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| PARIS GAYER THAN EVER
Illuminations Nightly; Soldiers to Wear Red
Trousers Again; /Back to Nature
(From Nell Murray, The Herald Woman Writer in London and Paris)
TpARIS, February 26. — Paris by night
looks gayer than ever nowadays,
for a wise municipality has docided
that tho illuminations formerly used
only on fete occasions aro to blaze
forth in their glory every night of
tne week, so the fountains in the
beautiful Place do la Concorde
sparkle like glowing prisms as the
light catches' their cascades; the
buildings surrounding the square are
bathed In floodlights revealing their
stately architecture; cleverly-placed
searchlights vie with tho brilliance of
the boulevard electric signs; and Paris
—lovely Paris — is brighter and bet
ter than ever.
It is announced, too, that French
soldiers are soon to resume wearing
the bright red trousers that were part
of their uniform before the war. This
gesture is probably in honor of the
great International Colonial Exhibi
tion which will open at Vincenncs on
May 2 and continue for six months.
Already tho building of tho 400 odd
buildings in every concclvablo style
of tho colonics is well ahead. All the
palaces which have befen put up by
the State and the colonial adminis
trations and foreign Governments
have been completed.
Life of Native tillages
fJlHE portion of Vincennes Park
which has beon devoted to the ex
hibition Is a hive of industry. Work
goes on far into the night by the
light of huge electric lamps and hun
dreds of naptha flares. Hundreds of
ecs havo. been brought over from
the various French colonies and
planted to give a realistic aspect to
the native villages. The life and ac
tivities of these are to form a domi
nant note of tho exhibition.
Tho most striking feature at Vin
cennes, when completed, will be the
gigantic replica of the most famous
portions of the temples of Angkhor,
in Cochin China. The huge towers
and wonderful titanic carvings of
dancing girls, of elephants and of
forest lifo, which have been repro
duced with the utmost faithfulness,
are certain to attract tho interest of
hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Australia will not be represented.
The share of Great Britain (although
ail other Colonial countries are tak
ing part) will be confined to the In
formation Pavilion.
Actress Racehorsc-Owncrs
fJM-JE most elegant expression of
celebrity among French actresses
these days appears to be the owner
ship of a string of racehorses. The
coming spring racing carnival at
Auteull and Longchampa will be dis
tinguished by the number of actresses
running horses. The latest star to re
gister her colors is Meg Lemonnler,
who Is young, beautiful, talented —
and at. present, starring In "ho Roi
PaussoJo" at the Bouffres Parisians.
Sho owns two Jumpers, with one of
which sho hopes to win tho Grand
Steeplechase, the biggest French
jumping event. With charming fem
inine logic, she has chosen as her
colors red, with a' bright green sash
—because she thinks such a contrast
will enable her to follow the fortunes
of her horse right round the course!
Mistinguett, the veteran music hall
star, has owned horses for several
years. Other well-known Parisian act
ress owners aro Jane Marnac, who
played tho lead in the Paris produc
tion of "Bitter Sweet," and Fanny
Hely, tho opera singer.
International Nature Cult
"piOLLOWINQ the lend of the
strongly-established- Nature cults
in Germany, France is now experi
menting with two settlements —
Physiopolis, on the banks of the Seine,
which, since its inception, has pros-
pered exceedingly, and now publishes
a weekly newspaper, and Heliopolis,
an ambitious project to be launched
shortly as a colony on the Riviera.
This will cover 1000 acres In the
sub-tropical highlands above the blue
Mediterranean, where the climate la
fairly kind all the year round. Helio-
polis Is to bo international. At the
head of the movement arc two bro
thers. Doctors Andre and Gaston
Durville. who were responsible for
tho founding of Physio polls.
The aim of tho inhabitants is to
reduce clothing to a minimum or
nothing. They also hope to propagate
new ideas on diet. Alcohol in any form
Is banned strictly. The citizens live in
primitive fashion in 'tents or lightly
buiit huts.
Ordeal for Amateurs
T3APTISM by fire i3 mild compared
with the ordeal through which
ambitious young amateurs havo to
pass in seeking an engagement at the
Fourmis. music hall In Montmartre.
They undergo trial by "Le Crochet" —
an innovation about which all Paris
Is talking. The second half of tho pro
gramme Is devoted to the trial of
amateurs; and the audience at the
Fourmis is surely the most critical in
the world. Every movement, every
intonation is noted by shrewd and
watchful eyes, and should the un
fortunate performer fall short of
public approval, there are unanimous
cries of "ho crotchet! Le crochet!"
A gigantic dummy hand then
emerges from tho wings, holding a
hugh crochet hook, with which it
whisks the unlucky mummer off the
stage. This device is the invention of
a young Russian, who has patented
his idea.
Even when an amateur has surviv
ed the ordeal of doing his or her
turn, with an uncomfortable sensa
tion always present that at any mo
ment the hand may reach out and
grab, the reward offered Is onlv a
week's engagement on the regular
progra mme.
Pistols for Two — In the Bois
TET no one say that the days of
romance — and pistols for two —
arc dead and gone! Only last week, to
the huge delight of Paris, a literary
and journalistic duel with pistols was
fought In. the Bois do Boulogne. Tt
was between M. Horace de Carbuccia,
editor and published of the poli
tical and literary weekly Le
Grlngoire. and M. Henri Dnnjou. a
Paris Journalist, M. do Carbuccia fired
in the air, and M. Danjou aimed and
missed. Neither man fell, no other
shots wore exchanged, but the adver
saries refused to he reconciled.
This affair of honor turned on a
series of articles on Corsica by M.
Danjou. M, de Carbuccia, who Is a
Corslcan, replied in Lo Grlngoire,
criticising M. Danjou. Tho latter felt
offended, and challenged the editor
to an encounter on the traditional
duelling ground of the Parc-des-
Princes. Punctually at 10.30, when
the biting morning mists had not yet
'lifted, the rivals and their seconds,
all authors and journalists, got out
of their cars at the rendezvous. The
distance (25 yards) was measured,
and tho order given to fire.
But — It all ended in smoke. And
the quarrel is ns intense as before.
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