Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08
THE FRENCH DICKENS,
The Character and Writings OF Ale
phOnae Daudet.

phOnse Daudet.
Paris Letter to the Philadelphia Ledger
In America and England the death of AL
phonse Daudet will be felt though not SO
widely, hardly less keenly than in France
Itself for. With the possible exception Of
lola, L doubt whether any French author
OF our generation has been more read out
side of the confines of his own country
than he who has just passed away in what
should have been almost the prime OF his
life. He has been called the French Dick
ems, and from point of view unconnccted
altogether with his literary quality the cpl,
tibet was deserved, but I'm the sense IN
which it is generally used the attributes
falls very wide of the mark. There is a
river in Macedon, and there is also more
ever. river at Monmouth" as Fluellen
says: so there may be found identicalitias
in the work of the English and the French
noNelistS. 1t was probably Daudet's trick
OF what the French call cliches-the ear
marking, as il We're, of his characters by
the somewhat wearisomely repeated use of
the turns of expression or oddities of ac-
tion-which suggested the comparison to
TIE general reader Both. too were wont
to make use of the note of pathos too
freely.
In Daudet's case, however, If not in that
or Dickens, this may be traced almost di-
recty to his early environment and to the
pitiful struggles which succeeded his first
appearance in Paris. He was born only
hffy-seven years ago at Mines, where his
parents kept a little shop. AT seventeen he
made his way 10 Paris, after two years of
unconsenial drudgery usher In a small
provincial school. My Godr' he said him.
self, in speaking of his adventurous setting
forth, what a journey! The bare thought
of 1t makes me shiver. Two days in
third-class carriage. with cold equaling
that of Siberia After paying for my tick
ct had just two-franc piece left, but 1
was not uneasy on that score. Rich in
hope, 1 needed not the ice and snow. de-
spite my scanty attire. / was frightfully
hungry, but the seductions of the pastry
and sandwiches displayed at the railway
buffets did not entice me 10 spend my forty
sous. which l kept carefully hidden in one
OF my pockets" Then came the arrival in
Paris and the struggle for life. He copied
manuscript for forty fraEcs a month and
acted as secretary to small tradesman.
He passed in fact. through all the miseries
and privations of the typical Quarter
Latin Bohemian. At last he managed to
publish small collection OF poems en-
titled Les Amoureuses," which was des-
tined to become the foundation of his for
tune.
The book attracted the attention of the
Empress Eugene, who spoke TO the Due
de Morny about it. The due made inquiries
ana h:dlng the young poet without either
situation or resources. attached him to his
Office, with a salary of 200 francs a month.
This 10 Daudet was godsend and he was
eHiDieu 10 buN Il suit OF c!OtneS. Later on
he made literary use of his patron by cru
cifying him in his 'Nabab' under the name
of Mora. But he always repealed the charge
CT ingratitude. for he never pretended to be
politician, and even at this time. when
employed by a Bonapartist minister he
frankly ayowed himself to be legitimist.
To this avowal the due replied: bah, the
empress also is a leCitimist Political opin-
ions, however, ere of secondary Importance
here. What is necessary is that you should
hair For lf.lllpr Inv his
SC rnewhat fantastic fashion of wearing his
locks. had earned the ridicule of his fellow
employees. But the long-haired young
clerk. if he did not cut his hair. yet put a
very fine point upon his pencil. He took
notes of everything he saw and everything
he heard. and these notes continued
throughout the whole of his life and form
ed the basis of all his novels. He himself
has described his methods and the cir
cumstances under which these novels were
wont to come into being. sudden Inspr-
alton. quick scheming cut of the whole
psychological situation, followed by pa
tient collection of facts. or n study and
arrangement Of the facts already collected
these were his only methods. But he did
not leap into fame in a single hour. 1t
was not until 1858 that he published Petit
Chose" which. successful as IL was. gave
him nc very wide recognition and II was
not until six years later that out of the
failure of his play. L Arlesienne. there
Jeune ct Risler Aine." From that time
forward and for ten years his output was
marvellous. including. as 1t did. not only
Fremont Jeunes' but Jack" THE Ma
hab." LES Rois en- ExiL" ''Numa Rou-
mestan." IL Evangelists" and "Sapho."
The production Of each OF these was an
event in itself. and besides bringing Dau-
Diet fame, they brought him also that
wealth and that position for which he had
so long struggled. 1t was shortly before
the appearance of Fremont Jeune" that
Edmond About, who was collecting some
information about the earnings of French
literary men, questioned Deudet as to his
Income. He made q calculation and found
that the average amount gained by him
from literary work was up to that period
about 81 900 a year. Since 1878 he has him.
self asserted that his income has never
fell ehorf NJ O00 q year