I made my way from the art institute in the direction of the Café du Dôme, and there I found my friend Calmi with Dr. Caspar, a young Belgian training in the study of microbes at the Pasteur Institute. The doctor soon rose, saying: I commend you to each other — I have an appointment...

— With a pretty girl?

— No! With a dying patient...

From outside there reached our ears the blast of a spring tempest... And I do not know what was going through Calmi's head when he turned to me and said: Every man carries the bale of his cares upon his shoulders... and it seems to me, my friend, that your bale is light... You walk with your back straight... Your drawings...

I handed him a few drawings I had with me, and he began going through them, gazing long at each one in turn...

At last he said:

— These drawings, too, have a price... and there is a demand for them...

— I have a whole collection of them... From this moment I place them in your keeping...

— You, Joseph, are truly kind of heart... but as for the commercial spirit — none whatever!

We laughed together, and then Calmi went on...

— This morning, in the company of a cinema director, I visited your friend Gibran, and he told

us about the subjects of his stories; unfortunately, we did not find them suitable for the screen... His state of mind reminded me of the state I myself passed through... ten years ago. Gibran believes powerfully in his own feeling, and he is sincere in his thinking... In his brain there seethes a vast world without bounds... and he has the desire to make use of his gifts. But do not forget, my friend, that we are living in Paris, the pasture of immortal literary masterpieces... After Balzac and Flaubert and Zola

and France and the rest, it is not

Pages from the Life of Gibran and Howayek in Paris

Edvick Jureidini Shayboub