Morning journal and courier., 1892-10-13

forty years old, rather poor, and not omit,
as happy as have since become. One ds,
l noticed a little old man sitting on th,
boulevard du Temple, whose face / knew
from illustrations. 1t Was Paul de Kock
L was surprised to see how sad he looked
| and could not help making the remark
How Is it that you, the writer of SO many
exhilarating stories, have such a sad facet
He replied quite simply: 4 am like th<t
Admirable words, whose philosophic
depth 1 have only lesrned to fathom after
many years. Then I bethought myself
that If by writing amusing works one
grows sad the best means of remsininc
merry is to write grave volumes. This
did and grew Joyous, which proves ths;
the world is admirably fashioned"
HIS IDEA OF PURGAroRY.
His views in regard to a future life were
very peculiar. "The fate which would
suit me best" hs wrote recently, sis pur.
gstory, charming place, where many de.
lightful romsnces begun on earth must be
continued, and which one can be in no
haste TO leave, especially In view of the
few attractions of paradise. What some
times renders me not so very anxious to
attain that place of delight is its monoto-
ny. Trips from planet to planet would
sutt me we'll enough, but the dsvout old
women who, they say, will form the ma.
Jority of the elect, would not suit me q!
all. Ye. may Gods will be donel"
About his literary reputation be was
very anxious, his great fear being that 1t
would be asssiled by unscrupulous per.
sons. On this point he wrote recently:
Some future commission on the literary
history of France will be obliged to COM
bat documents which will tell 1t that re-
esived q million francs from NJ. de Roth
schild for writing the Life of Jesus and
nearly as much from the Emperor Nspole-
on Ill, who, later on. having dismissed
me. gave me q rich pension on the Journal
des Savants. The commission will unrsv-
ell all this in accordance with the rules of
criticism, and I am sure that its verdict
will be admitted by sensible people"
Almost as startling was his recent pub
lie statement that French must be the Ian
guage of the other world. as otherwise he
would never be able to address an appeal
from the internal regions to Almighty God.
As boy he was very fond of little girls,
and much preferred their society to that
of little boys.
In fact boys disliked him, and on account
of his girlish appearance used to call him
Mics" With girls, then. he spent most
of his time, and one of them he soon
learned tn worship. OF this child he said
in later life: "Her name was Noemi, and
she WAS a model of grace and beauty.
When our playmates qusrrelled Noemi and
l always tried to bring about peace. But
she was very sceptical as to the issue of
these well meant eudeavors Ernest she
would say, You will never succeed: you
want to make every one your friend Had
it not been for my vocation l should GER
tainly have fallen in love with Noemi, but,
as it was, 1 devoted myself to study, and
religious hair splitting occupied my mind
to the exclusion of sll other subjects "
young girl, and his daughter to-day bears
the name Noemi.
HIS LOVE FoE ANIMALS.
Animals found in Ranan a true friend.
He frequently paid tribute to the supe-
rior sagacity of brood hens, and cats and
dogs whose acquaintance he had made
were considered by him as humble rels-
sives. He once knew a dog that, disliking
the Friday dinner of fish and potatoes.
uaed to hide some bones every Thursday
for his next Days meals, and he often
wondered how the deg knew that Thurs
day preceded Friday. Another dog never
failed to take bath on Sunday, and a
third, Corah, made it her business in life to
amuse sick children. Whenever a child
was i'll in Remains native village Corah was
sent for, and she would rush off to the
hOuss and perform srcn quaint antics that
the little sufferer C 1uld not help laughing.
Another duty with which she was changed
was to prevent the children of the Rensn
family, of which che looked on herself as
a member, going near the fire in their
mothers absence. Though naturally
sweet tempered, she became a vixen when
ever child whom she was left to guard
approached the fire. 4 priceless creature
Ernest Renan, her master, considered her,
and when she died he named a promising
pup after her.
Cats, according to Renan, are less intel
ligent but more digni6ed than dogs. de
frequently took in cats to rid himself of
rats. and claimed that they all behaved
well and thst each had distinct personal
ity. One cat especially won high praise
from him. The servant had no love for
this ca', which was stray Tom, but in
stesd of fleeing from the house when ILL
treated the ssgacious animal used to tIot up
to the parlor and NEW piteou.ly until Re-
nan called the servant and inquired what
was the matter. Then, as though salts
fed that his grievance had been Iedressed,
Tom would stop mewing and express his
gratitude by putring lovingly and rubbing
himself against his masters legs
OF birds Renan had also high opinion,
and he was especially fond of parrots.
Coco, the paroquet of Nile. Desclee, the
actress, was bequeathed to him and yield
ed him much entertainment This bird
had an astonishingly fine ear Madame
Visrdot used to sing scales to Coco, and
he would repeat them Just as they issued
from her mouth.
ZoLA'S OPINION OF HIM
OF Zo.a, Renan had not high opinion.
Zola, on the other hand, thought highly of
Rensn. 81 cannot imagine why Rensn
should have a grudge against me-" said
Zols the other day, unless it be because l
wrote an article long time ago in which /
compared Remains philosophy with that of
Littre to the advantage OF the latter. Re-
nan does not know my novels and does not
understand them. He is one of those who
believe that the novel is made to amuse
children. But does not he, too, write nov
elsl Is not the Bible which he studie.
made up of contemporary novelist The
fact is Renan does not know my novels and
does not understand me. have read his
| works and hold him in high esteem for
| his style aud works. In this respect am
| superior to Rensn."
Strikingly characteristic of Renan was
this confession, recently written: "Celes
tial Father, thank thee for life. 1t has
been sweet and precious to me, surrounded
as 1 have been by excellent beings who
| have not allowed me to doubt thy designs.
have not been exempt from sin; hsve
| had the defects of all men, but l have al
ways pull j the bride of reason in time.
| Whatever those who call themselves priests
may cay, l have net committed any very
| evil actions. / have loved truth and
have made sacrifices for it; 1 have de
sired thy day and l still believe in 1t.
Who, after reading these words, cal
maintain with any chow of reason tina
Rensn was an unbelever and the Vol
taire of the nineteenth century,
Fast Trains Are the Safest.
from the Indianapolis News
Superintendent Darlington, of the Penn
sylvanis lines, is of the opinion that fas