The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 18??-1882, 1881-08-26
Eugene Sue and Ills Work.


Ernest Legouve, has recently published
in the Temps some chapters of "a forth
coming work, to he entitled .'Etudes e.
Sovenirs de Theatre" In the last lie
tells us some curious anecdotes of Eu.
gene She. lie and Sue had the same
sister. but were negotiations. This lit
Tie genealogical puzzle is thus explained
The original M. and Mdme. Sue had
one daughter-Flora Sue. They became
divorced, and both married again. M.
Sues son by his second marriage was
Eugene Sue, Mdme. Sues son by her
second marriage was Ernest Legouve.
Thus Flora sue was sister to two men
who were no relation whatever to each
other. Neither M. Sue nor Mdme. Le-
gouve cultivated each others acquan-
tance; but this girl. a beautiful and
charming creature who died young,
was equally devotedto both her hoth-
ers, and supplied the bond Of union
which brought them together. Nile
lgouye therefore knew Eugene Sue from
bOyhood to manhood, and was probably
the most intimate friend that strange
being ever had. !, The enthusiastic sym
pathy and admiration for Sue some
times took strange forms One even
ing as he was entering his rooms after
walk he knocked against some swing
ing object in the dark, which moved as
he touched it. Sue lights a candle and
what does he see? The two legs of a
man who had got into his rooms, no
one ever ewghOw, for the purpose of
hanging himself there The man, Who
was quite dead, had bit of paper
clenched in his hand, on which was
written. II kill myself in despair of the
future. 1t seemed that death would be
less hard if it came under the roof of
the man who loves and defends us. "A
great compliment truly, but one which
Sue could probably have done with
out. -n,ass,.yf q r.-eeva8 ,.r c,M
In 1841 an enterprising Partisan
publisher sought out Sue to show him
an English Illustrated work on the
Mysteries of London, which had re-
Gently appeared. He suggested that q
work of the same sort on Paris would
have every chance of success, and ask
ed Sue If he would write it for him.
Sue was not much tempted by the
idea of providing the text for an illus
trated serial-which was what the Of
fer amounted to-but finally decided
to set to work. Shortly afterward M.
Legouve received a letter from Sue,
along with a little brown notebook
containing about 200 pages of manu-
oor;pt nSba ,,,o,,,,e ,,.; ~ moe tba e,~e+
part of "I,he Mysteries Of Paris" and
the latter was to ask Legouve's 0pin-
ion on the story. "It has amused me
greatly to write it bnt will it amuse
other people to read it? That is the
question" Leg0uve read it according
ly. "The first chapter was sort of |
prologue, which interested me but |
little. But when the real story began,
when / read the first, the second, the
third, the fourth chapter, / felt as if an
electric shock. My hands trembled as
1 held the paper. l did not read the
pages, deyoured them. There were
Fleur de Marie. the Chourineur, the
Sch0Olmaster- was half the first vol
ume of The Mysteries. of Paris My
answer may be guessed: Enormous
success, the greatest you have fever
had. Send me the continuation. Sue
wrote back: Il amEtruly delighted |
with your answer but as to the con-
Ishoiild find ii hard to send |
you that, as. I don't know what it is
going to be Myself. l wrote what l |
sent you by instinct, without knowing
where Twas going. Now l must set
to work to find my way An article
in a newspaper put him. on the right
track. When the 6rst instalment ap-
peared in the De6dts, M. Considerant,
editor Of the Democratic Paclfq,ie, hail
ed the new story asa veritable liter
ary event. 'Tsee what are the authors
said he Che knew more about
them than the author himself). He
is setting foot on a road that has never
been explored. He is undertaking to |
paint the sufferings and the needs of |
the laboring classes. NJ. Sue has been
called the novelist n of the sea; to-day
his title is, "Novelist of the People,
sent the article at once to Sue.
Thanks he wrote back, I have had
a talk with the author, and now I see
Clear" s,C d. fr5- .s.g1oc.-I '..' ''''.aq
A novelist of the people must lie ac-
quainted with the people, and tn. s ac-
quaintance Sue now set himself to OBJ |
tain. He bought blouse, cap and a
pair Of big boots. and thus equipped
haunted the workmen's quarters, the
cheap restaurants of the barrier, and |
the drinking shops at night. In this
way "The Mysteries of Paris" came to
be written. Once he had taken up
this idea of being the novelist of the |
people. it interested him, and he adhet-
ed to it: but it came to him in the first |
place from without, As sort of acci-
dent. 1t was in this fashion that all |
his novels were written. His chief |
romances were written by instalments,
"The Mysteries of Paris,' for instance,
appeared as the daily feuilleton of the
Debats, and it often happened that he
would put his personages into an ex-
traordinary and impossible situation in
the feuilleton that was to appear
on the next morning without having
any idea OF. how he was to get them
out In the feuilleton that was to APP
pear on the next morning but one.
On these occasions Legouve would re-
ceive a note begging him to, read a
proof of the feuilleton enclosed, and to
hit upon some way of continuing the
story. Sue would be with him at 6,
and they could talk over the matter.
7 ,eoouye would read The feuilleton. and