The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-04-17
YIGNOL'S BABY.

| =, For 90 years Jean Vignol had written
| novels for the popular iournals-noyels in
| which murders and infants changed in the
| cradle PLAYED prominent parts.
| He was really no more clumsy than his
rivals in this specially. and If ever Won
| have DANGEROUS ijlness and do not know
how to pass the long hours of GONZALES
| cence read the ssMysteries of Menilnon-
tant" You will find in them all the Gus
| Itouary INGREDIENTS of this literary kitcb-
en-. The onenina is startling especially
! when that scamp. the Duke de Veux-Don-
| ion. on leaving the opera. descends into
| the sewers for a rendezvous with an ex-
| convict of his acquaintance. who is to give
| him papers canable of mining the beal1ti-
full Marouise de Poiyrieres. This
| lady having been changed as o. babe. was
| not the daughter of a first class Spanish
erandee as ali the Fanboury ST. Germair
believes. but the child of a cabinet maker
| in the Rue Poninnco,,rt who had some time
ago been condemned to death by a iudics.
error and euillotinef in Mace of the convict
to whom tbe duke cave this uncomforta-
BILE subterranean rendezvous
| You nerceive from this simnle examn1e
| that lean Vignol was nerfectIv acouainte5
with his art Nevertheless the moor man
was NOT successfnJ He lived verv mean1v
and had much ado To nlace his uconv i,
| First if Was becausa he had no luck and
| then because he was timid and modest and
did NOT know how to elbow his wav in the
American fashion
| OF course he had not entered the world
| of Letters hv wav of the storv ,aners He
st;ll nreseryed in q drawer Init With strono
| homes of bringing them to light the two
works of his youth comnosed AFT the time
| when he still had all his hair and his am
bitions of hipb art The first was the man
nccr;nt of a vo1,,me of a1ooies stpoison
F,1ovars ), in which the noet comnlained
notably of the fickleness of a vo,1no per-
con tn whom he Gave the romantic name
| Fragoletta and whom he conpared to all
| tbe Celebrated loves from farthest antio11i
tv tn orr day While in reality the neon
| stan+ don,oiee1la called herself A oatba and
was a fiorist,s girl
The other manuscrint more voluminous
still contained a drama very fearful and
| If the darlr agas bearing the bloody title
of "Tbe FIavers ,, during the entire course
| of which hooded Deon1e felt sbod made
masses aft each other across dead bodies with
two handed swords and with endless III
rades Tnbannilv dramas in verse are NOT
eatable and The 1poison Flowers, could
not ox,an eorya lil-a tba n.stnrtiums 10
gsrnish Tho salad n was necessary to live
IN there in tho finv fifth floor LODGING
Tbich Loan vionol occnnie7 with his old
,,,o+I,ar 11Tbo ,,es s+e Ivi+b ,.ban,oaticno
a,,d cr.oa,,i,,o. fro,n ~, owning till NIGHT
IT. eo7.,, ,,,onov--ob vcry iittIa-tbe noat
became a nonular romancer. the way that
1,sirter VIC fails becomes a nhofoera-
Trade and mt ali his efforts into #. b1t
as has been said. without success.
TT was hut ius+ice after all. for he lack
| take seriously enough these marouises who
| had a o,illotiped cabinet maker for a fa
tber or his dukes who nromenadeS in the
| sewers in fur coat and white tie
| The manager of The Petit Proletaire
! where lean Viauol published his stories
| that would put one to sleep standing I'D.
had said to him bluntlv. "Mv dear man.
one feels that YOU don't believe what YOU
write. !" and rave him but two sous q line.
The Door fellow knew himself to be SUI
perior to his mean task, suffered there
| from and sighed often. But what to dof
| lit was his destiny, and to keep the meager
| Dot au fen boiling he exhausted himself
| 1nV6nUln2 moro anu ulOf6
| adventures
Once by way of example, he would not
have been able to pay his two quarters
in arrears, and would without doubt have
been evicted, had he not at the last mo-
lment obtained an advance from the man
ager of The Petit Proletaire, who was Sc
duced by the subject of novel of which
the following is the substance of the first
sheet: can orchestra musician of the Am
bigu, who is, without knowing it, the son
| lof an English peer. goes home after the
performance and finds skeleton in the
case OF his bass viol. ITO be continued in
our next."l
So long as the mother had lived Jean
iVignol. a model of fllial piety had sup.
ported his life well enough. but during
fhe two Years that he was alone in the
world with no relatives few friends and
indoor habits he could not tolerate it.
| hlacl- hoard a Sacratic nose the ewes of q