Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 117, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1919 — BALZAC’S HOME IS RESTORED [ARTICLE]

BALZAC’S HOME IS RESTORED

Includes Trap Door Through Which Famous French Author Escaped Creditors. Paris. —The home of the famous French author, Honore de Balzac In' the Rue Raynouard at Passy has been reopened as an artists’ center. The house had been sadly neglected, but has been restored to present the appearance it had in Balzac’s time, with its vestibule painted blue and the original oak carvings and dark red tapestries decorating the apartment where Balzac wrote his masterpieces. On the table stands the big china coffee pot from which the author was wont to refresh himself, for Balzac was a mighty drinker of coffee. Old wood cuts and original printing proofs adorn the walls. In the garden the vine that Balzac tended still grows and his beloved lilacs have been replanted there. In one room there is still the trapdoor through which Balzac used to dis-, appear when importunate creditors called.