Page:The illustrators of Montmartre.pdf/31

 

II

CARAN D’ACHE

MMANUEL POIRÉ, better known by his Russian pseudonym of Caran d’Ache (pencil), is a public benefactor, in that he a has considerably added to the gaiety of nations ; and if it be true that one laughs and grows fat, then he must also be responsible for much of the extra weight that those nations carry with them.

The man upon whom one may count to make one merry is sure to be popular, Caran d’Ache, as we have already hinted, has made whole nations merry, and he is a popular favourite, It is true that sometimes his own infectious laughter is cynical, or spiteful, or cruel to a minority, but he always has the majority to laugh with him, and fellow him in his pictured tirades—be they well-considered or ill-considered. But, after all, that is perhaps a matter of politics, or nationality, or religion, or what not; and the fact remains that