The Artistic Nature of the French

Where did you go this morning ? I was looking for you everywhere. I went to one of the department stores to buy some lace. While I was there I met a gentleman who was a good judge of those articles. He seemed to be endowed with an artistic nature, and, moreover, his knowledge astonished me. He showed me how I could select the best kinds, that is to say, those that would please my mother the most.

Were you not surprised to hear a man speak wisely of those articles? A very small number of men in the United States pay attention to artistic things. The others leave art 2 and literature 2 to the ladies. What you have just said is undoubtedly true because the majority of men there interest themselves in sports and in 3 earning money.

I learned from this man that the nuns and peasant women make the most exquisite laces. Don't you recall those lace articles that your uncle used to send to my aunt? Before his death he used to visit many hamlets near the battle line. Nearly everywhere he found that some of these old women were making these articles in order to forget their sadness and that others made them to sell or give to the American soldiers.

1 lui. 2 Use definite article. ° à.

These peasant women were old and worn-out by their sufferings, but they still knew how to fashion these works of art. It is a gift that they will preserve all their lives.1 Think of it ! Some of these tissues are so delicate that a breath can whisk them away. They are so fragile and so fine that they resemble cobwebs.

Is there not in these creations a convincing proof of the artistic nature of the French? Was not this nature revealing itself in these works? Elsewhere the proof might be found2 in a production of the mind or in a masterpiece of art, but can't one see it as truly here ?