Morning journal and courier., 1893-11-18
A FRENCH PHILosOPaRR,
M. BartheIemy St. HIIaIre at Eighty.
 Nine Years.

MI. Barthelemy St. HilaIre at Eighty Nine Years.
 IFrom the London Globe
 N. Bsrthelsmy Saint HilAire, the bosom
 friend of Thiers and Cousin, lives at Pss-
 sy, h pretty little villa surrounded by &
 garden in which he passes the most of his time, musing and philosoph,zing cn cur rent events. He has just reached his eighty ninth year and bears bis age re- markedly well. "So you wish me to give you some "reminiscences of my life," he
 said, with gratiied smile, ss he seated himsslf in his easy chair. Let me tell you st ones that owe my career more to Aristotle than anybody el.s. I entered the College of Louis -le- Grand in 1Sl5, s
 few weeks after the battle uf Waterloo. Suddenly I was seizsd with A passion for Greek, and studied it so successfully that
 l soon earned quite 6 reputation for it
 among my school fellows. Five years
 later. at the early age of fifteen. was
 called on to write Greek poem in honor
 of the birth of the Due de Bordeaux On
 leaving college I became closely s-quslnttd
 with Littre, whose sapsrior intelligence
 admired, but whose religious opinions I
 did not share, for I have always been 6
 Spiritualiss. His father, seeing my tAsis
 for study, placed his rsmsrkE5ls library al
 my disposal. Oae day he said to me, As
 you are So fond of Greek, why do you not
 turn your knowledge of that tongue to sc- count by trsnslating soms fine work of an
 tiquityF"
 The idea struck hln, and he at once set
 about translsiing Aristotle. whom he con-
 sidsred to bs one of the greatest masters
 of human intellect, and to whom he there
 on resolved to devote nis life ''It was In
 1884, :" he continued, ''thstI completed the
 6est two volumes of the colossal work l
 had undertaken. l was proud Uf my Is
 bor, but how to get 1t pubiirhedi At ths;
 moment l wEs 6 modest employe at the
 ministry of finance, earning just tixty
 pounds year. The pahiisher demanded
 three hundred pounds-jadse of my de-
 spair! Forturstsiy l was introduced to
 Cousin, who took me by the hand snd got
 my volumes accepted by the director of
 the Royal printing office. From that day
 I was saved" In 1888 he WAS appointed professor of Greek and Latin st the Col legs of France. where he remained till the
 revolution of 1S4S. h the meantime he
 was elected A msmber of the institute. After the revolution he was elected a rep resentative of the people, and. In opposi- tion to Carnot, minister of public ins:ruc- tiOn, succeeded in persusding the RsEem- bly, to revive the five chairs st tae Collage ol EESucc HulCn uhl CeEn HhHFEesstu He was next made administrator of the | college, and occupied that post up to the | coup d'stat. Retiring Into private life he resumed his great work until 1889, when | he was elected to tho corps legislstif, then
 to the national assembly,, and finally bs- came secretary general of the president of the republic.
 He next described hIs relations with Thlers. "rhs first time" he said, 'I Enet the men who WAS cestlnRd to play sEch 6
 leading psgt iI my life was on the 2sth of July, lS30, the day or which, together
 with 20 many others, l signed the famous
 protest of iournslists In the offices of the
 National I knew that it had been drawn up by Tbiers and I was introduced
 to him. From that moment baosrns one
 of his most ferTent admirers l must add however, that was somewhat dissppoint- | ed when l found him leaning toward the | monarchy. or all his politic.l friends I | was tho only one that remained faithful 10 my republican convictions. Thiers, Cou-- | in, VI!lsmsin and others uscillaIcd in | turns between the two forms of govern
 ment. IL was thus that, in spite of my
 admiration for ThIsrs, did not hesitate
 to oppose him h Is40 when he suppSrted, | and with that marvellous talent, the bill for | public instruction, which was simply tan tamount to the destruction of the univer- | sity. This fact, however, did not prevent | him from making me his collsborstur after | the war. The truth is that A mutusl sym | pathy had united us from OUT youth, and our relations were 60 Intimate that a cover
 was always laid for me on his dinipg-i table. '