Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-05-23
THE LATE VICTOR HUGO.

i
ceased was surrounded by large crowds.
NJ FIoouet, president of the Chamber OF
IDENTITIES requested Nj. Allan Fargo, min
ister of the interior, to allow the coffin to lie
under the Arc de Triomphe for twenty-fo
hours. The municipal council has express
ed the wish that the remains be Inferred IN
the Pantheon. The wish will be considered
bv the council of ministers. A storm was
raging when Hugo died. The news of his
death was announced to the assembled
crowd by Victorien Sardou. The dying
man Inv in a trance for some hours before
the end. He awoke suddenly, raised his
head pazed at his family and friends stand
inc around the bed, and sank back lifeless.
His white hair aud beard grew quite long
durirg his illness. His body is much ema-
ciated. but the brow retains its grandeur
THE sculptor Dalou took cast OF the lace
Nsdar took photograph aud Gialze made
another sketch. When the death was an
nounced there was an indecent rush OF re-
norters TO the house, and the servants were
Obliged to repel them. M. Lockroy closed
the front door, leaving table in the street
far visiting cards. The body was emoa!m-
ed. Deputations from the municipal gov
eminent and from Parliament offered their
coincidence Nine. Bernhardt, the actress,
dressed completely in white, bringing Wild
her an immense crown of white roses soon
arrived. -
Half of his fortune of 4 900, 900 francs is be-
oueathed by NJ. Hugo to his daughter Adele,
who is in an insane asylum. 1t was VI.
Hupo's wish that his heirs and executors
should hereafter join in building lunatic
ASYLUM. Victor Hugo's last words were ::
"Idieu Jeanne, Adieu," addressed to his
favcrite granddaughter. His funeral Will
take place on Wednesday next. Ii IS re-
purted that NJ Hugo bequeathed his manu-
scripts to France, and that he LETT 1t TO Inc
republic TO select burial place Tor MS re-
mains and to decide as to the form OF bis
funeral.
IL is proposed that the day of the funeral
he declared day of national mourning, on
which all the government Offices, the schools
and The theatres shall be closed. 1t is be-
lieved that the funeral will be the grandest
seen in France for century. The poet
was sketched as he lay on his death bed ny
the great painter Bonnat, who will transfer
to canvas the impression taken. The Sen
ate and Chamber adjourned in respect TO
the death of Hugo.
Victor Marie Hugo was born on February
26 1902, at BesancOn. he was the young,
est of three sons, aud their father, General
Hugo being engaged in the various cam
paipns in Italy and Spain up to the time o.
Napoleon's defeat and exile, Nine. Hugo
and her children followed him into both
, countries, and thus their early years were
spent amid strange sights and scenes, fol
{ lowing the fortunes of war. After the ial
of the Emperor Gen. Hugo was deprived o
his command, and he then came to Paris
and placed his two younger boys II
preparatory school in the Rue Salnte
| Marguerite, with view of their en-
, tering 'l'Ecole- Polytechuique" later on
Here, in the intervals of study, young Vic
tor organized dramatic representation
. among his schoolfelows, and filled volume
| of COPY books with poetry. He was fitteel
, wears old when he aspired TO the prize OF
, fered by the Academy for the best poem OF
5 the advantages of study, and the prize wa
the poem, which they considered to be to-
7 presumptuOus. However, two years late
I he Carried of two prizes at the Academy O
Floral Games, and in 1922 his first volum
of lyrical poems appeared, which not onl,
! confirmed the high regard in which man,
. of the most eminent men in France held hi
genius but also obtained for him a pensio,
: Of 800 fraues from Louis XVIII. This pen
: sion enabled him to marry the young CIR
for whom he had conceived romantic af
lection at the tender age of five, and who
at a time when poverty aud other Difficult
ties stood III the way of marriage, never fal
: tered in her affection, but encouraged ant
inspired him to write romance, "Har
'h'Isand," the Ogre Han representing theil
; difficulties, the hero (Ordeues) Victor him
self, and the heroine (Eshel) his true little
} sweetheart.
J Hugo's early dramatic work was done
under dscouraging circumstances "Crom
well, Amy Robsart, "'Hernani," "Marior
de rOrme," were one after another rejected
by the public, though sustained by the first
actors of the day. At length "Lucrece Bor-
gia," the first of Nj. Hugo's dramas which
appeared in prose, came out at the Theatre
du Porte Saint Martin, Paris, with Mile.
Georges as Lucrcce, and Frederic Lamaitre
as Gennaro, and was a brilliant success
Ga his fathers death, in 1928. he became
Count Hugo. but never used his title. His
political life need not be detailed After
the coup detdt in 1851 he refused the am
nesty offered by Napoleon III rejected the
triumph of imperialism, aad Went into a
voluntary exile for nineteen years In this
time of exile from Jersey first and after
ward from Guernsey his most brilliant sue
cesses were achieved. His prose works dur
ing this period Include Lies Miserables,"
LES Travaieurs do la Mer," "LHomme qui
| Rit,' and Qnatre vngt Treize :" his poems, ma
| poleon le Petit," Lies Chatiments," La Legende
des Sieclcs," "Chanson des Rucs ct dos Bois and
Les CONCENTRATIONS" They were all published
in Belgium, their sale being prohibited in France
under the empire.
In his domestic life NJ. Huge has passed through
many sorrows His wife, the faithful adele"
| of his youth, lived long enough to know him
! hailed rs a master mind by the whole literary
world, but the hand of death WAS laid on her Just
two years before the end of his long exile. His
idolizad eldest child was taken from him by aa
early and sudden death, and both his sons died in
| the prime Of manhood. The elder, Charles Hugo,
former editor of Le Rappei, has left two children
the Georges ct jeanne Of later poems, upon
whom the poet lavishsd the affection of his later
years.
The UPPER A1R.-The greatest difficulty which
meets every thoughtful weather student is his
inability to obtain any satisfactory account of the
l,f;o IL