I c
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 5. l2l).
Fiery Poet -Captain,' Author of Stirring French .nthem
Revered Throughout the World, Died in Abject Poverty
Composer of 'Marseillaise'
Writes of Memorable
Event for Alexandre ,
Dumas.
There is a song to honor which
the 2,000,000 doughboys of the A.
E. . F. habitually rose to their feet
when it was sung. It was the "Mar
seillaise," "freedom's universal song."
To honor it an American city has
just done a doubly unique thing.
Milwaukee; has erected, for the first
time in history, an American city's
tablet in Europe, and, equally for the
first time in history, a song has had
a tablet put up' in its honor. '
Less than a month ago in Paris I
was present at a banquet in welcome
of the Milwaukee, committee, on its
way to Strasburg, where the "Mar
seillaise" was written, in 1792. And
at that banquet we heard, along with
Lawrence Fitch's eloquent statement
of Milwaukee's motives in making
the demonstration, a reading of the
dedication of the tablet "in grateful
tommcinoration.of the Inrthji of the
'Marseillaise,' the-glorious inspira
tion of Rouget le Lisle, in abiding
friendship for Prance, and Jn deep
joy'over the return of the ffir provr
inces of Alsace and Lorraine to
France, their true mother."
x In Paris Pantheon,
Today,' when they are preparing,
one again, to put Rouget de Lisle
in ,the Paris Pantheon, it will inter
est all Americans who rise to free
dom's univcrsial song" to' hear the
pathetic, heart-breaking story of its
immortal composer.
Most of us imagine the author of
the' "Marseillaise" as the gallant
yottng poet-captain of hi! youth, in
garrison at Strasburg,, beloved and
feted. But he died poor and obscure,
an aged, broken man, -in. 1836. A
venerable dame of Choisy-le-Roi was
the unhappy Rouget's next door
neighbor during the last five years
of his life, and her picture of "the
poor old man," as they all called him,
owe nothing to romance or legend.
"I saw Rouget ddt Lisle .'twice a
day during five years," said Mme,
Desperrieres. "He lived immediately
on our left, and two houses from
ptirs, on the right, ljved his friend,
M. Voiart, of Metz, "one-tim.e ad
ministrator of the army of the Sam-,
bre-et-Meusc. Although his funcrj
lions naa nor enricnea riim contra
ry to the case of certain 6thers M
Voiart took on himself the cart of
the poor old man's last years. They
lunched together, often on a crust
and a piece of cheese, and they
wrote poetry together.
Passing Was Pitiful.
"At 4 o'clock every afternoon, reg
ularly, Rouget de LfSle went out to
Vllttl cMIU . UUIC WIUL Ills VLlltl WIV1
friend, General Blein. His place at
the table was always set; the poor
old man never lacked his family i
'dinner. , . ,; '
'e used to ;wach him pass. , It
wi pitiful. L see him still, as if '
it were yesterday, aged, broken, lop
sided, hair snow-yhite, he looked
100 years old. I never knew him
to have but the one suit, a long
redingote grise, like Napoleon, ex.
cept that he wore long trousers, like
everybody nowadays, ., and .' on ' his
head a battered Alsatian cap. Lean
ing on his cane, he went gently, and
on his face there was something so
unhappy that no one dared to speak
to. him. He spoke to.no one.'
''Often we used o point him out,
saying:
" 'It is Rouget de Lisle, who made
the 'Marseillaise.'
And the people answered:
'"We know it."' ' :
Center of War.
Surely, the poor 'old man, who
had only one suit and who looked
so unhappy that no one dared speak
to him, dreame no more then than
in his fulgurant youth, when he
dashed it off in a hour of fevered
enthusiasm, that his "Jriymn Against
Invasion" would go round the world,
be forbidden by kings and emperors,
become the song of the republic
against coalizcd kings in three wars,
and move millions of republicans
across the seas to rise and stand in
veneration at its singing.
Now, for the scene. -It is Stras
burg in 1792 Strasburg was a boil
ing center of war, youth, joy and
doath, where the noise of fighting
and fetes mingled incessantly. Stras
burg received the republican vol
unteers, trained , them, and passed
them out the opposite gate to fight
for the soil.
To celebrate such a departure, the
mayor of Strasburg, Dietrich, invited
the volunteer officers to fraternize
with the officers of the garrison, in
a banquet and reception at his house.
And his two lovely young daughters
mviiea au ineir gin acquaintances.
They sought something to sing.
The old revolutionary "Ca Ira I" was
a song of civil war. What was
needed, they said, was a patriotic
cry, fraternal, republican, and yet a
menace to the invader. Then all
eyes fixed on Rouget de Lisle. The
young captajn of engineers grew red
in the face, gulped a glass of water,
and hastily left theToom.
U.K XT....
raau an uuui.
In a small library-room adjoining
was a piano. Between piano and
writing table, Rouget de Lisle
worked feverishly for half an hour
and all was accomplished! Both
words and music! That is to say,
the words of the first two sfeozas;
and with them in hand, Rouget came
out to Mayor Dietrich and a group
cf guests "who had quit the table.
"I think I've got it 1" he said.
"Listen." And he began the lines of
which the following are a rough
but faithful translation:
Com! anna of natlva land and-liberty!
Tha day of slory la nigh.
Sep. against ua how dark tyranny
It rd standards waves on hlirh!
Do you hear. In our countrysides
Hoar those ferocious hordes T
Come to our very arms . '
To stab our sons, our wives!
To arms, ettlsensl Line up your' battalions!
March on! March onl . .
May an Impure blood
Water our plough-furrows!
Silence! Silence!
y An electric shiver rani through the
assembly. Guests from the banquet
table crowded into the drawing
zooms. Cries of enthusiasm burst
nic. Others stopped them. "Silence 1
Silence t" Dietrich's daughters took
the music from the young-man!s
hands, and. the elder, at a little
harpsichord, accompanied the second
stanza: )
'Whnt-want these slaving bands .
Of perjured kings conjured?
For whom their Ignoble bonds.' '
Their Irons, for long prepared!
Frenchmen! For us J ah, what outrage!
'And the listeners hearts prew
tense as '-he corrtmned - the now
Rouget de Lisle, author of the
time, a few moments after composing
world-famed stanzas, then heard for
the first time: . ...
What! shall these foreign hordes
Make, the law of our Jiearths?
Never was a song written so rap
idlv, acclaimed so instantly! To cries
of "No!"- "Nol':, "Never!" and then,
"Yes!" 'Yes;",y"AhYes!" the ter
rific -chorus was - taken ' up,' from
room to room:
To arms, citizens! Line iip' your bat
talions' . .. ' '..
March on! March on! ... ....
' . . . f - Reproach Hurts.
Others called out; suggestions.
"It's too short 1" : ''Make- a verse
for the.. children !"-."jnd'' a.' verse for
mothers 1" Oth"r.:askcd:- "Is ' there
norpardon for'the misied,;for the de
ceived , ' - '
Rouger'de Lilerc6vcred his' face
wiift his Ijands. ' ' '.'.'.-"'
"Wait," he murmured, "j'bu will
see that my heart does not merit
that reproach." Then, throwing
back his head, the noble youth in
toned the holy strophe in which is
said to be found the entire soul of
France: ,
Frenchmen, as warriors prcat of heart,
Strike, or hold back yeur blow;
Spare the sad victims for whose part
Falsehood armed to thojr woe!
"Yes 1" "Yes!" cattle from ali
sides, "mercv, pardon for the mis
led. . for brother-slaves pushed!
again.st us by bayonets! es.
(took up Rouget de Lisle
But against those despots sanguinary
Against tigers without pity
To arms, citizens! Line up your battalions!
and the chorus again thundered:
March on! March on! ,
May an lmpre blood j-
Water our p!ow-furro.ws! . -
Silence. .
- To Your Knees..
- "Now!" exclaimed the-post '.cap
tain, "to your knees, all of you, no
matter who you are!"
They knelt. ' ". ,
Rouget de Lisle alone i remained
upright, rested one foot on the rung
of a chair "as on the first step of
the Temple o Liberty," and lifting
his two arms to'heaven, sang the
last couplet; the invocation:
"Oh, sacred love of home 'and native land,
Conduct, sustain our Venning end.
-Liberty, dear Liberty. ,
comuat ror those who Thee defend . . .
Thirty-Eigrit Years Later.
"Thirty-eight years afterwards,"
wrote Alexander Dumas in one of
his historical works which have
never been . translated, "in recount
ing that great nightto me, young
men. who had only, then, for the first
time (in the Revolution' of 1830)
heard the sacred hymn sung by the
powerful voice of the people 38 years
after, the forehead of Rouget de
Lisle shone with the splendid
aureole of 1792. And itf was only
justice.
The reference of Diimas to his
having heard the 'Marseillaise' sung
by 'the voice of the' people for the
first time, in 1830,. is due to the fact
that the restoration (after the fall
of Napoleon) had-suppfessed it the
first act of the "legitimate kings of
France," returning to the throne,
was to cut it out. And so, Nap.pleon
III, "the people's -choice by plebi
scite." His reference to dying and re-born
liberty dates from the revolution of
1848 and its short-lived republic
whose first patriotic impulse was to
put the Marseillajse on all the thea
trical stages of ' Paris, So it was
throughout - the world war, from
1914 to armistice, when the stages of
the allies thrilled to beautiful white
draped artistes in the genre of Mile.
Chenal, personifying the Hymn
exactly as did Rachel, the great
tragic actress of her day, for nearly
a year, in 1.848.
Yet Rachel had no voice.
Can You Sing?
She had begun her iareer as a
10-year-old child with a beautiful
voice, singing in the streets of Ly
ons, where she was found by Chor
on, who took her into-his school
of religious music! At the age of
13, she suddenly lost, her singing
voice, and never got it back;' but
where another would have been dis
couraged, the little Rachel simply
auit Choron for St . Aulairp. an artor-
teachcr, in whose classes she was
discovered by Vedel, cashier of the
Theater Francais.and her great ca
reer was assured. In 1848, she was
at the height of her fame. ,
flow, all the same, could Rachel
sin? the Marseillaise?
"Don't think of it," said Lockroy,
the government commissary, son-in-law
of Victor Hugo, and a good ac
tor and prominent playwright him
self. "Can you sing, for example?"
"No," but .1 have thought of a
trick," said Rachel, "I will 'say the
Marseillaise in meloposia, sustained
by the music of the orchestra play
ing the air in sourdino. vcfylow, and
my voice will follow the rhVthm. It
will be beautiful." There is' an or
chestra leader here, who is vey ca
pable. He is a friend of mine."
.Sttrcly he .was capable. It was
Jacques Offenbach, in his youth,
before he had begun his immortal
operette compositions'; .
"Tonight, after- th- show," she
"Marseillaise," singing the beloved, firey French anthem for the first
it in a half hour, at the home of the mayor of Metz, in 1792.
said, "come to my house.1 I hatfe
asked some' ftends, and my family
and Jacques at the piano."
Alfred de Musset was among the
guests. He acted as stage manager,
and seated them fan-wise, with the
"pianist" behind a Chinese screen.
Rachel came out in a white tunic,
with Greek Cap and lacets of red
silk in her hair. She held a tri-color
flag in her left hand first model,
exact, unchanged, for all future per
sonifiers of the Marseillaise. Her
voice gave the hymn its just accent,
line by line, to make it sublime as
it came from her lips, each effect
brought out, impassioned, anguishejd,
implacable, terrible! Thus sang it
those inexorable volunteers of the
south, who. coming up from Mar
seilles in 1792, had adopted the new
song as their hymn and jjpiven it their
name. A shudder ran through the
audience, taking a step forward, her
eyes flaming, the great Rachel.threw"'
out the cry: ' "
"To arms, citizens!"
Come to Supper. .
"Her power of expression was
such," said Lockroy, many years
HeIs0nlyll2,Biit
.Will Die Single
Girls Don't "Fall" for Him So
He Decides to Pass
'Em Up.'
Chicago, Dec. 4. Samuel De
Grofsky has decided not to try to
marry again. The women seem to
favor the yoiiger men, and he can't
make them believe he's s,erious,. so J
he is going to remain a bachelor the
rest of Jiis days,
De Grofsky says present-day worn
enTiaven't much judgment, and so
he is satisfied. The fact he is only
112 years- old should not be held
against him, he thinks.
"I have decided to die' single," he
said. "My wtfe died when she was
70 years old. Only once since then
have-1 thought of marrying again.
That was when I was 102 years old.
Bu the women nowadays haven't
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206 Neville Block!!
Teeth Extricted With'
NO PAIN!
That Is What My Methods '
Mean to EVERY Patient
You can come to my office any hour and you
will see here pattents who will tell you their own ex
perience that I extracted their teeth absolutely
-painlessly. I will do the same for you.
'.work oh,
v .
completely sausiiea.
Craduata Northwestern
University, Chicago.
No students, no assistants. I do all work personally.
Work for Out-of-Town Patients Completed in One
Dk W.F.Crook,
Entrance on 16th Street, at
Office Hours: 8:30 to 6 Sunday, 10 to M.
Phone Tyler 5117
afterwards, "her mimic was so really
striking,' her voice took such a hold
of the heart strings, that, with the
last coupletie crowd of hardened
theatrical artists and critics burst
out in emotion that surprised them.
Then Rachel, swinging forward, her
fists on her hips like a fisherwoman,
guyed Lockroy in her 'triumph, say
ing: Eh, bien, my little Lockroy, ar
you convinced?"
He struck his breast. ,
"One must have nothing there,"
he gulped, "not to be convinced!"
"Then come : to supper," said
Rachel. "Alfred,; will- carve--- the
chicken." -. - . v '
Rachel was ' still singing-tlje Mar
seillaise, when Louis Napoleon,-pro-fiffng
by the liberty whjch,' it, "repre
sented, got himself elected president
in four departments. "Now, : we
shan't be longl" exclaimed, the -fu-ture
emperor-r-already joined- up,- as
he was, with the royalists to s;quelch
the republic. Which completes the
justification of Dumas "last cry of
dying liberty, first cry of liberty re
born!". - , . t .'
much judgment. Theyprefeis young
er men. None of them considered
rrie seriously as a possible-husband."
De Grofsky drd not advance any
reason for his long life. In fact, he
said he had never thought of it. He
dees not smefke or chew, Jbut occa
sionally likes a little vodka.
Is Very Spry.
He is very, spry for his age""arrdJ
explained that he carried his cane
only because it was fashionable.
He was born in Russia and came
here 32 years ago. He has four sons,
three daughters, 4.S grandchildren
and 10 great-grandchildren.
He has only been near death once,
and that tlmeheiwas very close to
it. It was on one of his trips across
the Atlantic (he has made -six). He
became seriously ill and 'was pro
nounced ;dead by the ship's surgeon.
He came to and made vigorous pro
tests against fne proceedings while
he was being sewed in a sail, pre
paratory to burial at sea.
Attached to measuring spoons
patented by a New York inventor
is a pivoted scraper to level off their
contents.
SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT
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206 Neville Block
Omaha.
16th and Harnjsy Streets.
Riotous Revelry
Staged Nightly In
Vielma Cabarets
:
Champagne Bottles Pop Like
Kettle-Drums and Colored
Streamers Make Mardi
1 Gras.
( liirax-o TrUiiine-Omaha Be Foreign
- Aews service.
By GEORGE SELDES.
Venna, Dec. 4. From the looks
of the cafes and cabarets of Vienna
these days one would think pros
perity and joy had returned to the
capital of Austria. Champagne
bottles are popping like kettle drums,
confetti and colored streamers make
niardi gras every nigkt, laymen
dance with the abandon, to see which
one pays high prices in an Amtrican
theater, women make up for the low
ness and higjiuess of their dresses by
robing themselves with strings of
pearls and diamonds. 'Men pay bills
in four figures.
That is a common picture Ameri
can visitors find. They see also the
thousands at the races in the fall, the
befTing of millions of crowns, the
crowds in the theaters, the silk
stockings on the Ring, the de luxe
stores of Kaerntnerstrasse, the ar
rogant display of wealth by the war
profi.te.ers. t
Nothing to Prepare.
But out in Ottakrink and the,
neighboring wards they are prepar
ing for the worst winter in the his
tory of Vienna. "Preparing" Is
hardly theright word. There is
nothing to prepare, except perhaps
a little wood, a few crusts of bread
and their minds. They still go to
the Wienerwald and cut 60 pounds
of wood for their week's allowance
and some of them still- frequent the
municipal garbage dumps - and eat
bits of decayed meat and the green,
mouldy scum at the bottoms of cans
of American ctfndensed milk. I have
seen as many as a hundred women
and children there at one time.
Live In Luxury.
The war . profiteers, . the rich ref
ugees from other countries, the
members of foreign missions, the
food smugglers, the . jewel mer
chants and foreign. visitors general
ly, live in luxury and gay music, but
the masses of Vienna are no better
off than they were last winter. Every
American in position to know, mem
bers of the American mission and of
othee-, American 'activities and mem
bers of European missions .who have
investigated and sent official reports
to their governments agree that
starving Vienna' is certainly" no bet
ter .off than last winter.) -Some be
lieve Vienna is worse off. "That is
why certain reports in American
publications, written by visitors to
the cafes, cabarets .and stores of the
Ring section have made such a bad
impression,. For instance, one re
port says: ,
: Won't Help Selves. J
"Vienna is not starving. Vienna
is in far better .shape than propa- i
ganda and uninformed sentimental
ity have, taught US' to believe,
. . . The main troublie with Aus
tria is that she cannot get the
masses to help themselves.' . .
Whatever assistance is offered by
the powers should be .in the way
of constructive finances, and granted
m
of Any Shoe in the
WALK-OVER BOOT SHOP
317 South 16th Street
At the Following Prices, which are less than Manufacturers1 Prices to-day
SALE STARTS MONDAY DEC. 6
Women's
f
Group Two
Regular $12$15
, SHOES at
Group Three
Regular $15
SHOES at
r
V
r
317 South 16th
only after the establishment of a
system of taxation which will event
ually enable Austria to liquidate the
indebtedness. . . ...
"Meat, butter. sugar, "Shoes,
clothes fabrics are expensive, but
plentiful. . . One may walk for
miles past windows filled with
jewelry, plate, silks. . . .''
' 200,000 Children Fed.
The American Child WelfSre mis
sion, which has been forced to ex
tend its work until it feeds 200,000
children in Vienna once "daily, finds
such reports from American visitors
to the fashionable hotels, the cafes,
and cabarets of the Ring very harm
ful. It is the opinion of the welfare
workers and, in fact, all Americans
who investigate the masses, not the
gay night life, that the picture of
Vienna last winter has not been ex
aggerated and that no rosy hues can
be splashed - on the canvas this
winter.
j:liiintilMliiliMlintti!'iiiiitiilii
An Invitation To
Lecture Recitals
fry- -0. ' -.
BLANCHE SORENSON
An intensely interesting and illuminating exposition , of Victor Rec
ords thatwill double the value of Phonographic music to you.
A complete change of program daily-Monday, Verdi's opera, "H
Trovatorc," will be given by Miss Sorenson, illustrated by manj
beautiful Records. r f
Miss Sorenson 's great ability to entertain and educate has been recog
nized again and again by the Victor Talking Machine Company of
Camden, New Jersey, during her fdur years connection withthemvln
their Educational Dept., as . well as by numerous well known music
houses throughout the United States.. J- , : ; .
Everybody interested in music should hear Miss Sorenson during the
two weeks of her engagement, December 6 to 18. ' ,
As in other Orchard &
FREE and all are very
iJHllli;IUIl.l-.HII::tl H.il.lli
Your Unrestricted Choice
Group One -
$20
m
See Our Windows For Styles
wrecm
WaifcSver
Street DOOT
Americans Lose
Jewels In Paris
Gang of International Thieves
Believed to Be, Working
French Capital. A
Paris, Dec. 4. "Keep your money,
jewels and furs carefully locked
away." Such is the advice being giv
en by the managers of prominent Pa
risian hotels to their guests.- The
need for such advice is found, in the
ever-growing frequency of robberies
committed in hotels. A gang of in
ternational thieves is thought to Je
operating in all leading hotels and
the French authorities, although
tMey have sent out their best detec
tives aHtf police after members of the
i'i:li,lnmiiiiiiii'!tiiiii'iuiiiiliii:
SIXTEENTH AND HOWARD STREETS
Every Day at 3:45 P. M.
In order to secure a seat please
be punctually on our Fifth Floor
Wilhelm Co. entertainments, admission will be entirely
welcome. , . - : ;
I I I I I I I I I I I I t I .1 H:iiiir:,iliHU:il;! ,1 ,
Men's Group One
Regular $9-$12
SHOS
at
Group Two
Regular $12 $15
-SHOES at
Group Three
Regular $15
SHOES at
SHOP Omaha,
I -
gang, have failed to discover any cul
prits, -i.
American visitors, are usually the
biggest sufferers and their money
and jewels disappear practically ..be
fore their,very eyes. ..,
Recently an American .woman liv ing
at a prominent hotet found that
a pearl and diamond barpin valued ai
$24,000 which she had left on he:
dressing table at night ws missing
in the morning. The next day at an
other hotel another gein valued at
$4,000 had disappeared in the sami
way. Two days later a South Amen
can who had only just arived here
ordered cotfee for his breakfast and
after having drunk this fell' into a
sound sleep. When he awoke he dis
covered that his pocketliQok and va
rious pieces of jewelry, were gone..
It is believed that this gang or
gangs have women accomplices
working in the hotels and the police
are baffled by the daring'shown by
the thieves.
I l , ,l !l:ili.jl'liHHlliiHllH;!,l,nli!i','ii
a
-4
Neb.
. . .
mm
V