DIOGENES UP TO DATE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8831, 6 May 1914, Page 2

DIOGENES UP TO DATE.

M. Eugene ■ Pbidevin";<has [recently gained/the distinction-'of. 'notoriety, in the Parisian newspapers by ;y his conscientious emulation of,; -:#lie '■',! ■ great Diogenes of old. Jn a large wardrobe— the only article retrieved from his former domestic possessions—he has been housekeeping for. more than three years. His compact household is placed in the middle-of a big open field, which, with another estate, was formerly, his own property. He sold the land to a farmer in order to meet certain payments,, which exhausted his resqurces^/'T^e.-'-ioaji; who; purchased the estate''.■'■was"';' sufficiently moved by the plight .of M. Poidoyin to allow him the use of the field without payment of ground rent; hence the modest little home which the simplesouled Frenchman has .'■ dumped down on the wind-swept countryside. M. Poidevin cares nothing for the weather. When it is boisterous or rainy lie merely closes the wardrobe door and locks it from the inside. Then he curls up and goes to sleep,.-or-perhaps he reads one of the half-dozen books for which he can find room on. his premises. He is healthy and strong, but, unlike Diogenes, he is not much of a philosopher—unless it be philosophy to wish occasionally that someone would lend him sufficient money to live in a little more style.