utterances He said to her /
don't wish to prevent you from praying
in this brief phrase, but profound re-
spect for the mission of the sister who
so devotedly attended him."
Like his father. Clemenceau Will
probably be buried in an upright posi-
ton. The elder Clemenceau was Of
stern stuff, authoritative and dominating.
He was doctor by profession and drove
through the village of Vendee, healing
and commanding.
Life Shortened BY Work.
Clemenceaus doctors said that over
work on his book refuting criticisms
attributed to the late Marchal Foch
shortened his life by many months.
The wartime premier had been spend
ing six and seven hours daily at his desk
through the Summer and Fall, and for
a man nearly 90 years old the labor
proved too much. Mutinous to the end
Clemenceau refused to obey the en-
treaties of his doctors that he take
rest.
doctors are lot of donkeys," he
growled. Il must finish my work" The
first part OF his memoirs had already
appeared. and two volumes, Eau Soir de
la Pensee" Gin the Evening Of
Thousht'D, have been published in
English.
DR.. Laubry. a heart specialist, who
was one of the closest personal friends
of the dead statesman, shook his head
over his patient. THAT book will play
him a trick yet"
The public first learned that there
vas controversy when Raymond Re-
couly, Paris journalist and author.
issued a book accepted as having been
inspired BY Foch himself. Parts of 1t
were even dictated by the marshal and
the entire work was reviewed and cor
rected by him in proof before 1t was
published The book came out few
days after Foch's death last Spring. It
contained many criticisms OF the Tigers
activities as wartime premier. One
deal with his alleged efforts to secure
the removal of Gen. John J. Pershing
as commander n-chief of the A. E. F.,
and another with attempts to have the
American troops Incorporated with the
French armies
Answer to Attack.
Clemenceau, with characteristic Vigor,
announced when Recoulys book APP
peared: IT hate to start controversy
over a CONN, but am being attacked.
i shall defend myself and write o book
of my own
The body of Marshal Foch was lying
In state at that time
Since April the Tiger has worked
diligently and daily with his old quill
pen, whether living in his modest Paris
home in the Rue Franklin or in the
solitary villa in Vendee where he spends
his Summers. His doctors felt all along
that he was working too strenuously.
Meanwhile the book was progressing.
MY book will be ready about the
end Of October" Clemenceau told an
Associated Press correspondent who
visited him last Summer in Vendee.
But on returning to Paris, the Tiger
suffered q heart attack aggravated by
point Of congestion in the lungs. He
rallied and appeared to have fought off
the Illness and repaired his health.
work Immediately disregarding his
doctors advice to take q rest. During
his convalescence the doctors were
amazed to come in one day and find
that he had gone to the limit in his
efforts to speed up the writing of his
book. He had summoned the athletic
director who connselled him for 80
years and begun program OF gymnas-
tic exercises. These exercises weak
ened the Tigers heart, and he was
promptly rebuked by the doctors, who
i'm enediately issued an order barring
tho physical instructor from Clemen-
eel 1's house. But the Tiger himself
pc Formed his exercises from time to
title, to the eve OF his death.
HIS book was one of his final cares,
the doctors said that his War" the
controversy that he hated to start
''over a CONN" had much to do with
prenaturely opening the Tigers own
CONN.
Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemen-
ceau was born on September %, l04l,
at Mouilleron-en -Parads, near the little
country town Of Fontenay- Comte, in
the most picturesque district of the
Vendee. His father, DR.. Benjamin
Clemenceau, practiced his profession Of
medicine in the interests Of the poor
only, accepting no fees. His father be-
fore him had been an active Repub-
lican and had maintained a correspond
ence with several members of the con-
vention and, among others, with Lara
velliere, the chief Of the the0philan-
thropists. Dr. Clemenceau kept UP the
traditions of the family, but after the
coup detat of Louis Napoleon in 1851
he held entirely aloof from politics and
devoted himself to his profession at
Nantes, to which town. the family
old. The boy received his early tutoring
from his mother and afterward attend
ed the Lycee at Nantes.
Georges Clemenceau was In his
eighteenth year and. having completed
his course at the Lycee, was about 10
begin the study of medicine under his
fathers direction, when one morning
the eendArmes appeared at the Clemen-
ceau home and asked for the doctor.
When he appeared they arrested him
and took him In a prison van to Mar
seille. Ten days later the same gen.
darmes deposited the doctor on his own
doorstep without any more explanation
than they had volunteered when they
took him away. In the meantime his
daughter had become mentally de-
ranged as a result Of grieving for her
father. What did this arbitrary act
mean? Young Clemenceau set himself
to find out. It meant, he discovered
that following the attempt on the life
of the Emperor by Orsini law had
been passed giving the monarch the
power to arrest, Danish or exile to AL
geria any suspected person without trial
or any formality whatever. DR.. Clemen-
ceau had reached Marseille on his way
to Algeria when at the instance of the
project Of Nantes, the order of banisli-
n1ent had been revoked and he had been
ordered back to his home.
A Student in Paris.
In 1851 Clemenceau went to Paris to
complete his medical studies, becoming
q house pupil in the Hotel Dieu and,
later, house surgeon in the Salpetriere
Hospital and the favorite pupil of the
famous DIR. Edouard Robin, whose the
iories Clemenceau condensed, organized
and expounded In a clear body Of doc
trine in a thesis entitled: de Ia Gene
ration des Elements Anatomiques," a