[A] The Conservatoire de Musique et de Déclamation lyrique is a municipal and governmental institution in the French capital, founded for the gratuitous instruction of youth of both sexes in singing, music and declamation. It accommodates six hundred pupils, and has a library of eight thousand volumes.
[B] A cant name among the French for the claque.
THE SONG-WIND.
I stand in a climate of spring,
Overblown by a wind from the South,
With joy unspeakable thrilled,
Ineffable song in my mouth;
For the wind is a breeze of delight,
And its blowing is rhythmic and fleet;
It comes from the heart of the South.
Oh, the South wind, the song-wind is sweet!
It comes like the breath of a dream
Blown through the still regions of sleep;
It comes from the islands of love,
Lying midmost the tropical deep;
It has the fresh smell of sea-grass,
It is woven of coolness and heat,
Fruit-flavored and burdened with spice.
Oh, the South wind, the song-wind is sweet!
It stirs the high tops of the trees,
With greenness and fragrance o'erfraught,
Through which the swift sun-glories glance
Like flashes of wonderful thought;
It touches the rose till it burns
Like love in a heart made complete;
It kisses the world into flower.
Oh, the South wind, the song-wind is sweet!
A breath of all ages it is,
From Teos, and Lesbos, and Ind;
Through the years, like a shuttle of gold,
Runs the wonder of song on the wind—
The wonder of flute and of lyre,
A music made mellow and meet
For Sappho, the princess of song.
Oh, the South wind, the song-wind is sweet!
O Sappho! O love-laden soul!
A thrill in the rushes there is,
And the sea breaks into loud song
That throbs with the pulse of the breeze;
And singers, remembering thee,
Cast their crowns and their lyres at their feet,
For the South wind rewakens thy song.
Oh, the South wind, the song-wind is sweet!