Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-07-03
BRAIN WORK In PARIS.
The Terrible Condition of journal
tst8 and Authors.

When brain work is not the noblest of
ell the professions, it is the vilest Of all
the trades. Despair, envy, hatred, desti.
tuition, vice, aud madness are at the end,
sometim es in the middle, of this contem-
tible career, in which popularity robs
glory, in which money is the only aim,
in which debauch becomes an incentive,
and drunkenness a muse
ttLook at that miserable young fellow,
over there, with his contorttd features,
yellow cheeks, grimacing mouth, and
vsgabond eyes. de was born 10 walk free
and joyful behind a pillow, and proudly
to SOW the seed of the next harvest. In
the evening, at the farmers fireplace, be
would have eaten the bread he had
earned during the day. Every step,
every movement of his would have viyi.
fed something. And now look at him
in this vast city, pressing day and night
bis poer head between his two hands to
tqueeze out Of it tales and adventures
for a hungry crowd, who devour him to-.
day and take TO somebody else to-mor
row if nothing more can be got out of
him.
For a more or less extended period of
time he will make Henriettes marry Ar
thurs, will make husbands catch lovers,
will poison some of them, and send
others to the guillotine, keeping, Of
course, the sensational interest duly alive
till the end of the chapter or the %feuille-
ton. He will sell everything in success.
sion; love, Jealousy, tears, history, scan.
dal, slang, satire, morals, laudation, in
suits, politics, sentiment, obscenity, re.
ligion-in a word, everything out OF
which manuscript can be made, at from
two 10 FIVE cents a line, according to the
momeDtsry taste of the public or the
tendencies OF this or that journal. When
he shall have eaten up his own contents,
he will live upon the contents OF others.
he will patch up old comedies and
novels; warm up the arras of past centu-
ries. He will swallow whole libraries
and secondhand book shops. He wants
ideas, anecdotes, witty sayings, pleasure,
money, and notoriety. No time to be lost
nowl He must get celebrity. Once
celebrated, he is quoted. Once quoted,
he is rich. The journal goes to press,
the theatre cannOt wait, and there IS no
time left to get up anything. What does
it matter2 Two or three men OF US will
put ourselves together aud spend nights
at work. And the bodily force, where is
it to COM from2 We will take strong
! black coffee. And the inspiration? We
will take sbsinthe.
Go on, human brainsl Throw out sen.
fences, lines, pages, and volumesl Swell
yourself like a sponge and squeeze your.
self like a lemon, till you dry out and ont
till lunacy aud pare lysis take possession
Of you, till besottedass strikes you, and
death comes TO finish the whole. Mean.
while, we will enter the home of this CO.
lebrity. What we find there il disorder
and indulgence; an old mistress, Of whom
he made his wife in a moment OF lyrism
or exhaustion; some unhappy children
already dressed in black and crying,
without much knowing what about. The
air Of the room is still full Of yesterdays
tobacco smoke He liked smoking 20
much, poor fellow he was often told
that smoking was bad for HIM, but he
was unable to give it up. Oh, what jolly
days had been spent in this room at the
time of the little so aud sol
A number of friends escort him 10 the
cemetery; possibly a sightseeing or sym.
pathetic crowd will join them, for the
deceased vas much liked. lie used 10
be so jolly at timesl A lot of anecdotes
are told of him; speeches are delivered
over his grave; a fiat tombstone is
placed on his nose; the friends return to
the city to take a bite; some obituary
notices are gotten up at once; for two or
three days the journalists live on him;
a subscription IS started for a monument;
the Government is informed of the sad
occurrence; a pension is obtained for
the widow and a scholarship for one Of
the children; and all this done, the sur
viving friends rush TO resume the very
same frenzied life which killed him.
FAREWELL thou great man Of a year, q
mouth, or a day. Quiet be thy sleep,
now that eternal night has comel
1t is into this pandemonium, into this
peitenitiary, into these sewers that thou
sands of young men rush, with a good.
uatured, frank smile on their lips lbeliey.
ing that they will meet there fortune and
reputation as easily as one meets a cart
on the highroad. They would not stick
to ordinary labor, obscure and requiring
patience, but certain in its results and
sure TO make a .mau robust, serene, re-
spected, useful and good. l have gone
myself through these horrible wamrs
in the beginning of my career, | came
out shivering and pale, terrified by what
| had seen. And | become still terrified
when now and then | have to 90 back
there to shake the hand of an old com
rade, or to take his body and carry it to
a place Of rest. | would have been dead
long ago if l had remained there.
Blessed be the Lord Of tue destinies oil
the universe, for his having shown me
the way to get out, aud for having com.
muted my sentence. No, DaLte, whose
name is invariable invoked when people
speak abominable tortures, could not
have dreamed Of this damned produc.
ton of intellect, which rolls its own head
as Sisyphus rolled his stone and knocks
it against iron walls to get out Of il
a last little spark.
ALEXANDER DUMAS.
--S
The violent hatred of Cinnamon on