New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-24

! South of France with young widow Of whom ne
became enamorcd. The mother was an idealiS'
| and lived in dreamy state when she was not busy
with household and other business She was at
| once sinqularly poetic and extremely practical,
seeing 10 the education Of her sons To their settle
mcnt in life, to forward which, her property being
mortgagcd. she took situation as an accountant
| in n business house Ierve was the elder and ST.
| lent and gloomy as Guy was open, sunny and com
municatiyc He was five years older than Guy.
and all his life harbored settled animosity against
! bin. bred of jealousy, for at bottom he was in a
| curious way attached 10 him. The elder son showed
marked incapqcity TO specialize his talents. lie
was many-sidcd and might have been fine artist.
n distinguished writer, scientist, or indeed almost
anything that needed brains and taste lie tried
many things, the medical profession among others,
and succeeded at none got married, went out of
his mind and died under restraint leaving widow
and several children Guy, who was making about
800 900 year with his pen, took charge Of the
phans and their mother, and arranged for them all
! 10 live with his own mother, TO whom he was maxi
! ing n handsome allowance.
This care Of the only parent 10 whom lie owed
! flal duty tender and Thoughtful But she
| OWNED on what wrong lines he was moving an |
wanted TO live with him. This he would not let
her do toking as n prctext for refusal the obga-
/
corruption and the necessity under which he lay. as
an artist not 10 restrain his freedom. When
his brain would not answer 70 the whip. he
spurrcd it with hnsheesh or morphine.
IL rarely happens that these drugs admit of sus-
| tanned mental effort when their effects are fresh.
But Guy dc Maupassant never worked more size
| co-sfuly with his pen than while thus stimulated.
There WIS. OF course dark side to his artiicially
produced states. lie suffered nocturnal terror.
The approach OF night appalled, Inn. He dared
not sleep alone with his door shut or in the dark
Neuralgia raclcd his head His stomach was
permanently disordcred. Choral and ether were
triel The poor mother divirc everything Her
womanly instinct taught her how it would al end.
and she was heart-brokcn at the prospect. She
unavangly imporcd Guy to let her stay with
lin:. Perhaps he felt that her and his for
Ter nervous system was broken down under the
strain Of mental distress, would make the house
n pandcmonum, and he wanted to he joyous be-
tween crises
Old Madame dc Aloupassant said that when
young she used to weep at the Thought of the
mother of Jesus witnessing the cruciiiNion 4
sword had pierced Mary's heart there But MARY
had the consolation of knowing that her son was
pure. God-like, high example TO manhood The
torture of seeing most noby endowed son. who
charmed every one he met, going in the path Of
ruin. was unuttcrable and inconsolabc
Guy de Manpassant's emotions were good.
What he wanted was firm character to direct them
and a higher moral standard than that of the
circles in which he lived As a literary artist,
there was no harder worker, nobody more true to
bis standard of artistic excellence, which was TO
produce in everything he wrote the illusion of
truth lie called himself an illusionist In
questionable AS wcll-prepared photographers
negative he cultivated the habit OF close Obser-
walton, was happy IN his selections of trait>, in
cdcnts and circumstances and discarded after he
had chosen all that were not essential TO the
development OF his characters which ne made to
portray themselves. His style was the fruit Of
the hardest work. For seven years when he was
clerk in the Navy Office, he wrote verses TO have
u command of flexible and harmonious prose apt to
convey with accuracy the ideas he wanted to n
press. Originality could only be secured by such
power of expression. 1t would unloose the
tongue and enable the writer's individuality 10
appear. Some OF the best French prose writer's
after Pascal were men who were most valued in
their day as vsrsiiiers, 10 wit Racine, Voltaire,
Lamarine and Victor Hugo De Maupassant
never BATTERED himself having the stuff OF
which great poets are made. But he looked upon
himself rs a painter, and words the vehicle for
producing, his graphic effects. The painters
manner Of seeing things was what made hand
done painting more valuable than photograph.
Hence his long practice of versilication. Surely
talent in his case was the fruit of untiring
patience.
1t has been remarked that the French
civil Service is nursery for authors
There - no service in the world
III which there are so many supernumcrary
clerks. One must be long time clerk in q gov
eminent department before one can earn enough
of money to live upon. Guy de Maupassant was
fifteen years civil servant in the navy Office He
had TO go there curly in the morning, to be punct-
ual. and to leave. at in the afternoon when
which rarc-therc was not II great press of bust
ness and tasks out OF hours required OF the junior
clerks. The advantages to young Frenchman
OF being in a government office are that he has to
cultivate regular habits, nils I'm with highly hon
orablc class of men, is kept for seven hours a day
out of mlschlef ana must cheat tedum when he
has no official work to get through by the study
of science or literature. Roohcfort was clerk
at 200 francs year at tho Town Hall OF Paris. SEN
ator ST. llarc, the translator OF Aristotc's works.
hal desk at the Finances Department and was
paid 20 francs year Guy de Maupassant was I'm.
paid for three years and had been raised to Q sal