Parisian Newspaper-Men [pp. 123-128]

PA4RISIAN NE WSP_PER-MEN.
to time, and a play now and then. So that it will changed; at any rate, the result of his fiery and fero be seen that M. About is another of the very indus- cious arraignment of everything Roman was, that, on
trious penmen-a fact all the more creditable to his return to Paris, About was looked upon as a per him when it is known that for years past he has son to be kept still at any cost. He was snubbed at
scarcely needed to work at all, being independently the palace, and his hopes of political preferment were
wealthy. Part of his wealth he earned; part he quietly sat upon and flattened. He was famous,
married; and part was a legacy left him by an en- however, as an anti-Catholic-not as a Protestant,
thusiastic admirer of his genius, one M. Didier. A unfortunately, but as a sort of polite pagan-and,
man and a fellow-journalist thus signally favored by when he presently produced a play at the Odeon
fortune naturally exposes himself to the hatred of theatre, the occasion was seized upon for a pro the less lucky among his associates, and M. About is Catholic demonstration against him. On the first
not popular with the newspaper-men. His unpopu- night of the piece, which was entitled "Gaitana," an
larity is generally laid to the circumstance that he is army of students combined to hiss the play off the
somewhat cynical in his social life, and given to boards; and, after having thus arranged its funeral,
caustic comment on his fellow-creatures at the din- they marched out of the theatre, singing, to the tune
ner-table and in the salon; added to the fact that his of "Marlborough," this burlesque refrain:
abilities as a journalist are not considered of the "' Gaetana' is dead!
first order, and his prominence really due to the Mironton, tonton, mirontaine!
fame he enjoys as a novelist. These are reasons, to'Gaetana'is dead be sure; but a better reason is, that he is too lucky! Dead and buried! "
Human nature is so severe on good luck-when it is The students crossed the Pont Neuf, turned the
number two, and not number one, who is lucky. Louvre corner at the church of St.-Germain L'Aux Like Villemessant, About came up to Paris from errois, and in the Rue de Valois paused before the
"the provinces." But he came already covered with office of the Consitit ontinze, where M. About had pub young man's honors, having had great scholastic lished his last article. A triple salvo of hisses, ut triumphs at the College of Charlemagne, whose first tered with the ferocious abandon possible only to a
prize for philosophy he bore off at the age of lot of French students, startled the ears of the edi twenty. He had published two or three books tors at their work; and then the boys tramped on,
before he came to Paris to live, so that the doors shouting "Pasd'About! Pasd'About!"to the resi of the journals stood open to him from the first. dence of the obnoxious author. Here they indulged
To publish a book in France is not like publish- in hisses, groans, the air of "Marlborough," and a
ing a book here. It is issued by a boulevard most infernal charivari, after which they went home.
publisher; the placards adorn the windows of the Of course, About has had his duels; his last was
one street where "all the world" walks; it is im- with a fellow-journalist named Edouard Herv6, and
possible to remain in utter ignorance of its author's resulted in a fine of forty dollars for the author of
existence. So About was already known when he the "Nose of a Notary." Herv6 is the editor of
arrived in Paris, and he enjoyed at once the intoxi- the Journal de Paris, formerly conducted by J. J.
cation of Parisian flattery and consideration. But Weiss. Both the last-named gentlemen may be seen
he made many enemies; his talent for this was al- in the throng which gathers in and about the Caf6
most as remarkable as his literary abilities. Stung de Suede in the afternoon. Herv6 is a tidy, schol by adverse criticism, he began to wield, through the arly - looking man-not the Herve who composed
columns of the Figaro, the caustic weapons of his "Le Petit Faust," by-the-way. Weiss is somewhat
adversaries. The air reeked with the smoke of bat- rough looking for a Frenchman of indubitable pol tle and the cries of the wounded, wherever he ish-does not wear gloves, and is not attired with
turned; and presently he passed to the nobler game strict reference to the latest fashion. However, M.
of shooting at men of power and standing in the Weiss has no ambition to be considered a boulevargovernment. This course brought him at last, natu- dier, has a great deal of self-esteem, writes little, but
rally enough, to the emperor himself; and one day, carefully and with dignity, holds himself at a high
after an attack had been made on the life of Na- price, and altogether lacks those arts which assist
poleon III., About wrote that "there was but one most Frenchmen so admirably in trimming their sails
weapon which was unfailing- the knife." This to catch the wind of favor. He has been connected
phrase made quite a little revolution of its own; the at different times with the Paris Journal, the JourFigaro was threatened with suppression; About was nal de Paris, and the Journal des Dgebats, but he
discharged from its columns, made a private apology sunders his connections easily, and it is difficult to
to the emperor for the disagreeable phrase, and, keep track of him.
escorted by his lucky genius, marched straight into This round-faced, spectacled, good-natured genthe emperor's good graces, and had the red ribbon tleman who sits near us, in conversation with About,
of the Legion of Honor stuck in the button-hole of is an example of the kind of man who has considerhis left lappel. The emperor sent him to Rome, ation in Paris purely on the score of his dramatic
ostensibly for art-studies, but really that he might criticisms. He furnishes for Le Temnps a weekly
write a book of grotesque sketches of men and critique-it appears on Sunday, I think, though
things about the pope. He rather overdid this Monday is the regulation day for the dramatic
work, however-or the emperor's papal policy; writers-which is eagerly read by all Paris, and is
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