OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 48, 25 August 1925, Page 7

OUR PARIS LETTER

PRINCE AND DEAD ACTOR

A GRACEFUL TRIBUTE

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, 24th June.

I A graceful tribute to the late M. Lucien Guitry was paid yesterday by Prince Arthur of Connaught, speaking at the luncheon he • gave to the commissioners of the various sections at the Decorative Arts Exhibition and members of the British colony. "The whole world, and France in particular," he said, "has lost a very great figure in dramatic art by the death of M. Guitry.. In him passed away one of the greatest actors of modern times, and," continued Prince Arthur, "I can assure our French friends that' he will be as sorely missed in London as in Paris." Every theatre in Paris was represented at the funeral. Every theatre also had sent wreaths, which we're earned before the hearse in four cars, and an immense procession of mourning colleagues followed M. Sacha Guitry and his wife, Mile. Yvonne Printempts, as they accompanied the bier from the house in the Champ de Mars to the white marble tomb of the Guitry family. From London the Garrick Club sent a magnificent wreath of roses and hydrangeas brought by Mr. Seymour Hicks and Mr. Edmund Cwenn, rspresenting the .British stage. Mr. Willy-Clarkson also attended the funeral. The Under-Secre-tary of Fine Aits was represented, and M. Paul-Leon, Director of Fine Arts, was present with the managers of the Opera, Opera-Pomique, Theatre Francais, and Gymnase. Andre Antoine, the veteran actor, manager, and dramatic critic, was the only speaker, making a short but moving address at the side of the tomb. SURGEON'S SACRIFICE. For the second time, one of the house surgeons at the Hopital Tenon, Paris, M. Fournier, has given some of his blood to save a patient's life. A woman named Foquet, who had been almo3t asphyxiated by an escape of gas in her home, ' was brought to the hospital in such a condition that transfusion of blood from a healthy subject was the j only chance of saving her life. M. ' Fournier immediately offered ' himself, and the operation was performed with the most' gratifying results. When warmly thanked by the patient and her realtives, M. Fournier replied that he had only done hia duty. BRONTE NOVEL TRANSLATED. For the first time in its history, "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte, has been translated into, French, and will be.published this week. The strange and clever talo, the only work of its author, was published in 1847 under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell, barely a year before her death, and a few months after "Jane Eyre," written by her sister, Charlotte Bronte, had taken the reading public of England by storm. "Wuthering Heights" got little recognition until years after the writer's death, but has long since been placed among the classics of literature. Its title in the French edition is "Les Monts de Hurle-Vent," and the translation by Frederick Delebeccjue is considered excellent. Several ot the leading writers of the younger modern French school are:-,now signing translations" of English work. The brilliant Andre Gide has translated Conrad and Tagore, while Valery-Larcaud has translated Butler, VISITOR AND SCOTS BAND. ' Just as the band of the Cameron Highlanders was ending its performance at the Grand Palais on Wednesday afternoon, a. French visitor f"om the provinces went up to the bandmaster, and expressed the keenest disappointment at having reached the Exhibition too late to hear the men play. He had made the journey to Paris j he explained, for the sole purpose of hearing the Scottish musicians. The bandmaster gallantly raised his baton, and the bandsmen, tired though they must have been, played, again and again for the late-comer, and the pipers, too, repeated some of their gay music. The French visitor listened with delight, and very gracefully expressed his gratitude for the pleasure they had given him, and then, laying a banknote for 1000 francs in the bandmaster's hand for the musicians, took his leave. SUICIDE NOT EASY. 'It is clear from the annual report of- the Hygiene Council of Paris, that it is no easy matter to drown oneself in the Seine. In 1924 the flrst-aid stations on the river banks rescued 204 drowning persons, of whom 123 had tried to commit suicide. Of the total, four only had been more than ten minutes in the river, and could not be brought round, but of the others, 98 had been got out of the water in less than a i minute. At the other first-aid stations within the city, away from the river, 74 persons were treated, 70 having been injured in one way or another, and four seized with illness. Ab for the ambulances on duty at public ceremonies and fetes, their services were required for , 263 patients in the course of the year, . the Gingerbread Fair supplying the largest number of 70 sick or injured, and the Grand-Prix race-meeting coming second with 29 patients. THE "BROOMSTICKS." One of the most recently founded ■women's clubs is called the Broomstick Club, and it already has some 50 members, all of them fulfilling the two essential conditions of membership; they are at. least sft 6£in in height, and they weigh not more than 9st 61b, They make a.fine appearance, do the Broometicks, when gathered for a club banquet. Most of them are young and good-looking, and all do credit to their dressmakers, who appear to enjoy draping such well set-up women. The Broomsticks look well content with their lot, and look with compassion on smali plump persons, les petits, as Paris calls them. Most members of the club are, however, single. Why? "We are obliged to choose husbands 'with care,"'. say the Broomsticks. "We must wed tall, fine-looking men, otherwise we should look ridiculous." "And," one added with a sigh, "men of that particular cut are scarce." AN ABSORBING TASK. In a Paris post office the other day, relates the "Figaro," people were waiting in a queue at the counter. The clerk, no doubt absorbed in some complicated task, did not raise his head , and they waited in respectful silence, so as not to disturb him. Other clerks came and whispered in his ear. Evidently he was trying to trace some error !in his accounts. Curiosity overcame tho j tallest man in the queue. He looked over the railing in front'of the counter, and discovered that tho clerk was endeavouring, with the help of a pocket dictionary, to solve a crossword puzzle.