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Page 1 of 31928 · PDF PAGE 145
…ying; without that, why should I have taken her? But she spoilt that great quality by an unbecoming and deformed ambi- tion. She was a woman who always wished to play a mans part:You are not a man; Oh, if only I were a man!of us two it is I who am the man. Such were the insupportable refrains that came ever from that mouth from which surely only songs should have flown. Talking of a book, or a poem, or an opera, for which I happened to express my admiration, You think
1928 · PDF PAGE 11
THE STRANGER WHOM do you love best, man of enigmas? Tell us:Your father, your mother, your sister, or your brother? I have neither father, nor mother, nor sister, nor brother. Your friends? There you employ a word whose sense I have never understood. Your country? I do not know its latitude. Beauty? I would love it willingly, Goddess and Immortal. Gold? I hate is as you hate God. Ah, what then do you love, strange man? I love the clouds . . . . the clouds that float . . . down there . . . the marvellous clouds.
1928 · PDF PAGE 58
XVII A WORLD IN A MANE LET me breathe long, long, the scent of thine hair; let me plunge my whole face into it as a thirsty man does in the water of a spring; let me stir thy tresses with thy hand like a per- fumed kerchief to wave memories in the air! If thou couldst know all that I see, all that I feel, all that I hear in thy hair! my soul goes journeying upon the wings of perfume like that of other men upon the wings of music. Thy hair contains a world of dream, full of sails and masts; it holds great seas whose winds bear me to charming cli…
1928 · PDF PAGE 100
…ally, in the right, a silver two-franc piece which he closely examined. Curious and careful disposition, said I to myself. We met a poor man who, trembling, held out to us his capI know nothing more disqui- eting than the dumb eloquence of these be- seeching eyes, which contain, for the sensitive man who understands how to read therein, both so much humility, and so much reproach. There is therein something approaching this depth of complex sentiment in the watery eyes of whipped dogs. My friends alms were much more consid- erable than my own…
1928 · PDF PAGE 48
…, for the frown-ups it is an armistice concluded with the maleficent powers of life, a respite in the universal strife and struggle. The man of the world himself, and the man engaged in mental labour, escape with diffi- culty from the influence of this popular jubilee. They absorb, without wishing it, their part of this happy-go-lucky atmosphere. For myself, like a true Parisian, I never miss passing in re- view all the booths which flaunt upon these solemn occasions. They were in truth trying to outdo each other in hubbub; they chattered, bell…
1928 · PDF PAGE 21
…ing, bowed over. Each of them bore upon his back an enor- mous chimera, as heavy as a sack of corn or coal, or the heavy marching of a Roman infan- tryman. But the monstrous brute was not a dead weight. On the contrary, it wrapped round and oppressed the man with its powerful and elas- tic muscles. It clutched with its two great claws at the breast of its mount, and its fables head crowned the forehead of the man like one of those horrific helmets by which the warriors of old time hoped to add to the terror of the en- emy. I questioned one of t…
1928 · PDF PAGE 144
XLII PORTRAITS OF MISTRESSES IN a mans boudoir, that is to say, in the smoking-room of a fashionable gambling hell, four men were smoking and drinking. They were not precisely old or young, they bore that unmistakable distinction which belongs to the veterans of Marshal Joy, that indescribableI know not what to call itthat cold and banter- ing sadness which clearly says, We have lived strongly, and we seek something to admire and to respect. One of them turned the conversation to the subject of women. It would have been more philosophical …
1928 · PDF PAGE 64
XIX THE POOR MANS TOY I SHOULD like to tell you of an innocent amusement. There are so few amusements that are not guilty ones! When you go out in the morning with the intention of lounging in the streets, fill your pockets with halfpenny toys, such as the flat Punch, moved by a single thread; blacksmiths beating the anvil; the horseman and his steed whose tail is a whistle. And, as you walk by the inns below the trees, make presents of them to poor stranger children that you may meet. You will see their eyes grow great out of all knowl- edge.…
1928 · PDF PAGE 30
…e same time I reflected, not without some amusement, that my room being on the sixth story, and the staircase extremely narrow, that the man was bound to find it rather difficult to make the ascent, and to catch in many a place the corners of his merchandise. At last he appeared. Having examined all his glasses with curiosity, I said to him: What, you have no coloured glasses?Rose glasses, red glasses, blue glasses, magic glasses, glasses of Paradise! You impudent fellow; you dare to walk about in the poor quarters of the town, and you have n…
1928 · PDF PAGE 175
…ng the sorry dog, the poor dog, the homeless dog, the wandering dog, the mountebank dog, the dog whose in- stinct, like that of the poor man, the Bohemian and the actor, is marvellously sharpened by Necessity, that best of mothers, true patron saint of intelligence! I sing the dogs of calamity, whether it be those who wander solitary in the winding ra- vines of great cities or those who say to the hopeless man with blinking, soulful eyes, Take
1928 · PDF PAGE 95
added superficial minds, of the generous inten- tion of the offended Prince. From a man so naturally and wilfully eccen- tric, everything was possible, even virtue, even clemency; above all, if perchance he hoped to find therein unexpected pleasures. But with those who like myself were able to pierce more deeply into the depths of this curious sick soul, it seemed infinitely more probable that the his- trionic talents of a man doomed to death; he wished to profit by his opportunity to make a physiological experiment of capital interest, and to …
1928 · PDF PAGE 45
…e will of the wind, a shred of music, and gazing upon the sparkling throng within. It is always interesting, this reflection of the rich mans joy in the depth of the poor mans eye; but this day, among this populace clad in blouses and calico, I saw a being whose nobil- ity made a startling contrast with all the sur- rounding triviality. It was a tall and majestic woman, so noble in her whole bearing that I do not remember to have ever seen her equal in the galleries of the aristocratic beauties of the past. A perfume of haughty virtue emanate…
1928 · PDF PAGE 162
…es, it is X; the name is on the bottom of the photograph anyhow, but I know him personally. I was sure of it. See, there is Z, the man who said to his students in speaking of X, This monster who bears the blackness of his soul upon his face just because he did not agree with him. How one laughed at that in the Medical School long ago!You will remem- ber? Ah, there is K, who denounced to the Government the rebels who were in his care at the hospital. It was when the riots were on. How is it possible that so handsome a man should hav…
1928 · PDF PAGE 142
XL THE MIRROR A SHOCKINGLY ugly man comes in and looks at himself in the glass. Why do you look at yourself in the mirror, since you cannot see yourself there but with displeasure? Sir Ugly answers me, Sir, ac- cording to the immortal principles of the year 89, all men have equal rights; ergo, I possess the right of looking at myself,whether with pleasure or chagrin is no ones business but my own. In the name of good sense, I was doubtless right; but from a legal standpoint he was cer- tainly not wrong.
1928 · PDF PAGE 8
CONTENTS I. THE STRANGER II. THE DESPAIR OF THE OLD WOMAN III. THE ARTISTS CONFESSION IV. A JESTER V. THE DOUBLE ROOM VI. EVERYONE HAS HIS CHIMERA VII. THE MADMAN AND THE VENUS VIII. THE DOG AND THE FLACK IX. THE BAD GLAZIER X. ONE OCLOCK IN THE MORNING XI. THE WILD WOMAN AND THE SPOILT DARLING XII. CROWDS XIII. WIDOWS XIV. THE OLD MOUNTEBANK XV. THE CAKE XVI. THE CLOCK XVII. A WORLD IN A MANE XVIII. WILL YOU COME WITH ME XIX. THE POOR MANS TOY XX. THE FAIRY GIFTS XXI. THE TEMPTATIONS: OR, LOVE RICHES AND GLORY XXII. THE TWILIGHT OF EVEN XXI…
1928 · PDF PAGE 77
So I replied with all my scorn: Be off with you; I am not the man to marry the mistress of certain persons whom I will not mention. Certainly, of so courageous a self-denial I had every right to be proud; but unfortunately I awoke, and all my strength deserted me. Indeed, said I to myself, I must have been very soundly asleep to show such scruples. Ah, if they could return now that I am awake I should not play the prude. And I called aloud upon them, beseeching them to pardon me; offering to give up my honour as often as must be to deserv…
1928 · PDF PAGE 102
…ent of which I had just supposed him capable; I should have found it curious, singu- lar, that he should amuse himself by placing a poor man in a false position; but I will never pardon him the stupidity of his calculation. It is never excusable to be wicked, but there is some merit in knowing that one is so; and the most irreparable vice is to do evil by stupidity.
1928 · PDF PAGE 72
…l not less remarkable than they, last night climbed the mysterious staircase by which Hell emerges to assault the weakness of a sleeping man, and secretly communicates with him. In their glory they came as it were erect upon a platform and stood in front of me. A sulphur- ous splendour emanated from these three mighty Beings, cutting them from the thick darkness of the night. So proud and so master- ful was their manner that at first I took them to be indeed gods. The face of the first Satan was epicene, and he had also in every line of his bod…
1928 · PDF PAGE 51
…ward round, obsessed by this sight, I sought to analyse my sudden sad- ness; and I said to myself: I have just seen the image of the old man of letters who has survived the generation which he so brilliantly amused; of the old poet, without friends, with- out family, without children, degraded by his misery and by public ingratitude, into whose booth the forgetful world will no longer come.
1928 · PDF PAGE 166
XLVIII ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE OUT OF THE WORLD THIS life is a hospital where every sick man is possessed with the desire to bear his suffer- ings in front of the stove, and another thinks that he will get better beside the window. It seems to me that I should always be well wherever I am not; and this question of re- moval is one which I ceaselessly discuss with my soul. Say, my soul,poor deluded soul, what do you think of going and living in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and you would become as lively as a lizard. It is on the waterside; they sa…