St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-26
HUGo's AMERICAN FRIENDS.
The French Poets Treatment of
Visitors from Across the Attain

Visitors from Across the Allan
tic.
Lucy Hooper in the Home journal.
L am afraid that the grand old man
must have been a good deal bothered at
times by my country people. l remem-
Der once how a strong-minded Ameri-
can female insisted ON addressing him
In a long set speech in English. of
which he understood not one word. AT
the conclusion OF her harangue, to which
Hugo listened with oak-like sturdiness
and imperturbability. she produced a
large laurel wreath which she attempted
TO place on his brow. He lodged it
cleverly. receiving 1t instead upon his
Outstretched arm, where he suffered it
TO remaln till the lady had taken her
departure.
On another occasion a very pretty
American student Of vOcaliZation came
to MARBLE for his delectation q number
OF songs to the accompaniment of the
guitar. Now, like a good many other
great men, including Napoleon l.. Gen.
Grant II the Duke of Wellington. Vic
tor hugo had a positive distaste for
music, so he looked at his visitors
pretty face instead of hardening to her
song, which last was in truth hardly
worth listening to, as her voice was
weak and shrill and had evidently been
lll-traIned. But he bore all these little
contretemps with unfalling patience
and good nature. looking upon them
probably as inevitable elements in the
universal homage that was laid at his
feet. That homage he enjoyed with I'M
felgned he%artiness.
Often as l saw him l never heard
from his lips a single word of blame for
fhp lnI1ad &tafAc nm nnnnnnt of tho lonl
OF a copyright law. Yet in the absence
OF tina law his loss ON Les Miserables"
alone must have amounted to thousands
of dollars.
He seemed TO look upon the extension
OF his fame over the great Western con-
tinent and amongst a nation speaking
an alien tongue as sufficient compenSa-
ton for any %pecuniary drawbacks. He
drew the mantle of his glory so closely
around him that his purse and his
pocket were hidden beneath its folds.
AS a rule, however, his American
visitors were very sympathetic to him,
though he once greatly amazed a BOs-
ton literary man who mentioned Emer-
son to him by asking, Who was Emer-
II 1t is now a generally knOwnfact
also that he refused to receive Gen.
Grant when our famous eX-preSldent
visited Paris, on the ground that the
general had sent congratulations to the
emperor of Germany on the success of
the Franco-Prussian war. That Incl
dent was not made public at the time
that it occurred, but the late Gen.
NOyes, at that time United States min
lister to Paris, spoke of it several times
to me and deplored the state of feel
ing that it evinced. l have been told
that the message OF. congratulatlon
i'll question was forwarded to the
German emperor by President Grant
through the influence of a prominent
Western politician, who at that time eX-
pected to be made minister to Berlin.
But after all it was merely a form, such
as every ruler must go through with
When any event of Importance happens
to one of his OF her colleagues, such as
the birth of an heir, the marriage of one
of the members of the family, an access
of territory, etc.
Mrs. j. w. Mackay was accorded a
long interview by Victor Hugo a few
years before his death. AS she speaks
French to perfection, the conversation
was animated, and the beauty and vi
vacity and intelligence of II fair oun
trywOman made a deep impression on
the venerable poet. He told ME of the
lady's visit the neXt time that l called, |
that Mrs, Mackay has a son who re-
sembles her greatly. l should like to
live long enough to arrange a marriage
between my granddaughter Jeanne and
that young gentleman" But both the
young people were then mere children,
and Victor Hugo died long before his
adOred Jeanne had attained a marriage
able age. That would have been an in |
ternatlOnal match worth achieving.