Indelicate

La Petite Chaumiere, or The Little Thatched Cottage-since its name is international-was the scene of a notable saturnalia last week. La P'tite Chaumiere is indeed always well to the fore among the obscure but fashionable Parisian resorts of sophisticates who seek the dark, steep and tortuous streets ascending Montmartre when the hour is really too advanced for one to be seen elsewhere. As a novelty, La Petite Chaumiere combined the twin appeals of Sadism and Inversion, produced a "ballet" re-enacting the celebrated events of the recent Mesmin Case at Bombon. (TIME, Jan. 18 et seq.)

"Sainted Mother Marie." A strapping Italian youth enacted the role of Mme. Mesmin, the notorious "Sainted Mother Marie," chief flagellant of the Sadistic order of Notre Dame Des Pleurs, which has flourished for 21 years at Bordeaux, France. Attired in a "mother hubbard" and brandishing a knotted rope end, he led the ballet of 20 young men similarly costumed, with their lips painted, their cheeks rouged, their eyebrows plucked.

Bombon a Paris. The scene presented to the opulent clientele of La P'tite Chaumiere was, naturally, the vestry of the church of Mme. Mesmin's recent victim, the Abbe des Noyers at Bombon. The "Abbe," played by a young and sufficiently personable actress, was duly "surprised" and seized by the "ballet," meticulously disrobed and bound; eventually flogged until the police were attracted by the howls of the "Abbe."

Denouement. Stern moralists applauded the Parisian gendarmerie for arresting all. participants and spectators concerned. They were vexed when the examining magistrate dismissed these culprits after warning them that their conduct had been "indelicate."