Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-08
gsslsIage bore.

gsusIaye DOre.
AN HOUR WITH TIE GREAT PARTISAN AR
TIsT-REsULTs OF OyERwORK- VISIT TO
AMERICA-A VOYAGE AROUND THE
WORLD - SENSITIVE TO CRITICISM A
DREAD OF sEA-sICKNRss.
Little did | think, when | entered the
Cafe Dufour, the other day, at 4 O'Clock
in the afternoon, that | should have
Gustave D0re as a companion at the
small table on which | took my dinner.
We had been old acquaintance in times
gone by. when the young artist was still
poor, and when he had to draw his Won
derful sketches in the Rue Bernardin.
He then looked the very picture of
health. gayety and intelligence, and be-
lieve never saw him at that time with
out a smile on his lips. which lent pc
culiar charm to his handsome face. In
fact, of all the rising, struggling talents
of that period in Paris, young Dore
seemed to look forward to the future
with the most sanguine expectations,
and the firmest belief in his own destiny
Everybody liked him, everybody sympa-
thized with him, and everybody seemed
as heartily as he did himself
Having been abroad since 1868 | had
not seen Dore since that time, and when
he took seat opposite to mine at the
table in the cafe, | did not recognize
him at first for in those five brief years
his appearance had undergone very
marked chauge-so marked, indeed, that
when he held out his hand to me. with a
smile. and said, " Do you not know me
any more, my friend? am Dore, |
felt inclined almost to question his word.
What young in years, yet GustaVe
Dorc had grown old. His face was
deeply furrowed. His voice had grown
husky. His smile was sad, and an air of
depression and melancholy seemed to
have permanently settled upon his
countenance He noticed my sur
prise. and, as we were shaking hands, he
asked
Am l. then, so greatly changed ?"
Pardon me, replied, you look as
if you had been sick, or as if You had
undergone much trouble.
my wife . he said smiling, tells me
the same thing.
His wife Sure enough he had been
married, during my absence from France,
to a very charming and highly accom-
plished daughter of our country. | of
fered my congratulations, adding;
II am sure you are happy2"
'sWhy should | not be ?" he said.
Nor have | been sick, and yet feel
restless and gloomy"
suggested that he might recently
have overworked himself. He replied
that he had never produced as little OF
his artistic career as in the past two
wears. His work, he said, did not please
him any more as well as in former years.
Critics, he added, had always been very
kind to him. The time was when he
did not care what they wrote about him.
But of late he had become almost NOR
bidlv sensitive in regard to this matter.
'sThe other day." he said to me quite
seriously, ~ was mortified by an article
on me in the feuilletOn of the J0ur7aG
des Debats. Will you believe it, | passed
a sleepless night in consequence? Anc
vet the writer of the article had treated
me kindly and considerably"
He paused moment, slipping his
claret. | was deeply interested in what
the great artist told me. Could it bt
that, as Jules Janin predicted years ago
in his case, over-production had exhaust
ed the sources of his genius, and that ths
vague consciousness of this fact had lee
to the singular psychological phenomena
which he related?
s'And then" he added, gravely, Il an
getting tired of Paris. That is singular
too, for if anybody ever loved Paris, il
was |. Everything binds me to Paris
and still long to get away from it.
Iip1orc won from oVpiinu p
! I ventured to ask with smile.
''NothIng special, indeed, he replied
''but cannot make up my mind whittier
to go"
S'Bah :" laughed, ''the world is wide
and to you, everywhere beautiful. :
The truth then leaked out-that NJ
Dore for some time past, had beenthink
ing of undertaking voyage round thu
| world. e
"a splendid ideal" l exclaimed, wish
ing to cheer him UP, "Frsnch art cal
only gain thereby" :, =
'SBut, he said, what I want to d.
! is to travel in sailing vessel. | wan
to see the Arctic sea, and / want to g
to Australia. | am bound to see all tina
| is grand in North America, and al
that, you know, will take years, whicl
/ | may not have 10 spare.
The last few words he uttered in s.
sombre a tone that they sounded like 4
] prediction of his own premature death
| Anxious to change the subject, | tol
him about my own travels on the West
ern coast of Africa. From the mono
syllable manner in which he answere
me every now and then, | saw plainl.
that he took but little interest in what
related TO him.
seYou see,"I said gayly-'I had I
rough it, for my means were quite limit
ed9but rich man like you, >
''What do you call a rich man.? h
asked, with a merry twinkle in his eye
ssOne who, like you, can easily ear
one hundred thousand francs veal
Why, you can easily build yourself
magnificent yacht, and go in it from on
end of the world to the other.
Here / found something else ths
bothered Nj. Dore, when dreaming 9
his contemplated voyage around tn
world. He could never set foot.on
ship without suffering severely .frol