Poetess Charmed

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 94, 22 April 1937, Page 11

Poetess Charmed

STRANGE AFFAIR AT PARIS Iu a Montmarte cafe chantant Madame Edwige Mayen, a poetess, who wore on her amplp bosom her ribbon as an officer of thet Academic Francaiso, was charmed by tlxe voice of Alexis Bilaite. When she told a Paris court the outcome of that meeting Alexis was sentenced to ' eight months gaol and ordered to pay £2OO damages. Madame interested herself in his hard lot, and invited Alexis to dinner, where he showed a solid appetite. The friendship progressed until one evening, after an excellent supper, Alexis stretched out on the sofa and said: “I am comfortable. Here I stay,** and so became a permanent guest. Alexis, who was 21 years younger than the poetess, beat and tyrannised over her, and behaved so scandalously that he drove her to leave home and spend a week in a hotel; he brought in a negro and other queer visitors. Wrote Verses on Gaolbirds Telling her story to the court, madame said that one night Alexis arrived with two cronies, who .frankly remarked that they were just out of gaol. She prepared tea, with piles of bread and butter and cake, and all three ate till 8 p.m„ when Alexis donned a Chinese princess’s dressing gown belonging to her. The President of the Court: What did you do? Madamo (sighing): I wrote verses. The President: On Alexis and Corydon? Some weeks later Alexis left, taking a superb collection of ivories and other articles formerly owned by an Albanian prince, including a scimitar which had cut off some illustrious heads. He also took pawn tickets for jewels. Contemplating Alexis with a disabused smile, madamo said: “I have been deceived in him. I asked him to interpret my last tangoes. I took him for an artist.** Madame’s counsel exalted her talent as a poetess, and showed tho couf! poems entitled “ Love’s Sickness,” “Towards the Oasis,** and “To Forget Thee.**