Show A ridiculous performance those who ever read the humorous account of the duel 19 between gambetta anu a fellow ellow states statesman many in mark twilus tramp abroad s and were disposed dlf posed to regard its ur quail ties an ais the result of exaggeration anu little else should read the account of 0 the ht contest between clemenceau and De roulede near park paris yesterday of course the abe author drew somewhat a upon pon his hie I 1 imagination magi daviod because he was notI not in nit 11 at all as he represented himself but surely nothing depleted in that bloodless 9 event in any particular excels in ridiculous detail and opera baufle incident the meet of yesterday Vester dai indeed we are inclined to beliak the latter event more farcical than even the description of the other clemenceau and De roulede have a as french states men 0 ten do and it goes so far that mat only a resort to ta the field of honor can satisfy them or their respective friends the first arrangement suggested that the parties have six shots at each other at a distance of five pacts was dt emed altogether too coee businesslike business sineas like by the maste masteroff caremon iff lep wt who 0 o declared with delightful that it was altogether contrary to the traditions of french dueling of course it wat wai 1 twenty paces was the distance greed upon and it is a safe proposition that the man who stepped them i ft fl was not dot as short in the legs to a is the average son of france A newspaper was holding its forms to give an excited populace the of the affair at the earliest possible moment i a photographer with his apparatus was on hand band to take snapshot views of the various stages of battle and a phonographic reporter was waa there to reo rec rd the dying words worda the combatants had previously distributed locks of hair bair to friends fri enila anil and bade them all goodbye good bye amid showers of briny pearls comm commonly culy called tears teara arriving at the soil which was wag soon BOOD to drink the blood of one or both the positions at d were found to be still a little too neighborly for men mea about to engage in a fight to 0 o a deadly finish and five gloo long honest paw were aided to the intervening space baoe making it say eay thirty yards or more this to la just juet about the that the dueling weapon of 0 france will throw a bullet if the aim be sufficiently elevia elevated ted but of course ro co such aim was taken because these men were fighting to kill and necea each pointed directly at the other whereby the deaths death dealing mis silo bile started out with proper even if frustrated fruat rated in its ite object by the attraction of gravitation the firing began and continued till the halt half dozen d zen robots brov ded for bad been taker the only visible effect being an appearance of caution on part of the who uneasily shifted their position after the firt round not necessarily as a reflection upon the of the gladiators but probably in order that there might be no impediment to prevent the bullets getting as aa far as the weapons were capable of sending bending them after the sixth shot abot the pop guns were sheathed and the gory minded declared their honor satisfied dueling to a only a relio relic of barbarism glossed over with modern and genteel procedure and the man that engages in such a contest is more likely a cows coward rd than the one who refuses to do it this la if i considering it in its best estate and while we do not wish to say the french system is the worst because the most moot harmless it is the moat ridiculous and undignified and trie therefore unmanly I 1 it is ie a most singular thing that the luch french soldiers are aino g the illard test most tenacious and courageous ol of guy auy in civilization that they will follow wherever they are led or go wherever they are sent aen and yet that the men who will do a 8 much and so well on oil the field of battle have caused baui ed duel ng to be well nigh laughed ou of existence because of the utter absence of anything that looks look the least bit like real fighting in the whole business |