Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-08-02

those whose souls are always SERENE
On that day he was more serene
than usual. He had just done a
act. The Catholic Govern
ment of Belgium having refused to
give asylum to the Communist ref
1gees, the solitary iuhabitant Of
the Place des Barricades had pub
licly offered to receive them in his !
house" To cut a long story short, |
the writer then proceeds to explain
how the ancien proscrit, after con-
templating the celestial mildness of
the night and shedding a tear over
"the wicked ways of the victorious
and the sorrows of the vanquished,"
went to bed, and how he was woke
up in the night by a Belgian crowd,
his house stoned, himself threaten
ed with death for the "noble ac-
ton he had that day accomplished.
This incident must be fresh in the
readers memory. Of course, the
hero of it, Victor Hugo himself,
does not forget to embellish it with
few master touches of his lively
Imagination. Now comes the
moral. Here / will let the poet
speak entirely for himself:
"What," he asks, sis the object
of this double episode? | will tell
you. 1t is to place side by side two
different ways of acting, the result
of two different systems of educa-
ton. Here are two crowds; one in
vades No. 6, Place Royal, Paris;
the other besieges No. 3, Place de
Barricades. Brussels. Which is the
populace? Which is the vile? Let us
examine them. One is in rags; it is
sordid and starving ; it is the
troubled reflex of the lowest depths
of society; it is the spray of the
human tempest; c'est lie tas des
miserables. The other is elegant
and opulent; it is OF good family
and well dressed; it has just left the
theater, cafe or the ball; it possesses
every necessary Of life-that is tC
say, every Joy, and all its super.
; huities-that is to say-all it
: vanitie8 it wants nothing c'est
: la groupe des heureux, In thc
present case, these two crowd
. resemble each other in one thing
. they are both in anger. Th
! tas des miserables are full of socia
n rancor misery is a fever; henc
. those loud outbursts Of fury whicl
! in hatred of temporary law woun,
: eternal right. These ragged, starv
- ing, disinherited beings suddenl
y ~ become tumultuous. They or
. 'war,' and, selling hold Of the firi
weapon, rush on to the obstacle j
= their path, be it the republic
- anything else. They demand I'll
9 right to have work, determined
- - live OR die. Ahouse presents itself
they invade it; it is the house
70 what the violent language of I'll
~ - moment calls an 'aristocrat;' it
~ ~ the house even Of man who is resiS
10 ing them; theyare masters; what w
~ ~, thew do? Will they sack it?
= voice cries, This man is doing b
Of dutyp and they stop, uncover the
II Il heads, and pass on. Such is VIII
>; - the poor do. Let us see how t
- rich act. The group des heurel
' at are also furious. Against a col
o ot batant? No. Against an enem
S@0 @ No. They are furious against
pO ns good action. A man has dared
m9 Us Be fraternal; he has been cleme
.oi "I and human; while others we
L" ba thinking of Torquemada, he dar
.ni n to think of Jesus Christ; he h
nsl co. opened his door to the yanquishe
,s oa and offered hospitable asylum to t
od ." fugitive. Hence the exasperati
Ju J of the victorious. He who defen
~ the unfortunate offends the fort
,nd ~ nate. Such crime must be pu
'lU ~, ished. And the crowd rush on
U5 ny the humble house Of the anci
i,' ~ proscrit, where there are two c
Il ~ > dies; they cry out, death and
t6o :, termination, with Ignorance in tn
Lho Iho mind and hatred in their hes
,n' a,' stones in their hands and mud
-; : , their white gloves. Let us conclu
p; OF these two multitudes, the mis-
,n9 nS ables of Paris and the heureu2
,ant ,m Brussels, which are the miserabl
W. 1EI. The heureux. What difference
Tho h there between them? One-edu
t1,. nU ton, This century may be said
!. 5.ol > be divided into two schools VIII
y a. represent the two contrary cure
.uy' ~ that lead civilization into dire(
Ion .'ut opposite ways, the one towards
lisU !n future. the other towards the p