The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-11-02

initiation of sherifs seizure in the little
apartment where he lived with his wife
ard mother. and the struggle for food,
going so far as to sell the wool from his
mattress to hush the cries of the baker
Madame Zola. who was the ideal wife
for those difficult years, hunted in the
old-clothes market of the Temple for
garments to be made over.
1t was not aims, but work that Emile
Zola proposed. ~ will give you two vol
umes year, to be your exclusive proper
.ty for ten years; and in return ask you
to pay me 50 francs (only $500 a month
for the coming six years.
| Charpentier, after little hesitation, &C
cepted; and Zola's material anxieties
we're al once and for ever allayed. He
had now only to work according 10 his
will and 10 show what was IL him 1t
was five years before the publisher began
ieaping his own reward, but he was
faithful to the man in whom somehow he
had confidence. In 1877 the public was at
last obliged to read the author whom they
| had SO long refused to recognize. From
the start the success Of "L'Assommoir'
vas emotional and scandalous. Charpen-
ter called the lucky author apd tore up
the original contract. 1T is too much TO
my profit" he said honestly, L already
owe you 10000 francs
SUCCESS.
lola had never seen so much money. He
came down from the hill OF Montmartre,
and took small detached house in the
Rue Saint-Georges, where Madame Zola
at last had the luxury of a cook. A cen
tury house was bought at Medan, which
was little by little oddly enlarged with
Increase of fortune. and was the novelist
resting place until the eve of his death.
II was only in 1889 that Zola, then mil
lionaire from the long series Of his sue
cesses. removed in Paris TO the two-stor-
led apartment in the Rue de Bruxelles.
where he died.
lola never tried TO push himself into
society of the great world, for which he
bad neither taste nor aptitude nor breed
ing. He frequented the at-homes of his
publisher Charpentier. who remained q
fervent friend until the last; and he still
shared the fellowship of old comrades in
literary beginnings like Francois Coppee
and Alphonse Daudet until the Dreyfus
case divided as with a sharp knife minds
and hearts OF France.
Meanwhile. a first brood of disciples had
escaped from under the wing Of the new
Master" crying his literary theories
through the world 1T will be curious to
see how we shall turn lola said fore
bcding for himself a reputation not en-
tirely along the lines of the Naturalist
School; Paul Alexis remained faithful and
~ her who
is still known has passed through con-
noisseurship in devil-worship TO an eX-
traya CANT Christian mysticism; like Cop
rec. and moreover a fanatical anu-Drey-
fusard. he has now come forward to bear
testimony to the solid qualities of the old
friend and master.
The second brood ran off peeping against
Zola's teaching almost from his incuba-
ton Of them Paul Marguerite, j. II.
Rosny (this name represents two Belgian
trothers Boex) and Lucien Deserves. to
speak only of those who have won a con-
tinued celebrity, formally protested
against Zola's portraiture Of the French
peasant In La Terre.' They took up his
definition of a work of art-"a corner of
Nature seen through a temperament -
Yes" they retorted, but not seen
through a morbid sensorium!
a great admirer of lola. Lockroy, was
Minister of Public instruction at the time
nsSs, and he took up the struggle, insist
ing on decorating Zola with the ribbon
of the Legion OF Honor. Years before
after many delusive promises made by
Minister Bardoux to Flauberr in Zola's
behalf his success had been won, lola
had written a letter scornfully putting
aside all official honors; but in the pres
ont stress of opinion he was persuaded 10
accent. The attitude of the unsuccessful
young man. with his revolt from author
itv. now took on new pose-''I am going
70 be Grand Cross of the Legion of Hon
our-and senator-and member of the
Academy"
Nineteen times Zola persisted in pre-
senting his candidacy to the Forty I'm
mortals of the French Academy and they
cutie as persistently would have none OK
him. His friends were at the beginning
Francois Coppee and Alexandra Dumas
the younger. and toward the end OF Jules
Clariete and Ananile France. Once he
had as many as eleven votes; when ne
last presented himself there was but
one. which Jules Claretie now claims "a
his own. Taine, who could not heas
Zola's pretensions of applying his own
philosophy 10 real life led the opposition
and. at his death left IL as a saereo
charge 10 his friends that lola should
be kept out OF the French Academy
Taine's widow made it a personal matter
in her circle. whenever new election
came on. When Paul Bourget, much
Younger man. who was Taines "docle'
as lola was his .indocile' disciple, Wa
elected. zola's comment was-'Ths
! Aoadematicians did not vote for BourgeI;
they voted against Zola.
Even his best friends recognized in him
during this successful period OF his life. a
colossal confidence in himself and in his
own Judgment. which was perhaps only
the natural development Of his original
character. He did not hesitate in CONVEX
sation TO speak OF the sources OF his
scientific knowledge. which he was ooiig-
"a 10 take at second hand. but his mind
Vas dogmatic. and he never doubted thai
( his own opinion ought 10 prevail. CRIT
/ eisr1 led By literary masters Ike Brune
there. turned against his theories Of Art;
and Edouard Rod suggested that his SCI
enoe was not much different from chunks
/ Of the Encyclopedia The Deoaeie
/ ("Downfan. or Better, "Smash-up o.
the Second Empirel IS row acknowledges
~ the Marguerite brothers, who wrote
the corresponding Desastre. TO be a Work
+ OF historic probi5y; but its success vas
tempered with storm OF disspproba tor
OF the later's lack Of patriotic sentiment
Zola. as usual. stiffened against tho