OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 9

OUR PARIS LETTER

UNPLEASANT SHAPES

THE HINDERERS

(FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, 20th June.

The events of the past fortnight have shown with more than the usual clarity the unpleasant shapes of those who have 'done their best, to hinder progress. At *ome future date it will be'worth while compiling a history of the reparations problem, in which the side manoeuvres •hall be included, so that those who have continually thrown a monkey-wrench in ih? wheel may be called on to assume their responsibilities before the millionß of people whom they have robbed of peace by their evil-inspired criticism j and hostility. In Palis they have made j themselves sufficiently conspicuous to be easily identified, and in London they caa be traced without undue difficulty. ! From that side there was a most unfortunate endeavour to assert that the JVench were maintaining an implacable resistance to: negotiations just at the moment when t"hey were taking the initiative. It was possible to hint last weekcud that the French Government was re?dyj for a compromise which would turp tho difficulty about passive resiEtSince in the Ruhr; and M. Poincare communicated to Downing Street on .Monday the terms on which France could enter into negotiations on the general question of reparations, Yet there was immediately a pretence, in those quarters ■which have constantly hampered advaiices,. that the French had presented an ultimatum' which was intentionally of such, a' character that tho British Government could not agree to it. RAILWAY'S STAR VOICE. A. Etory is told of a certain French railway manager, who, making a tour ,of inspection of his line, had occasion to remonstrate with a railway porter for the indistinct manner in -which he proBounced the names of the stations at ; which the train was due tp_ stop. The ■ porter replied:""'Look here, monsieur, lor the price they pay. the directors of the company cannot expect star tenors." The French Northern Railway.Company, however, has got its star voice at the Gare dv Nord, and it can be heard all over the big station. On days when there is racing at Chautilly the voice from the unseen source shouts the num.ber of the platform from which the next train is due to start. "Platform No. .4 for Chantilly," it says in French. There is no need to rush frantically about to consult harassed porters; the big, friendly voice tells' everyone aJI they need to know. The secret is a loud speaker attached to a gramophone arrangement, and the "star" voice may be rehed upon to enunciate plainly sub'ii^ily indifferent to such questions as hours and wages.' ' BERNHARDT SALE TOTAL. Despite the high prices paid for certain objects at the sale of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt's effects, the total realised by . the three day's sale, 307,070 francs for the 340 pieces disposed of, is inferior to the figure anticipated.- The many per- ' sonal friends of the queen of tragedy ■who attended the sale sought souvenirs in the form of some. article she : had worn-^a bracelet, a brooch, or part of a stage costume—and 'for' these' .they', gladly paid prices far in excess'of' the intrinsic value. But the articles of furniture and the furnishings which formed : part of the collection were in m.a-ny cases 1 disposed of for only a little more' than ■ their actual value, and as many of these lots were unsuited to modern . tastes; they went for very little. MONTMARTRE LISTENING-IN. A pedestrian climbing a steep Montmartre highway shortly after midday yesterday heard strains of music. . A few yards farther along the continuation of the same piece was heard. Curiosity was aroused when from a third and later afourth block of -buildings came strains j ot the same piece of music. It was a Radioa concert in progress, and Montmartre has taken whole-heartedly to wireless. On numbers of roof tops can be observed the masts erected by wireless enthusiasts, while in other, cases balconies have been brought into use and even the frame of a shop blind has had to serve for the erection of.-the list-1 enmg-in equipment., • THIEVES' THOROUGHNESS. A piece of information showing how careiully coups are prepared by jewel thieves has come into the possession of the _ Paris police, apropos of tho purJ°>F lnS °f a leather case containing bOO,COO francs' worth of precious stones in the Kue do Chateaudon a few days a° o It may be remembered that M. Daub° a broker who was taking the case to his tankers,-was stopped by a polite stranger, who told him that someone had smeared dirt on the back of his coat ±ie put the case down, and it was stolen by an accomplice, who replaced it by another, case exactly similar in appearance. It has now been ascertained that a man, presumably one of the thieves . went to a shop in the Ru e do Chateaudun the day before the Jheft and pur-' chased a leather strap fora case of this SV Ze"^ l'> ie aPCo!nPlices had seen that M. Daub s case had a strap, and they tv ere determined that this detail should not be missing from their dummy A reward of 30,000 francs has been offered for the^ recovery of the jewels, and another of 5000 francs for information leading tp the arrest of the thieves. "484 th-".. BIRTHDAY BOUQUET. One of the Primitives' works in the .belgian art exhibition at the Sen de Jt'aume is the celebrated portrait of Marguerite Van Eyck by her ] ms - banct, Jan an Eyck: An inscription on tho frame, traced by tho artist's own hand, shows that the picture was painted on 19th June, 1439, and as yesterday was therefore tho lady'g birthday, the committee celebrated the occasion by attaching a bouquet of flowers to the irame. In the history of painting, this portrait is as important as the "Gioi?"*.' „"", d is aboutJO years older. With all due respect To Marguerite's years—she baa now 484 of them—ono cannot imagine her as a beauty.: She was a thin-lipped creature, and looks quite capable of having given Jan several bits of her mind. x i TRAGIC WAR ECHO. Full of tragedy is-the story of a youn" French woman related by the "Liberte." She.-was married in Paris in April, 1917. Three weeks later, her husband rejoined his regiment, and in July, 1918, bo was reported missing. All her efforts to obtain news of him were fruitless, and finally she gave him up for lost. Having received an offer of marriage, it became necessary for her to obtain official proof of ■ her widowhood, arid slio N was then informed that : her husband had been taken, prisoner, sent back from" Germany in 'March, 1919, and put into a lunatic. asylum at Dijon a month later. She went to tlje asylum and identified him, but he did not recognise her. His madness had taken the form of melancholia, and she was informed that he had not spoken a word for five years. He was erne of seven brothers, all born , 'v Paris, who answered the call to arms ,

in 1914. Two were killed and a third was a prisoner-, of war for four yearsThe mother died of grief in 1920. POT LUCK. ' The centenary of the first- railway in France is also, if wo may believe "L'Oeuvre," that of the pomme de terre -soufflee. On the day of opening the line, there was,, of course, a banquet, and one. of the items on. the menu was fried potatoes. ..Having been told that the guests were arriving, the cook put the potatoes into boiling fat, but soon finding out that he had been mis-informed, he took them out and waited. When the real signal reached him, he put the potatoes back in the I fat, and was astonished, to see them swell. Having no others, he made the best of what he thought waG a bad job, and sent them up. They were immediately pronounced delicious, and he realised that he had made a great discovery by accident. DISAPPOINTED BLONDE. "Blonde, 35, would like to make the acquaintance of respectable man, with view tp matrimony.". This advertisement, appearing in the serious part of a comic paper, caught the eye of Henri Ghatenet, who had had'considerable ex-' perience in this kind of thing. He wrote to the advertiser, obtained an interview^ and fascinated her to such an extent that it is alleged she handed over her savings, amountine to 2500 fiance, and her jewellery tp him so that he cpuld take care of them for her. He failed to keep the appointment for their next meeting, and,it is stated, she then discovered that he" had given her a false name and address. She complained to the police, and Henri Chatenet was traced and arrested. Seven convictions for matrimonial and other swindles are en record against him.