The Yellowstone journal., 1894-10-03
ANTICIPATING FAME.
OesANT's PATHETIC STORY OF "PAuL
THE WaNDERER."

Vh6 WANOGhch.
YAe Quiet Dignity of q Man Who Was Liv-
Ing For Posterity-A Pretty Little Ski
written In the English Novelist's Inim.
table style.
knew him for several years before
bis death. When l first made his ac-
Quain,-nce, he was already an old man,
He was also, as was evident from the
INST q very poor man. He went about
shabbily dressed He carried biscuits
in his pocket to the reading room on
which he lunched or took snacks at in
tervals during the day. Perhaps he had
dinner afterward, but always suspect
ed his dinner to be an uncertain and a
movable feast 1t was understood that
he was something in the literary way.
/ got to know him by sitting next to
him day after day. We exchanged the
amenities Of the reading room, apollo
gized for crowding each other with
books, abused the takers, remarked on
the impotence of those who go to the
Yoom in order to hirt and SO forth.
When / got to know him better, l
made little discoveries about him, as,
for instance. that he liked glass Of
beer in the middle of the day and that
he could not afford the twopence. may
say, not boastfully, that l was able to
offer him this little luxury. We used
20 90 out together for the purpose. He
was good enough TO take an interest In
nv work. He proved TO have a consider
able knowledge of books and gave me
considerable hep in this way.
One Sunday met him in the street
We stopped to speak. He lamented the
closing of the n useum on Sunday. For
his own part, he said, he would have
the reading room open every day in the
week. WHY close the avenues OF knowl-
edge? Why damn the fountains and
springs of wisdom: SO we walked and
talked He was perfectly dignitied III
his manner, though his great coat was
90 thin and shabby that one might be
ashamed t0be seen with him. He stop
ped presently at the door of house In
High street, Holborn.
81 lodge here, he said. will you
come up stairs and see my hermitage?"
remember that he called it grandly
his hermitage He led the way; the
stairs were dark and dirty; he took me
- the fifth, or fifty fifth, floor. He liv-
Cd in the back attic.
''This," he said, lis the cell of the
recluse live here quite retired. There
are other dodgers, l believe, but l do
not know them. / live here with my
library in simplicity. The air iswhole-
some at this height "
He threw open the window and sniff
ed the fragrance of the neighborlng
ohimneys The room was clean; the
furniture was scanty; there was no fire
in the CRATE; ON shelf We're about 20
books-his library. The man looked per
fctly contented with his hermitage
There were no papers on the table,
nothing to show that he was writer
do not know how he hved-certain-
ly he did no work at the museum-but
he never borrowed In one corner stood
q wooden chest. He lifted the lid and
nodded and laughed.
'Ahai" he said, "now l am going 70
reveal a secret. You didn't know, no
body at the museum knows, the people
in the house don't know, that | am
years since l paid for the publication
R my collected poetical works. Yes,
ar, and am going not only to commu-
nicate this secret to your honor-in safe
heeping-bnt to present you with a
copy. There, my young friend'' He pro
duced q thin volume. 81 am Paul the
Wanderer. In fact, the title page bore
Ae legend, Collected Poetical Work
Of Paul the Wanderer. {"
Thirty years, he repeated There
were 300 copies. The press received so,
the public bought four; there remained
446. have now given you one There
now remain 445. have bequeathed
these TO the public libraries of the na-
tion. Sir, you are young. You will
yourself perhaps publish your poems.
Remember for your comfort that ii
takes so years, or two generations,
fur the nobiest poets to take their
proper place. Greatness-true, stable,
solid greatness. not the empty APPLAUSE
given to an ephemeral favorite-re-
auires 80 years at least. Go, sir! Take
the book have given you, and in after
years. when l am gone. tell the world
Snos yOV kuoW-1o0 tiio " ak10okc1'
I wrung his hand in silence and left
him More than 30 yeazs hsve passed
since he published that work No one
has yet spoken to me Of Paul the Wan
6erR. But now understood his digni-
y. his self respect and his content he
VS. anticipating and enjoying his fu-
nEe fame. He was living for posserity.
Hsssent poverty and neglect were moth
AG-Walter Besant in London Queen
Another MsamOth Statue.
The sculptor Nikolaus Geiger is put.
ting the last touches to his statue OF
Barbarossa, which u to symbolize the
snoient kingdom in the Kynhauser
monument, to be unveiled in 1896. The
Bexbarossa appears at the end Of . ves-
A. 81 <x< nrio ont a