Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1895 — Queer French Law. [ARTICLE]

Queer French Law.

There is a law in France which embitters the life of every dramatic author, as it confers upon every French citizen the right of having a novel or play immediately suppressed by the police if his name happens to be mentioned in it. In their anxiety to avoid unpleasantness the parodists of the Cluny Theater decided to designate the characters in a recent piece by numbers. The effect thus produced is somewhat peculiar, as, for instance: “Ah! charming 132, you are the most adorable of all women." “And you a flatterer, Count 18.” While the two were thus exchanging compliments an elderly gentleman suddenly appears and calls out in a voice of thunder: “I have caught you now, Count 18! Are there any cowards in your family?” “Gracious!” whispered Count 18, trembling in his shoes. “Gracious! Duke 53.” “Seventy-four!” exclaims the Duke, “turn this gentleman out!” But at this point a fellow in the audience springs to his feet. “That is really too bad!” he shouts in the direction of the stage. “I will send you a summons.” The Duke answers in surprise: “What have you to complain of? Seventy-four is only a number.” “That’s just it. It Is the very number I bore when in jail, and I am not going to be degraded by having a servant dubbed with it.” Everybody had to give in to that argument, says the Pittsburg Dispatch. It was the law. The play was stopped there and then.