The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-22

Amiens have, without knowing 1t, helped
| the Famous author in his work. If they
are interested In the story as he tells
/ It to them after lunch in the big dining
| room in winter or under the trees of the
| garden In summer, then the old man
knows that he is on the right track and
! goes ahead hopefully with the writing
In his study. But If the children look
! tired or bored when he tells 1t he knows
that something IS wrong He goes to
work to think itnall out again; to plan
the characters afresh, or to invent new
| situations. 81 +,
DAYS OF HARD WORK.
He is not easilyssatisfied, with his work.
Every book of his has been rewritten sew
eral times before it has finally reached
the public. Andehe never begins "a book
without studying thoroughly and very
deeply everything that can make the sub
ject familiar to him If he is going to
write tale Of adventure in a submarine
boat In the Arctic regions, he reads up
everything about the explorers who have
gone on Polar expeditions and. as much
about naval engineering as would enable
him to pass a stiff examination. From
about half past 12s to e5 every day he
spends in this Kind of reading keeping
himself thoroughly posted in all sorts of
new scientific discoveries and expeditions
and In the latest information about newly
explored and strange lands. He reads,
too, Tor purposes OF comparison, stories
or adventure in several languages. He is
especially fond of the books of this kind
in which the English language is SO
rich. M. Verne has read Robinson Cru
soe'' five or six times, and can recite
whole pages of Treasure Island" He
thinks The Swiss Family Robinson" one
OF the best boys books ever written, and
loves Fenimore Cooper. Walter Scott's
works are always within reach Of his
hand In his study, and Capt Marryat's
breezy sea stories are almost worn away
by long handling.
The old man is an ardent lover of
work
mo one is ever happy when he is idle."
he said.
81 have spent all my life at work, and
don't want ever to cease working. Just
as soon as l have finished one book l
have no peace or pleasure in life till
have commenced another. If you pre-
vented me working you would kill me-
And this is what he tells his children,
too:
>'sDo what you've got to do with all your
heart. If its worktime. work and you
will be happy all the time; if it's play
time, why, play as if your life depended
on it. Like this
And he makes a sudden jump at one
the grass plot till the happy child shrieks
with laughter.
HIS SIX HUNDRED LETTERS.
Jules Verne is naturally very fond of
the immense success his works have had
He delights in the fact that he possesses
more than 600 letters written to him at
various times by boys and girls to ex-
press the pleasure they have had In read
Ing his books. These letters, which are
all docketed and classed by the author
himself. according to the age Of the
writer's and their nationality, make a
very curious and interesting collection.
There are letters in French, in Russian.
IN Italian, in Spanish and in English
There is one in Polish The letters in Eng
hsh come mostly from English colonies
and from the United States. One of the
american letters is from "a little girl in
Baltimore, who writes to say that she
wishes she were a boy so that she might
go under the sea In the Nautilus. And
II she could. she adds, her first voyage
would be to Mr.. Verne's home If he would
like her to come. Mr.. Verne tells with
a chuckie that he wrote to his little cor
respondent, assuring her that nothing
would give him more pleasure than to re-
celye her at his home, whether she came
In the Nautilus or down the chimney.
But he advised her to be content to stay
IN baltimore and learn to be good
american little girl, for she could not be
anything better, however hard she tried