The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-26
HARD YOUTH
Of N. ZQA
His Life in an Attic in the
Latin Quarter.
HIS FRUGAL MEALS
One Old Coat That Turned
Green Then Yellow.


P, some of my ea-ly foibles, some Of
my early. restlessness. ascribed to Lazare
Chanteau in La Joie de vivre.' and
viii admit that I have penned a some
what overwhelming portrait Of myself in
my younger days in L'Oeuvre,' in which
I figure under the name of sandoz, and
in which have also sketched some Of my
personal friends. Here and there too, in
certain volumes. particularly La Fortune
des Rougon' ana La Conquete de PAS
sans / have described the surroundings
of my boyhood in southern France;
whilst in other books. when l have
wished to depict a mans early struggles,
the suneTings Of a sensitive nature con-
tending against adversely, have recalled
the days Of ray youth and the desperate
fight waged at one time for a livelihood.
Yet, when the autumn of life arrives and
one looks back on those vanished days,
they seem almost delightful one of the
great French actresses of the eighteenth
century. the witty Sophie Arnould, sum
med up those feelings in a sentence
which has remained famous. Somebody
was speaking TO her Of her early yeArs.
and she replied: All that was the r0al
good time! I was so very unhappy
"Maitre Labot an advocate Of the
council Of state. one OF my fathers very
best friends, who had delivered a speech
in praise of his work st his grayeside
recommended me to N. Nisard, the Ia
nous professor and critic and director of
the Ecole Normale through whose inter
Vention 1 obtained free admission to the
Iycee Saint Louis, where / passed
through both the second and Rhetoric
forms. leading almost a lonely life among
all my schoolfellows. for greatly regret
ted Provence and my friends there. and
was saddened, almost soured, by my fam
lily misfortunes and bitter poverty At
AK / had been fairly successful in my
class work. but at Saint Louis it was
chiefly in French composition that 1 dis
tinguished myself However after my
first holidays, / fell i'll, and brain fever,
Fsupersenin nearly carried me off. I
have often thought that this fever large
Ky influenced my nature and after life.
producing perhaps some modification of
my brain. and even tending to develop
ment of certain talents. At the same
months afterwards l went up for my ex-
animation for a bachelors degree, whilst
succeeding, to my amazement in the
written part of it-notaDiy as regards
physics. chemistry and natural history. /
in which secured very high marks. and
even very good ones in mathematics, al
zebra and trisOnometry-I utterly col
lapsed in the literary and viva voce por-
ton. as has often been recorded by those
who have written about me. The exam
liners in Science were all in my favor.
those in literature we're all against me.
and it was for insumcicncy ia literature
that /. who have since devoted myself
to literary life, was pluelced.
1T was a great disappointment. for. L. Z
! had passed, many a position would have
been open to me and I was anxious TO
acquire one in order to support my moth
er. recovered some OF my spirits, how
ever, during the ensuing holidays. which
spent in Provence. and ] afterwards
made a second attempt TO secure my de-
gree. this time at Marseiles. But again
/ failed even worse than before for I did
not even pass the written examination.
When I returned to Paris I cd nos re-
sumo nay studies. Ny poor mothers re-
sources were well nigh exhausted. and if
was necessary for me 10 earn my living
as best could Maitre Labot ended by
obtaining for me = petty clerkship at
en- office in the Rue de laDouane. where
! was paid sixty francs month. one
shilling and eightpence a day: but 1
only kept the post for two months. after
which I began q ALe OF dreadful want Of
borrowings ard debts. hunger and shah
biness when l often had but one meal in
81 hours. and that meal a mere penn 'orth I.
of bread and a penn orth Of cheese, or F
perhaps few fried potatoes or some
apples. or roast chostnuts bought at the
street corner. And, unable 10 OBTAIN reg
ular employment anywhere. mortified by
constant repulses robbed for time Of
useful confidence by my failures AT my
examinations. ! led that life for two long
years. ever wearing the one frayed coat
that remained to, me. q coat which in
course of time became green, and then
almost yellow
I never see a beggar in the streets
in one of those tattered ola
coats which the sunshine and tle rain
have discslered. without thinking of my
twentieth year. And yet as I said be-
fore. youth-even hungry youths hap
py time If I did not md food for the
stomach found 1t Tor the mind. FOR when
7 was not seeking work or exploring the
banks OF the Bievre or The plain OF Ivry.
/ roamed the quays OF Paris. reading the
second hand books which scores of deal
ers set out for sale in little boxes on the
Those boxes constituted my
free library. and when I returned home
verses. for I Greamt of
writing 4 huge epic on the creation and
the march Of humanity through the cen
turtles After d time. fortunately. when
our few sticks and the bulk Of cur ward
robes had gone 10 the pawnshors or the
dealers. some little provision was made
by friends for my poor mother. who was
placed IN 81 boarding house. whilst Tor my
part ! lived in AL sorts Of dens and attics
II the QUARTER Latin. For = time even
lodged in kind OF glass cage or OBJ
,erwatory said 10 have been tenanted by
serirarssn de St Pierre. was there
oiTfed by my friend Cezanne. whose ar
4v'si from Provence fnsDirited me He
.Ad 1 hoped TO conquer Paris together:
.fe would be its greatest painter and I its
rest poet. and ali our penUry left - an
kismaysd. Cezaune possessed some little
means. hut he often found his purse IS
sn.pty as my own. IL wSs ~ thls time
that / renounced smoking. and the money
which might have served me for tobacco
went 70 buy candles. in order THAI 7
might work far into the night. cudgellIng
A I