The morning call., 1893-06-25

subject of our unqualified admiration and
respect, the novelist who delights many Of
us most of all the novelists that have ever
taken pen in hand. But ne only shook his
gray head and said, Il do not count in
French literature
SiXiy-siX, and but for his limp, still
hale and hearty. with much in his face
that reminds one of Victor Hugo, like
inc old sea captain. rudy Of face and full
OF hfe. One eyeifd slightly uruuPs, but
the gaze is firm and clear, and from his
whole person emanates an aroma OF good
ness and Kindness of heert, which have
ever been the characteristics of the man OF
whom Hector Marriott, writing many years
ago, said, HE is the best o t best fellows"
of the man whom the frigid and reserved
Alexandra Dumas loves like brother
and who has not and never has had, in
spite Of his brilliant success, single real
enemy. His health troubles him, unfortu-
nately. OF late his eyes have weakened,
SO that at times he is unable to guide his
pen, and there are days when gastralgia
martyrizes him. But he is as valiant as
ever.
II have written sixty-six Volumes" be
said, land if God grants me life l shall
finish eighty"
jules Verne lives on the boulevard
Longueyille at Amiens, at the corner Of the
rue Charles Dubois, in a fine spacious
house, which he rents. 1t is house of
three stories, with three rows of five win
dows on the boulevard longueville and
three windows at the corner and three more
on the rue Charles DUBOIS, The carriag e
and other entrances are on this street. The
windows ON the boulevard LOngueville
command a magnificent view of the
picturesque II misty town of Amiens.
with its old cathedral and other medieval
buildings. Right in front of the house,
Oh the other side of the boulevard is a
railway cutting, which just opposite
Verne's study window disappears into
pleasure ground, where there is large
music kiosk, in which during the fine
weather the regmeDtal band plays.
This combination is TO my thinking very
emblem OF the work of the great writer,
the rushing train. with all the roar and
rattle of ultra-m odernism and the romance
of the music. And is it not by a ombina-
ton of science and industrialsm with all
that is most romantic In life that Verne's
novels possess an originality which can be
found in the works of no other living
writer, not even among those of the men
who count most in French literature?
A high wall skirts the rue Charles
Dubois and hides the courtyard and gar
den of Verne's house from the passer-by.
When one has rung at the little side en-
trance and. in response to great peal, the
door has been opened, one finds himself In
paved courtyard. Opposite are the
kitchen and Offices, to the left may be seen
pleasant garden, we'll stocked with trees,
and to the right Is the house, to which
row OF broad steps extending the whole
length of the facade lead up. A conser-
vatory filled with flowers and palms forms
the entrance-room, and passing through
this the visitor enters the drawing-room.
This is richly furnished room with
marbles and bronZes, warm rich hangings
and the most comfortable of easy-chairs,
the room of man of means and leisure,
but without any characteristic feature
about it, 1t looks like a room which is
little used, and this is the fact. Both
Nj. and Mime. Verne are very simple peo-
pie, who care nothing for show and all for
quiet and comfort
The adjoining large dning-room is rarely
used. except when dinner parties are given
or family fete is held, and the novelist
and his wife take their simple meals in a
little breakfast-room which adjoins the
kitchen. From the courtyard the visitor
notices in the far corner of the house a
lofty tower. The winding staircase ich
leads to the upper stories is in this tower.
and at the very top of the staircase is Nj.
VeIne'S private domain. a passage car
peted with red stuff, like the staircase,
leads past maps and charts to a little
corner room, which is furnished with
plain camp bedstead. Against bay
window stands Il small table on which
manuscript paper very neatly cut may be
seen. On the mantelpiece of the tiny fire.
place stand two statuettes, one of Moliere
and the other of Shakespeare. ard above
them hangs water-color painting repre-
senting Yacht steaming into the bay Of
Naples. 1t is in this room that Verne
works. Adjoining ii is a large room with
well-fled bookcases reaching from ceiling
to carpet.
Speaking about his methods of work Mr..
Verne said: II rise every morning before
5-a little later, perhaps. in the winter
and at 5 am at my desk, remaining at work
till II. | work very slowly and with the
greatest care, writing aud rewriting until
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