If running XEmacs causes these warnings about fonts:
[jerome@mathusalem] > xemacs
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Cannot convert string "-*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1, -*-helvetica-bold-r-*-*-
*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-*, *" to type FontSet
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset
Then, try running it this way:
[jerome@mathusalem] > LANG=C xemacs