The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-23
JULES VERNE In HIS HOME.
Author of Many Books of Adventure
Has Seen Little of the World.

Paris Letter to the London Telegraph.
M. jules Verne, the popular novelist, the
mag1cian-like evoker of strange scenes by
sea, sky and land, has been seen in his re-
treat at Anliens, where he has lived for
years, dlsdalning the hustle and turmoil of
Paris. The author of Michael Strogoff''
lives in a fine house in the Rue Charles
Dubois and is highly respected in Amiens
The author of so many thrilling narratives
will soon be seventy, but is full of health
ana spirits, living chiefly on eggs and herbs.
He is municipal councillor and he and his
wife occupy themselves a good deal with
works OF charity, amusing their leisure by
going TO the theater. They have not the
least desire to revisit Paris, and prefer the
more salubrious air of Arniens. The nov ell
list does not resemble any of his heroes, and
looks ike Il government financial official of
rank. After lucheon the novelist related
how, when u student in Brittany, he wrote
half a dozen tragedies and then started for
Paris where he was befriended bv the elder
Dumas He wrote a play with Dumas, Fills,
composed I'm Drame dams lie Airs" "a
Drama in the Air. which was remarked
but burst into fame with his cling Sc
maines en- Balloon Give Weeks in a Bal
loon) He was intoxicated by success, and
wanted to bloom forth as new Balzac, but
the elder Hetzel, his publisher, advised him
paternally to work the mysterious and adj
yenturOus VEIN Then followed the volumes
which have obtained a worldwide reputa-
ton for their author. The last is the seven
ty-sixth in number and is entitled lie
Sphinx des Glaces" (The Sphinx of the
North.) Jules VerneS habits are most regu-
lar. He rises at dawn and writes until IL
o'clock. After luncheon he goes TO a reading
room and peruses all the newspapers, ex-
cept on the days when he has to attend the
municipal council. In the evening he rests
like real provincial, or goes to the theater.
He works carefully and fastidiously. An adj
vertisement Of Cooks agency suggested the
Tour du Monde en- Quatre-vingt Jours'
(Around the Wcrld in Eighty Days., just
as incidents related in the papers also give
him ideas, plots and incidents. His hardest
work is in reading up about the countries
which he describes. 1t was George Sand
who induced him to write '.Vingt Mile
Lieues sous les Mers" ,(Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Seal, and expressed her
self as fascinated and enthralled by his
narratives. Many of his books have been
translated into Arabic and Japanese, and
he shows the translations with some pride.
Strangely enough, the author has travelled
little. He once had "a yacht and sailed the
channel of the Mediterranean, but never
saw, as he said, the cannibals nor the Chs
nese, nor has he made the tour of the globe.
He neither hunts shoots nor fishes, al
though he once tried to bring down few
birds. but, having lodged some duckshot in
a gendarme's cooked hat, he became dis
gusted with the sport In conclusion, it may
be added that Jules Verne hopes TO write
many thrilling volume before his time
comes to enter tbs land OF real aud awful
mystery.