Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [12]
When the march past was completed, the trumpets again sounded four calls, announcing the close of the ceremony, which had lasted only about five minutes, and Dreyfus and Targe were immediately the center of an eager crowd of officers and friends. One of the first to reach Dreyfus was his little son, who rushed forward and threw his arms around his father’s neck, sobbing violently.
The officers who had not taken official part in the ceremony also came forward to greet their comrade. As Dreyfus received the well wishes of his relatives and the officers, his face, usually impassive, twitched with emotion, and it was with difficulty that he preserved his soldierly calm.
Turning to Anatole France, Dreyfus said:
“I thank you more than I can say, you who have always struggled for my cause.”
M. France replied:
“We merit no thanks, for what has been done was in the interest of right and justice. We felicitate you all the more since so many others who have struggled for justice have died before it was attained.”
Col. Targe terminated his felicitations by conducting Major Dreyfus to the officers’ quarters, where Mme. Dreyfus was waiting for him. The meeting between the husband and wife was most affectionate, the spectators withdrawing to permit them to be alone. Shortly after this Dreyfus, accompanied by his wife and son, emerged from the military school and entered a carriage. As the Major appeared the crowd in front of the main entrance gave him a hearty ovation, waving handkerchiefs and shouting “Vive Dreyfus!” “Vive la République!” “Vive l’Armée!”
The carriage was then driven swiftly in the direction of Dreyfus’s home. On reaching his residence the Major, who is affected with heart weakness, suffered a violent attack, but thanks to his strong will power the faintness soon passed away and he was able to receive Procurator General Baudouin and Brig. Gen. Picquart, to whom he expressed his sincerest thanks for their exertions on his behalf.
La Poste and I
BARBARA WILDE
BEFORE IT WAS fashionably renamed La Poste, the French postal system was called the PTT, which stood for Poste, Télégraphes et Téléphones. Though the average visitor to France will do no more than buy stamps and mail postcards at la poste, residents have much more contact there, with varying degrees of success, as the piece below attests. But la poste is also, according to Philippe Meyer in his revealing book A Parisian’s Paris, one of the best places in the city to really observe Parisians. Meyer was actually given permission, while working on his book, to sit behind the counter at a Paris post office, and he gained a new perspective on his fellow Parisians, both behind and in front of the counter. He notes that la poste “is the place par excellence for Parisians, irascible by nature, to find somebody to lay into. And not just any old body, but an individual who, when being told off, represents a telling-off of the Government, the Civil Service, and moribund Public Spirit all in one.” Dialogue between clerk and customer is “characterized by absurdity cloaked in diplomacy.” Diplomacy because one lady (as related in one transaction), “who hoped to be relieved of her anxiety even as she places the blame for the shoddy performance on the postal clerk, does her best to remain impersonal in her criticisms and polite in asking for help. It’s a question of making the person behind the window feel duty-bound toward her, and therefore guilty about the firm’s poor showing. But this guilt must be sparked and fueled without uttering a single insulting word, which would give the employee room to put an end to the discussion by insisting that the customer hurry up and make a decision on her own (‘I’m sorry, but people behind you are waiting …’).” A trip to la poste, therefore, can be an adventure.
The two most significant points to remember about la poste are that there are very few slow periods in a Paris post office and that Parisians are in a hurry. Therefore,