New-York tribune., 1902-02-23
PARIS.
INTEREST IN THE VICTOR HUGO CEN
TENNIAI.

TENNIAL.
ELEcTIONEERING oRAToRY UNDER Way
NEW PLAYS AND MAssENETs
NEW OPERA.
Copyright. 1902. BY The Tribune AssociatIon)
GBY CABLE TO THE rmBuSEI
Paris. Feb. 22-The apotheosis Of Victor Hugo
which will continue the coming fortnight is al
ready being celebrated with popular enthusiasm
and earnest conviction surprising all eXpecta-
tions. Newspapers. literary reviews pamphlets
and even handbiIls IN the streets teem with
souvenirs. "reminiscences episodes and relics of
the national poets life and works. La Derniere
Gerbe," comprising unpublished poems is to-day
displayed in the windows Of all the book shops
Puechs medallion OF the author OF "Ces
Chatments'' was placed this afternoon the
front OF the Theatre Francaise beside those OF
MOliere. Corneille and Racine. Medals engraved
by Roy representing the poets profile bust
were distributed 10 Senators. Deputies and all
school children throughout France.
CASTOR Merry the indefatgable investigator
of obscure manuscripts has discovered the diary
of Marie CarboneI. Victor Hugos cook, who
noted with picturesque detail the culinary fads,
likings and disIikings OF her master, and records
that among his favorite dishes eggs,
salmon. sweetbreads chickens livers and cocks
combs cooked in rich pastry. young woman
reporter Of La Fronde" has unearthed Mile.
Adele Hugo. the poets daughter. who when
young girl was crossed in love with a Partisan
journalist. which dethroned her intellect. and
she was placed IN private asylum Vim
cennes. Adele Hugo k now fine tall. gray
haired woman OF seventy-two. who never reads
a newspaper and whose sole distraction is TO
go to the theatre, where she sits IN a baignoire
box concealed from the by
grating.
Partisan writer. Octave Uzanne. points out
that il was Adele Hugo who collected her
fathers table talk from 1852 10 1856, and OF
which he found the manuscript by chance in
the shop Of autograph dealer near the British
Museum Like Luther. Coleridge and Bismarck,
Hugo discussed many things besides eggs and
salmon at table. and nearly everything he said
interesting. Not the least curious among
the "reminiscences are the recolections Of the
woman hardresser who curled the poets locks
when he more OF dandy than ne seemed
10 be in his later years. George Victor Hugo,
the poets grandson, is publishing souvenirs Of
his GRANDPA ther. which contain bright and famil-
lar nursery talk. for Hugo adored little folk and
his grandchildren used 10 call him "papapa" an
affectionate superlative Of three syabes coined
by the little Hugos meaning more than father
The only ones far who strive TO secure
centennial FRANCOIS Coppee and Jules Le-
maitre, both or the French Academy. FRANCOIS
Coppee declares that II is lucky that Hugo is
not alive to witness his centennial because he
would be heartbroken 10 see the nauseating
incense that the impious hands OF those who
rule the republic are burning around mis- monu-
ment' Jules Lemaitre, with considerable aca-
demic subtlty. tries TO portray Hugo as a
reactiOnary, AMI says that if he nattered the
I'LL.
the Bonapartists by his ode A La CoIonne,"
and delighted Royalists by his verses about the
christening OF the Duke Of Bordeaux.
Considerable rrit-ton is ca ed by the atti-
tude OF the Royalist "Soleil," which to-day.
under the heading "Hugoatre," attempts to
belittle Victor Hugo and accus. him Of "ac-
cumulating our Intellectual ,riZon pernicous
errors, mOnstrous decisions and obscure clouds"
This opposition OF the 'Solen' against the ire
sistible current of the national enthusiasm Of
the French people is compared by a writer in
the steele to a puny effort to avenge the
memory Of Napoleon III made by lie Petit
Caporal" by announcing the poets death with
the words. Hugo the little is dead"
The Temps" and other Republican journals
refer TO the birthday anniversaries of Washing
ton and Victor Hugo falling within a few days
interval OF each other, and point out that lib-
erty OF conscience and love OF independence
the motive powers common 10 the two
greatest men the two greatest republics have
yet produced.
The foodgates OF electioneerlng oratory are
open. Scarcely town OF over forty thousand
inhabitants but has its weekly deluge of poIiti-
cal speeches General Cavagnac as the most
authoritative spokesman Of the Patrie Francaise
League opens the campaign with a duel and
six speeches. NJ. M4iine has to the
ranks OF the Nationalists. NJ Jules Lemaitre is
harangung his constituents in the north and
west. General De Gallifet takes active part IN
the contest by violently opposing the proposed
reduction Of military service 10 two years. which
the gallant old warrior says will mark the
end Of serious armies and begin the OF
national militia, which will be far more danger
to republican France than to any monarch
ical nation"
The most picturesque feature OF the present
campaign is presented by the poet Francois
Coppee. who has introduced new figures OF
speech into political debates For long time
the ministers have been alluded to by their
opponents as robbers" 'assassins" drunk
ards" etc. but FRANCOIS Coppee, in his dis
course yesterday, invented a new phrase in
which ne describes himself as "a leader OF the
squadron which opens the bombardment Of the
lair OF the old nest OF pirates whare Waldeck
is the Pasha," and describes the League Re-
ga IL STA nd