The Book oi' the Month. 



537 



Groult, " the only man I ever met who could talk 

 romantically of tapioca, rice, spices or sago," all felt 

 that they were welcome and that they interested : — 



There came to my house unknown geniuses and famous 

 mediocrities, and I gently urged the former to make use of 

 the latter. 



THE S.\LON NEUTRAL GROUND. 



The brilliant and the gay of all nations thronged to 

 the salm. and even in the heated days of the Dreyfus 

 agitation it was neutral ground, although there were 

 times whin the hostess was "unable to prevent 

 impassioned duels of words, in which there showed 

 hardly a s gri of tolerance or of human sympathy." 

 In this connection, the memoirs recall how when 

 Madame Stcinheil asked her old friend Fran(,-ois 

 Copp'e why he did not come to see her, he replied 

 hesitatingly : — 



" .-^b : my friend, I'd love to call on you as in the past, but 

 the trouble is there are too many Dreyfusards in your sa/eii ! " 



By an amusing coincidence, Zola called that very day, but 

 he only remained a little while. 



" To my reyrei, I must po, Madame." And he added in a 

 low, confidential voice : " The fact is there are too many .\nti- 

 Drcyfusards here." 



CRITICISM BY NATIONALITY. 



Madame Steinheil's criticisms of her various guests, 

 classed by nationality, are quite searching : — 



I had several Dutch friends. ~ The ladies dressed simply, 

 though clearly, and were somewhat narrow-minded ; and, 

 apparently, their one great tare was to be aV///;', that is, commi: 

 iljaut, •' good form " with just a touch of culture. They talked 

 constantly of their homes at the Hague or .•Amsterdam, with 

 such pride and eveu fire, that I wondered how they could have 

 left Holland at all. I knew some Swiss folk who talked of 

 Eugene Rambert as of a very great poet, and of Secretan as the 

 last metaphysician . . . 



I received several Gern>aiis, whom I learned to know at once, 

 and many English people whom it took months to make out 

 . . . but it was often worth it . . . and there was a very 

 (lisli^gui-^hed Chinaman who had become my friend because, as 

 he put it : " You are one of the few «omen who have never 

 stared at nic with wonder or curiosity, who have never a.sked 

 me indiM.rcel questions, and who have never begged mc to sign 

 my nam-' and ml,- in an autograph-book . . . ' and in Chinese, 

 please.' " As a matter of fact, I never possessed an autograph- 

 book, and that is probably the reason why I have so many 

 letters from great men and "celebrities." 



I remeinlier a great Muscovite official, who one evening left 

 the drawing-room to return into the dining-room, where he 

 rapidly emptied not only every lx<lilc and decanter, but al«o the 

 glasses of my forty gucots, even those gl.\.i:-cs >viiich contained 

 only a few drop-, of wine. He fell dci-l drunk, and had to be 

 carried lo the garden, wher.: .1 laihvay director and ilie Minister 

 of I'ublic InsliULlion pLiyed the Imsc on his head. 



Fifteen minutes later he was back in the drawing-room, and 

 c.ipUvaiiiii; us nil by his snbcr, vivid, and extremely clear-sighted 

 account <>: the |>oUiicul situation of Europe fnim the Hussion 

 Government's standpoint I 



WHO WERK l'REKERREI>? 



' if all these foreigners, my sympathy went out, above all, to 

 ;lie Kttssians, because I found them br.ave, intelligent, and kind ; 

 to the Americans on account of their straightlorwardnes*, and 

 their delightful di^iegard of convinlionalities ; and to the 

 English, because o| ilieir healthy uiicids ond their stolidity, 

 which was often refreshing and soothing to inc in my rest- 

 los life. 



I liavc liecn criticiwd because I (ometimes received men and 

 wonieu whose itlandaril of morality wan not of the highest. . . . 

 Hut in I'ari.s, if yon were to receive only paragonf of viilue, you 



would, indeed, receive very few people. Yes, there came to 

 my house men whose talk went a little further than I could 

 have wished, and ladies whose minds were not so pure as the 

 transparent gems they wore in prolusion. . . . There came to 

 the villa in the Impasse Konsin people who were ingeniously 

 romantic, wickedly childish, and recklessly unconventional ; 

 but whatever their moral shortcomings, they were never dull. 

 And that is a great deal. 



THK GUESTS WHO DID NOT .M.\TTER. 



And then we have the drop of gall, the result of 

 overknowledge of human character, based upon the 

 revelations of former " friends," in the 15.000 pages 

 of the dossier of the interrogatories during those later 

 353 days in prison : — 



To deal at length with all the politicians, functionaries and 

 diplomats I have known is beyond the scope of this book. 

 Besides, very few among those holders of important offices 

 really did " matter " or did achieve anything beyond their 

 ambition — which was, of course, money and promotion, till 

 they could reach no higher in their particular sphere of 

 activity, when their only thought became that of "retaining 

 office I " 



B.\RTHOLDI ILLU.MINES THE WORLD I 



I soon became acquainted with the majority of well-known 

 painters and sculptors in France. .\mong others, I often 

 visited Bartholdi in his studio. The sculptor of the colossal 

 statue of "Liberty Illuminating the World," on Bedloe's 

 Island in New York Harbour, was an old friend of my 

 husband. He was a man of keen intellect and had nmch 

 originality of thought, but his conceit was as colossal as his 

 famous statue. Showing me once the small model of 

 " Liberty," he said quietly : " The Americans believe that it is 

 Liberty that illumines the world, but, in reality, it is my 

 genius." 



I never met a man quite as naturally and unconsciously 

 coirceited, excepting perhaps a certain Orientalist, who was 

 as learned as he was celebrated. I remember meeting him 

 once at the Instilul. He wore the green uniform and the 

 sword of a member of the Jnslilut, and on his breast there 

 shone a nia.ss of orders. He pointed out to me with his 

 parchment-like forefinger, "You sec this little thing here," he 

 whispered ; " there are but three Europeans who have the right 

 to wear it, one emperor, one king and — myself. ... I don't 

 attach the slightest importance to it." .-Vnd, leaving me, he 

 went off to tell exactly the same thing 10 all. 



A MEISSONIKR ANECDOTE. 



Of Meissonier, her husband, who was the nephew of 

 the great artist, told her the following anecdote : — 



■■ Meissonier was very small, smaller even than I am, and 

 his diminutive stature wa.s quite a trial to him. lie came oltcn 

 to my studios, and I believe lie liked me chielly because I um 

 small. He would sit on my stool, examine a picture on which 

 I was working, glance at my model, caress his long white beard 

 and say, ' It"s fine . . . but >oniehow I don't see things as you 

 do. There seems to be something wrong with the perspective. 

 . . . (Jh I I have it. I forgot you are so very small. I must 

 sloop in order to see like you. Give me a lower stool . . ." 

 Anil he chuekleil with glee." 



KING Edward's French. 

 Amongst other notables, Madame Sleinheil met 

 King Edward, then Prince of Wales, several times :— 



He asked inc one day, quite unexpectedly, what I thought ol 

 his Fu-nch. "Your Ilighness," I replied, "speaks our lan- 

 guage unusually well " 



" For one who is not French." 



" For one who is not always in France. Bui, perhaps, your 

 Highnevs speaks it loo griiininatically." 



"I sec," said the Prince cheerfully , "my French is loo 

 perfect lo be . . . perfect." 



His power of observation and his memory were amazing. 



