Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-01-14
WITS AND WOMEN.
:CCENTRlCiTIES OF SOME CELE-
BRATED WRITER'S.


ity of Eugene Sue How George Snni tie.
jected the Advances of Her Lover.
The real name of Dumas famous
Camille was Alphonsine Ples,i, the
great author portrayed her character rs
it really was. She had natural tact
and an instructive refinement which nn
education could have enhanced She
never made grammatical mistakes, no
coarse expression ever passed her lips
She never became hoistcrous, for amid
the most animated scenes she wai
haunted by the sure knowledge that
she would die young, and life, but fcr
that knowledge, would have been very
sweet to her. The story of her bein,,
provided for by foreign nobleman h,.-
cause she was so like his daughter, wa,
not piece of fiction on Dumas part
it was a positive fact. Alphonsina
Plessis, after this provision was made
for her, might have led the most re-
tired life but despite her apparent re-
tinement anu delicacy she revelled in
gayety, and shrank from what she
would have considered self. exile. When
Alexandra Dumas read the Dame aux
Camelias to his father the latter wept
like baby but his tears did not
drown the critical faculty.
Eugene Sue was so much elatcd bv
the marvellous success of his "Myste-
ries of Paris, thathe never tired of pos
ing for the public benefit. His ambi
tion was not to be known as writer,
however, but as a man of the world.
After his dinner at the Cafe de Paris, he
would gravely stand on the steps,
smoking his cigar and listening to the
conversation with an air of superiority,
without attempting to take part in it.
His mind was supposed to be far away,
levising schemes for the social and
moral improvement of his fellow crea-
lures. These philanthropic musings
lid not prevent him from paving
great deal of attention-too much, per
haps-to his personal appearance, for
aven in those days of beaux, bucks and
landies, of Counts d Orsay and others,
men could not help thinking Eugene
Sue over-dressed. He rarely appeared
without spurs to his boots, and he
would no more have done without a
new pair of white kid gloves every even
ing than without his dinner.
Balzac, like Dumas, spent money
recklessly, and consequently was always
IN need of it. His friend, Joseph Merry,
he poet and novelist, was an inveterate
gambler and passed night after night
At the card table. He rarely left it
before daybreak. His way lay past the
Cafe de Paris, and for four consecutive
mornings he had met Balzac strolling
cisnrely up and down. The second
morning Merry felt surprised at the coin
ridence; the third he was puzzled the
fourth he could hold out no longer, and
asked Balzac the reason of these noe
turnal perambulations round about the
same spot. Balzac put his hand in his
pocket and produced an almanac show
ing that the sun did not rise before
:hree-forty. Il am being tracked by
the officers of the Tribunal de Com
merce, and obliged to hide myself dur
| ing the day but at this hour / am free
and can take walk, for so long as the
sun is not up they can not arrest me -
Paul de Musset, perhaps as kind
'f revenge for the wrongs suffered by
his brother, once gave an amusing de-
scription of the attempt of George Sand
Ito net Eugene Delacroix 1t would
appear that the painter had shown signs
of yielding to the charms which few
men were able to withstand, and George
Sand determined to provoke an admis-
sion of her admirers feelings. One
morning, then, while Delacroix was at
work, she entered his studio. She
looked out of spirits, and almost i'm
mediately stated the purpose of her
visit My poor Eugene = she began
Il am afraid have sad news for YOU.
"Oh, indeed, said Delacroix, without
interrupting his work, and just giving
her one Of his cordial smiles in glise
OF welcome. Yes, my dear friend |
have carefully consulted my own heart,
and the upshot is, | am grievod to tell
you that | feel l can not and could
never love you. | ask you once more 10
pardon me and give Inc credit for
my candor-my poor Delacroix You
are angry with me, are You not ? lou
will never forgive me - 'Certainlv
will Only / want you to keep quiet
for ten minutes ] have got bit of sky
there which has caused me good deal
of trouble ; it is just coming right Go
and sit down or else take little walk,
and come back in ten minutes" OF
course George Sand did not return
and equally, of course, did not tell the
story to any one, but somehow it leaked
out. Delucroix himself, when "chaftpd'
about it, never denied it. There was
no need for him to do so because,
Theoretically it redounded to the lady's
honor, had she not rejected his advances ?
Cucumber in a Bottle.
James c. Douglass shows q cucum-
Der pickle which was grown in bottle
in the wear 1927, when he was q mere
boy at his fathers home in Pennsvl-
vania. He was playing around the Gu
cumbcr vines and noticing a cucumber
Just forming, he inserted it in the neck
OF the bottle, without thinking or
knowing what the result would be.
Two or three days later he discovered
the cucumber had grown and almost
| filled the bottle.
He was surprised beyond measure
and took it to the house, and his
father had the bottle filled with alco-
hoi. From that day to this the cucum-
her Was preserved, AMI by renewing
,ho alcohol every three or four years it
Is ''S solld rs the day it was plucked
from the vines