New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-01
ALPHoNsE DAUDET.
HIS PERSONAL AND LITERARY TRAITS. 1
DRAWING his WORKS yRoMSATuRE-rpE sroax o.

IRON AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT or rHI raBynRS
1t has become the fashion to say that French lit
erature has seen Its palmisst days. that It has no
longer Balzac, Gautier. Eugene Sue, George Sand,
Jules JaniD, Beaumarchais, and Scribe. But with
attempt to defend she so-called modern Frsnch
school," 1t may safely be said that there has prob
ably never been in the long reign Of French fiction
q moro brilliant trio of contemporaries th1n M
Goncourt, chsrbulisG and Daudet. VI
OF the three, Dsndes 10 the most pope5e& =
Goncourt is appreciated only ~ the fsN ~ t4o64
the study Of the how and the why OF the author.
Cherbuliez is liked by the careful reader by him
who reads to crafty critical literary taste But
Daudet is liked by overv Que, even by those who
read merely for pleasure, and who forget when
once the book is closed by whom it was writtcn
and what was les plot. He plesses the public b.
bis skilfully managed intrigue, by his elan. his
ouremenf; be pls asses the admrer Of CherbuIiez by
the life If his character and his subtle dissection
of soul and thought; and he delights the disciple
Of De GoncouIt by the charm of his poesy, and that
dreamy imagination, wandering it lists, over the
pine-clad bouidsrs Of La Provence or in the broad
sunny plains Of Aries
Daudst is the French Dickens. He says himself.
in speaking of Desr6s Dslobsllc, the Little lame
girl in Siloniv":
Andre Gill told me that in one Of Dckenss
Friend" there was exactly the same character of
lame little Dolls Dressmaker." which the great
novelist had depicted with bis profound tenderness
often had been compared to Dfckens and how
often the great resemblance between David Cop.
out to me. l feel in my heart Dickenss love for tho
lowly for the unhappy childhood of little ones
reared in the squalor and misery of great city
TOO had heartrending struggle for existence and
earned my bread before was sixteen; therein lies.
fancy, our greatest resemblance.
The resemblance is greater than he thinks and.
strange to say Ernest Daudet, his brother, an
a1thor too and we'll known in the world OF letters.
resembles Dickens physically as much vs. does
Alphonse Daudet in his writings. He has the samo
broad brow, the contour of the face, the same
deep burrows in the cheeks The resemblance
seemed so striking to me the first time met hins.
that was quite surprised he should address me In
French X
There are three distinct periods in Daudets writ
inss; that OF the studies of the South, which so
found in "L'Aresenne" "Tres Lettres de Mon
Moulin and the famous Tartarn de Sarascon =;
that of the studies of Partisan types and centres.
The Nabob." Kings in Exile" "SidonIe," and
sJack"; and that Of the sketches OF the war, -
Les Coutes du Lnndi," a collection Of short sto-
rcs, in which he gives voice to the anguish Of de-
feat. They are very simple. and altogether frey
from that mixture of mawkish sentimentslity aaxt
revolutionary clamor which marks the literatu5o
Of that tme but they tell Of heartfelt LOYALTY -
the flag which Is true patriotism and breathes CT
tho heroic days of Gaul-a touching Gloria Victil
Everything which he depicts he has seen or fe:t,
and his character, are as true to life his descr
tions
He found Elysee Merant in I herion. one Of hs
friends of the QUARTER Latin; and Rsler is reccs
lection of his childhood blond Alsatian VINO drsv
the patterns his fathers factory. 1t is easy 80
recognize in the Duke de Mora Napoleon's Prlrs
Minister. the Duke de Morny, whose secretary
Ernest Daudet was for long time. Tie Nabob~
is Francois Bravay worthy peasant of the Midi"
who went to seek his fortune in Turkey. and who
lost it more rapidly in the whirlpool of Paris diss
patton than he had earned 1t in the Golden Porto.
Numa Roumestan is the welkno Senator Barag-
non and Daudet says: The real Sidonie is living
still; not perhaps 80 black as have painted her.
but as fond of extravagsnt dress and pleas.
ure and my friend Madame Gardin0is is stall pol
fishing her jewels In her fas-sway country hones
with the same copstancy Of old He spent
whole winter in finding trade Cor D6siree Dele
belle, of whom he could no longer make dolls
dressmaker. since Jenny Wren was already in ex-
istence.
The death of Risler alse necesstated many long
expeditions. He lad in mind a certain little house
near the Notifications where lie had installed
Phanus, and he had from this spot to follow Risier
Ia his course through the winding streets 10
the dark vault where he was to hang himself His
description of Ajaccio in The Nabob." and Of A.
giers IN "Tartarip de Sarascon." the recolles-
lions of his soiourns IN Corsica and Africa, where
his feeble health required purer sir than the chok
ing atmosphere OF Paris. The world owes ISL
d,niev and Her MaJestys Christmas Dinner to he
long residence III the Marais," delightfully."- o't
and historical of Paris not very far fro tho
Bastile, where finds the very factories he de-
scribes. lust as he described them lie saye: When
have gathered all my descriptions, when have
may say illustrated my story. after long search anc
many fatigning walks. / have only to write tnY
book for the work is more than half done"
"La Petit Chose" is the story OF Daudets life.
Whether one reads its enhancing pages or Ernest
Daudets" My Brother and J, y hs will find the sane
groundwork of facts-ihe two brothers growing up
together in the large factory, in a tender atmos-
pbere OF home. love; the reverses the failures; ths
Journey TO Lyons the suflerings Of the poor little
under tutor lfor Daudet like Goldsmith began life
by occupying a subordinate position in largs
schoo aud finally the arrival in Paris Of slender
delicate child Of sixteen, cold and wearied from h,
long dreary rido in third-class car from Lyons.
filed with go wing aspirations and bright ante'-
nations for the future bnt rendered so tmid by his
poverty and loneliness that he feared TO trust IN
himself and was haf-afraid to believe in tho weata
of his I'M sleet. Ernest Daudet had preceded he
brother by few months AMI was struggling fvr
livelihood in tho great city. earning barely IVY
francs a month by writing the memoirs Of an old
gentleman of the Court of Charles ", Nothing
can be more pathetic than the coming OF the little
BROTHER to this older one who could barely defray
his own expenses but who welcomed the heart-sorr
wayfarer so teaderly and surrounded him with such
loving care. that it won for HIM the name ~
Mother Jacques"
Their life has much changed since those wretchsd.
happy days in the Rue Tournon. where Alphone
used 10 spend long hours IN the galleries Of tho
OIeon deIiphted and still hall afraid to be ebow-
inc ali the great men of letters around tho book
staIlsn There is little left DOW of those times has
the many recollectons which both brothers cherish
like precious relic. For fortunately All Of Petis