Bohemia Village Voice  Bohemia Village Voice

For bohemians everywhere

Vie de Boheme

 (7 of 24)

How the Bohemian Club was Founded

      Followed by a porter, who didn’t seem at all overloaded, a young man in a white Louis XIII hat had entered the vestibule.

      “Is my apartment free, janitor?” he asked the latter, who had come out to meet him.

      “Not yet, sir, but it’ll be free any moment. The person at present in occupation has gone to fetch a cart to do his move. In the meantime, sir, perhaps you might put your furniture in the yard.”

      “I fear it may rain,” said the young man, calmly chewing at a bunch of violets which he held between his teeth. “My property might be ruined … Porter,” he continued, speaking to the man behind him, who was carrying a kind of hod laden with objects whose nature the janitor could not fully understand, “put that

down in the vestibule, and go back to my old lodging, to fetch all the remaining valuables and curios.”

      The porter stacked against a wall a number of screens, each six or seven feet high. Though for the time being folded together, the leaves seemed capable of opening out, ad lib¸ at a moment’s notice.

      “Look out!” the young man said to the porter, half-opening one of the folds and indicating a rent in the material. That’s a grave mishap. You’ve splintered my big Venetian mirror. Be careful on your second trip. Above all, be careful with my library.”

      “What does he mean, his Venetian mirror?” the janitor mumbled, prowling restlessly around the frames. “There’s no mirror there. No doubt it’s a joke – all I can see is a screen. We’ll see what comes on the second trip.”

      “I hope your tenant will make room for me soon,” said the young man. “It’s half-past twelve, and I’d like to move in.”

      “I don’t think he’ll be long now,” said the janitor. “In any case, no harm’s done yet, because your furniture has not arrived.” He emphasised these last words.

To be continued …

[Vie de Bohème by Henry Mürger, a vivid portrait of the ‘Bohemian’ life of the artistic quarter of Paris in the nineteenth century was originally published (by Michel Lévy) in 1851. The extract above is taken from a translation by Norman Cameron, published by Hamish Hamilton. The illustration is by Dodi Masterman.] 

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