The morning call., 1891-11-29

was In great disorder; it seemed as IL every
thing had been laid down where it was last
used. A skeleton stood in a corner among
stuffed animals, and made the room look
like museum OF natural history.
"Be seated, il you can find chair" and
he smiled. You also belong to cur craft,
l believer"
| nodded
1T is astonishing how many thousand
men and women can live by literary work
OF one sort or another in these davs.'
Yes, we live in wonderful age" he re-
sumed after pause. "Only think; they
lately observed snowfall on the planet
Mars. To write a history of the nineteenth
century would be gigantic tale for a
young Literary man. With all its progress
from the taIlDw candle 10 the electric light,
from the stage-coich to the express-train
making sixty miles or so an hour, is simply
so marvellous that the majority fail to
understand it. But excuse me for a mo-
ment."
And he left the room.
l looked at the nearest pile Of reading
matter There was book on the measure
ment of sound, "Travels in Alaska"
pamphlet on the possible use of melonite
instead OF iron, mining reports, et'
Re-entering, he continued: II was the
first to mention submarine vessel Now
no navy can do without torpedo boats, so.
after all, poets are not necessarily dreamers,
but chronicles Of the past and prophets OF
the future. People always used to say that
politics and science DO not belong TO the
realm of art 1t seems to me that there is
nothing more fit for the Imagination of
poet than science, and as for politics, it
surely could be done. But, as have said
before, l am an exception"
" How did the idea Of writing in your
peculiar style first suggest itself to y0u?" l
inquired.
Baron Won Munchausen.' His fabulous
ridiculous adventures made me think
whether they could not be written in
serious manner, so | set ID work. LIE Tour
du Monde was my first great success, so l
pursued the chosen path"-
Then his wife, in apron and cap, entered
and served some cider. with a friendly
smile. But before she could speak a child
was heard crying and she had to excuse
herself
"As you see, We live quite like the bour-
geoise-smple but comfortable! | would
not live in Paris for anything in tile
world
Look, here is one of my latest books.
illustrated. 1t is always great pleasure to
mo to see my ideas taking form and shape"
dow DO you make the enormous material
that IS necessary for your novels ?'' asked.
why, read all the scientific books that
are published-in short, everything in the
book market of any interest to me. | am
also subscriber to all scientific Journals. as
you see, making sweeping gesture with
both arms and looking around the over
crowded room with a humorous expression.
besides, have connections with many
OF the leading Conservatives, museums.
etc. Also that | know German is great
help to me. The Germans are remarkably
clever, but only theoretically, while the
Americans are undoubtedly the most prac-
teal, but they sOlely lack taste. Only look
at their public buildings! Colossal, expen-
sive, but no Architectural
And the Frenchmen ?" l asked politely.
Nobody can deny them the supremacy in
matters of art. But to return to the subject
for the Clipper of the Clouds was one bal
loon ascent, while l had to look over about
SEQ books on aeronautic inventions"
necessary"
81 think careful perusal of books from
the best sources on any new subject is bet
ter, at least for the purpose of writing books
A good book on the customs and manners of
country can only be written after a
sojourn of years, while l, at the very best.
that rate my books would dwindle into very
limited number of volumes"
Il think 1t must be time for me to CO."
But he continued in his jovial way, as if he
had not heard me-
People should always remember that
jules Verne is neither mathematician nor
an astronomer nor the author of scientific
nandiDooks, but novelist who scatterS his
knowledge here and there in the manner of
conversationalist.'
And so lie kept on chatting about the most
recent inventions and discoveries of mechau-
icai constructions of all centuries, the dis
tanees OF heavenly bodies, effects of light
and temperature, zoology and botany of an
tediluvian times, the structure of the earth
to enormous depths, unanswerable problems
about inhabitants of planets, until my
brain began to spin and most likely gave
foolish answers, but as he did most of the
talking, 1t was, after all, not so unpleasant
Not before | had taken dinner with him
did he allow ME to depart by the express
train from Amiens To Paris