OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 53, 31 August 1926, Page 4

OUR PARIS LETTER

NEWS AND VIEWS

MAUPASSANT'S COMPANION

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

PARIS, 7th July

Memories of Guy de Maupassant, who was a famous Parisian, no matter how much he loved Normandy and the Cote d'Azur, have just been revived, following the death of an old sailor named Bernardj who for many years, until a few weeks before his death, was a constant companion, of the novelist during his sea excursions. Bernard had charge of the "BelAmi," which was the name given by Maupasant to the yacht in which he coasted in the Mediterranean, and many references are made to him in "Sur l'Eau" and m "La vie Errante." The old sailor was a witness of the writer's mental breakdown at Cannes in 1893, and lie nursed him to partial recovery before his transfer to the capital, where he died. Until the last, Bernard loved to relate incidents of their cruises together and always spoke in terms of warm affection of the author of "Tome." NO PERFECT WITNESSES. It appears from a speech made,' yesterday by M. Rogues de Fursac at the Forensic Medicine Congress held in Paris, that there is no such individual as a perfect witness. The human mind is incapable, when unprepared, of receiving a series of exact impressions and recording them with absolute correctness. M. Rogues de Fursac said that if a Sprbonne professor, a distinguished civil engineer, and an equally distinguished mathematician simultaneously witnessed the same event and were asked to give an account of^ it, their versions might easily contain 40 per cent, of error, and not one ot them would get within 25 per cent of the absolute truth. M. de Fursac also put forward the rather surprising theory that the evidence of lunatics should not be systematically refused. A mental patient, he said, may be able to describe some detail with astonishing lucidity and thus contribute to the success of an investigation. But there are lunatics and lunatics, and only an expert can tell the kind that will make a possible witness. NERVOUS MOTORISTS. Although women motorists in Paris are sufficiently numerous to want a club of their own, few of them are seen; driving their cars in the streets. It seems to be a fairly general impression, which may or may not be correct, that while many woman are quite as good drivers.as men, the sex in general does not enjoy taking a car into the congested thoroughfares of Paris. The nervous strain is too pronounced to compensate for the pleasure, and this feeling is by no means confined to women. A great many male motorists living in the suburbs have adopted the practice, when coming into the city in the morning of leaving their cars at a garage just outside the gates, and making the rest of the way to their place of business by "tube." THE "BONNE." A curious contribution to the history of the "new poor" is made by Mine. Blache Vogt. In the Pare Monceau, she says, she frequently noticed an elderly man of refined appearance wearing a decoration.. He was always accompanied by a baby in a perambulator, which he pushed, and by a boy about six years old. The other day she was somewhat surprised to hear the boy ask the elderly gentleman to fetch a ball, which had rolled under a bush. 'The request seemed to strike him as quite natural, and he wont off in search of the ball. Mme. Vogt then asked the boy why he did not go after the ball himself. "Why Bhould I do that when I have a bonne (nurse-maid or servant)?" was the reply, and Mme. Vogt realised that the aged gentleman, a victim of the hardness of the times, had hired himself out to look .after the two children. MME. GUILBERT'S BOMBSHELL. At the close of the luncheon given by the Foreign Press'in Paris, whose guests 1 included a number of distinguished writers, artists, and politicians. Mme. Yvette Guilbert craved permission to speak. It was thought that the well-known diseuse intended to recite or sing, instead of which she delivered a little speech as follows: "A number of friends have applied on my behalf for the Legion of Honour. They went the-wrong way about it. As the Prime Minister is present, I ask him now myself for the Legion of Honour." The bombshell produced at first a mixed impression, which, however, quickly gave way to good-humoured comment and laughter, in which M. Briand joined. The climax of the situation was reached by a stroke of wit. Mme. Rachilde, the well-known novelist, suddenly rose and handing her red ribbon across the table to Mme. Guilbert, said: "Here, you can have mine.' ■•Now," replied Mme. Guilbert, "I will give you 'Les Vieux Messieurs^ " ihe story is told in "I'lntransigeant." LICENSES FOR ACTORS. If a project which has the support of many members of the Theatrical Artists' Union is generally adopted, a comedian that is, one who acts in plays classed as ; comedies, will, like v motorist, for mI stance, have to be equipped with a license to prove tliiit his or her qualifications have 1 been (ifliciiilly recognised. It is not proposed to determine anyone's genius or ability to plity a role. The idea, as explained by its sponsors, MM. Henry Beaulieu, Worms, and Uarpentier, is to protect professional actors ami actresses against the inroads which arc being made on the profession by iimiitciira for whom the stage is said to have jtreater fascination than talent to justiiy their enterprise. Nor is it proposed to place any obstacle in the way of genuinely aspiring artistes. The union would alone have the power to issue the licenses, which would be granted after an apprenticeship of three years. "HERO" WHO RAN AWAY. His name was Ali Ben something, and as he squatted on the pavement near' an underground station the remains of his amputated legs partly visible, he held out bis hand for charity to tho passers by. These were only too well disposed to help Ali, especially as his breast, was decorated with several war ribbons, presumably those of a Moroccan hero. But a policeman bebecame interested in him, and said, in a kindly way he would like to see the hero's identity papers. Then a strange event happened. Ali, with astonishing agility, brushed aside the stumps and spring up on a pair of real greyhound-like legs. He was off before the policeman had recovered from his shock, but after a chase, iv which several of-his dupes took part, lie was captured. At the police station the identity of the imposter was established, and his lucrative practice brought to a close. A NEW MISFORTUNE. Mrs. Malaprop has paid a flying visit to Paris. The object of her attention on this "suspicious" occasion was a poor blind man who is well known ir. the neighbourhood of the Palais-Royal, where he sells plans of Paris during the daytime and programmes at night. Ho bears a Card with the words. "The blind man is polyglot." Mrs. Malaprop, with a woman companion was pasisng that way, and saw the man and his card. "Blind and polyglot!" she exclaimed. "Poor man. But there, misfortunes never come singly."