Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-02-03
IMMORTALITY.
A Discourse by Victor Hugo-A
Dinner-Table Sermon.

Hugo's. Four of US were believer:
and four atheists-not speaking of the
ladies, who were all too clever to dc
in6dels.' Victor Hugo, of course, was
among the believers.
s.To believe in God is to believe
nothing" said one of the atheists.
"To believe in God is to believe
every thing cried Victor Hugo; sit
is to believe in tbs infinite, and in
ones immortal soul. [ will prove it
to you.
His face was bright with heavenly
halo. You know he was born with the
century. His face is crowned with
white hair, bit it is the volcano under
the snow. His eyes shine like burn
ing Goals his brow is arched like an
Olympiah's; the nose is refined with
distended nostrils !; the mouth is eager
and smiling, still full of valiant teeth !;
the chin finishes profile designed
after the laws of artistic grammar. 1t
is well made head on a robust body.
By robust [ do not mean enormous.
He has not the stature Of a giant nor
the torso of Hercules. But he is a
man of steel with no sign of old age
about him. He has the agility, the
suppleness. the ease. and grace of his
best years. He is now enjoying his
third or fourth youth. I do not doubt
he will see the century through.
~ feel in myself" he continued,
"the future life. | am like forest
which has been more than once cut
down. The new shoots are stronger
and ivelier than ever. | am rising, [
know, towards the sky; The sunshine
is on my head. The earth gives me
its generous sap, but Heaven lights me
with the reflection IF unknown worlds.
You say the soul is nothing but the
resultant of bodily powers. Why then
is my soul the more luminous when my
bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is
on my head and eternal singing is in
my heart There | breathe at this
hour the fragrance Of the lilacs the
violets, and the roses, as at twenty
years. The nearer | approach the end,
the palmer I hear around me the i'm
mortal symphonies of the worlds
which invite me. It is marvellous yet
simple. It is fairy tale and it IS his
tory. For half ceutlry [ have been
writing my thoughts in prose and
verse f; history, philosophy, drama,
romance, trlditlon, satire, ode, and
song-I have tried all. But I feel [
have not said the thousandth part of
what is in me. When [ go down to
the grave [ can say like SO many others,
I have finished my days work., but
{ cannot say L have finished my life.' ,
My days work will begin again the
next morning. The tomb is not a
blind alley; it is thoroughfare. 1t
closes on the twilight to open with the
dawn. I improve every hour because
[ love this world as my fatherland, and
because the truth compells me as it
compelled Voltaire, that human divin-
ity. My work is only a beginning.
My monument is hardly above It's
foundation. [ would be glad to see it
mounting and mounting forever The
thir st for the infinite proves infnity
What do you say of that, Messieurs
Atheists 2"
81 say you are a wonderful man."
II am not wonderful man 7 obey
my soul. My soul has its destiny and
obeyes unknown laws"
''It obeys the laws of creation,"
said the atheists. eff you should sud-
denly have a headache, night would
come over your SOUL and you would
feel that it was the creature of your
brain. Here, for instance, is the cof-
fee Take some, as [ do, in this pretty
japanese cup. and your blood will be
quickened, and your wit Heller, and
for an hour you will be greater poet
than ever.''
Don't talk such nonsense. my witty
friend. I never drink coffee nor cham
paign. Why do not those who take
these stimulants write either my verse
or my prose ?"
It is because nature has not so well
fashioned their brains"
f'There l have you," said Victor
Hugo,
What is nature -
eft is an occult force" said the ath-
eist.
There are no occult forces there
are only luminous forces. Occult
force is chaos, the luminous force is
God. Man is an infinitely little copy
Of God; this is glory enough for man.
I an man, an invisible atom, drop
in the ocean, agrain of sand on the
shore. Little as I am, I feel the God
in me, because can also bring form
out of my chaos. I make books which
are creations. I can say this without