THE PRESIDENT AND HIS FAMILY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6452, 5 April 1899, Page 1

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS FAMILY.

A PLEASING GEOUP. Tbe following is the best informed ftetch of M. Loubet, and his belongings svhich has yet appeared : — M. Loubet has been troubled for nearly forty years by not being able to live aut liis own life. He is passionately fond of the paternal farm near Marsanne, in the Drome, of its fresh, well-watered meadows, ita mulberry groves, olives and browsing kine. It is one of the best grazing farms in France. His mother has managed it ever Bince his father's death Sbe doe 3 not compete at agricultural shows, but if she did she could not fail to win prizes for her cocoons of silk, her dairy produce, '. .sheep, wool and poultry. M. Loubet was born with a taste for farminpr, but unfortunately he thinks his father w;>s struck with the acnteness of his reason when he was a small boy, and decided that he was to bo an advocate, tr, practise »b the bar of Montelimar, and to marry the daughter of soma prosperous citizen of that town. So, insteid of being allowed to help in the homestead fcasksfrhe was sent us a boarder to a preparatory school at Marsanne, and later on fco the Lycee of Montelimar. He pined in the class-rooms, but submitted with anchafing obedience to the' higher wisdom of his father. In the South of France paternal authority has been on the Koinan basis for about two thousand years. M. Loubet worked conscientiously to be an advocate. He was as fond of reading as of farming, but had only access to a small number of books. They, however, were first-rate. He devoured them to begin with, and then read them over and over again until he almost knew them by heart. Every time he read :them he found new beauties. Reading old literary favourites is still Ihis greatest recreation, though he is extremely fond of music of' every kin I. M. Loubet studied law in Paris. He was a law student in the early days of the Empire. All hia comrades abominated the Coup d^Etat and the Imperial Government. He went back to the Drome permeated with the ideas, current in the Law School. But as he was not disputatious, and did not care to force his opinions on anyone, he was not molested. He never cared to shine. "lEtre plutot que.paraifcre" might have been his motto. -Soon after he was admitted to the bar of Montelimar he married. the daughter of a. notable general merchant, M. Picard. -She had a snug dowry, which was thought quite a fortune in a smalbSoufch of France town. Part of it was invested in the roomy house in whioh , they lived at Montelimar, a house that still belongs to them. It was an open house to itheir fellow-townspeople. M. Loubet, as Mayor and a member of the Liberal Opposition, became the chief political tman in the town. His spacious sitting-room, with carpetless floor and no furniture to^speak of but seats, was called the Forum. Photographs of.Madame Loubet mere and the farm hang .on the walls of M. Loubet's study, There are also photographs .of his children. The eldest is Madame St Priex de Soubeyran, wife of a judge of the Civil Tribunal of Marseilles. Sho lives in a .handsome villa (also photographed) [on the Prado outside that city. The second son is twenty-five, and has justi obtained the 'degree of Dootor of Laws. And then there is the little third, who is only six years old. He goes .to a dame ? s , school. JVladame Loubet mere has no pretensions

to be a fine lady. Her appearance and dress proclaim her station, which is that' of widow in snug circumstances. She wears a bonnet and silk dress on Sundays, j though not always. Her usual dress is one ' of those close caps .of thick white mnslin ' with far-advancing piped tuyaute border, , a black handkerchief worn shawl-wise, with the front ends crossed, and a wide check aprom with deep pleats that nearly covers the black skirts. In wet weather -sabots protect iher shoes from mud. Though considerably over eighty 6iie is of erect carriage, Had of a plump, well set up figure. The cheery face is round, and the eyes dance with liveliness. She has aievev been to Paris. The farm, she -thinks, could not get on without her, thougfc. a niece brought up by her, and a daughter by adoption, is ready to take, her place. She aLao dreaded the want of pure milk, of home-made bread, of oil from her own olive press. But the strongest reason was this: If she we:it often to Paris M_ Loubet would come less seldom to see her at Marsanna. He would lose' touch with her, with his relatives and connections, with old neighbours, and . perhaps his love for the farm would grow I .cold. M. Loubet has the eolid steady air of the Roman citizen who did not drape himself ia the Grecian style. The nose, one would say, was originally a stroncr aquiline, but pressed back until it retained at the bridye ouly the original curve. He must have a strong vein of poetry and tenderness, but to judge from bis appearance the practical sido of his' disposition is the dominant one. His accent is strongly southern, and

he thinks it incurable, which no doubt it is. In Paris he eschews garlic, but one of his pleasures in returning to jtfonteliinor is to eat dishes highly sensoned with that condiment, without fearing to offend anyone's nostrils. LODBET'S DETRACTORS. Though Hr. Loubet has never publicly said a word on the Dreyfus case, the AntiSjeiuites are furious at his election, aud their newspapers on Sunday morning-viru-lently abused him. That the " I cho de Paris," as mouthpiece of the discredited Quesnay de Beaurepairo, should formulate a lot of inane charges . against the new President is natural enough. No one outside Bedlam will notice thero. Neither do the savage screeds of Eoeheforfc, nor the pedantic jeremiads of Jules Lemaitre, carry weigbt with Paris as they once did. The " iutransigeant " has quite outdone itself with elegant objurgations over the election. Here is a charming passage : — .'• Elected as he is by the scum of tin. people, by men illegally acquitted of odious crimes, by Pauamaists and Dceyfusards, Loubet has no right to be honest even if he wished to be so. He is the prisoner of the salaried monials of the syndicate, and I have no doubt that last night the Il'e dv Diabla was illuminated, for Loubet did not fail, I feel certain, to telegraph to his friend the traitor a record of the victory which so deeply interests them both."