Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-04-08

years ago NJ, Brentano was commits
stoned by the French government To
classify and catalogue these papers,
There proved to be over 10000 OF them
and the task OF scrutinizing them has
had a serious effect upon NJ Brentano's
sight, IN fact, he Is nearly blind. Be-
sides having come 10 the conclusion
that the Bastille has been greatly ma
llgned the historian claims TO have elu-
cidated many mysteries. including that
as TO the identity of "rhe Man in the
Iron Mask" whom he declares to have
been Count Mattloll. an italian diplo,
mat. We shall see what Andrew Lang
has TO say about that.
BY order Of the French government,
too, another of the historic houses in
France Is TO be saved from destructio ion
and turned into Il literary shrine This
Is the mansion LES Charmette" at
Chambery where Madame de Wareny.
Claude Anet, and Jean-Jacques Rous-
seau had their curious ''menage of
three of which the great reformer
wrote so captivatlngly I'm his "Confes-
sions" The French government has
voted $1,000 for the purchase Of the
house. which will be added TO the 'hs-
torical monuments of the country and
probably win be open by the time
American travellers begin TO arrive this
year. Most OF the original furniture in
Guiding the harpschord, IS still at LES
Charmette," and to these the French
government will add most interesting
relic In the shape Of Rousseau's favor
tie writing desk. This was bought mt
Clarens during the emigration, by
Rousseaus great critic, Joseph &c
Maistre, 10 whom It gave an unholy
Joy TO sit at the Philosophers desk
when refuting the philosophers pre-
cepts. OF late years the desk has been
IN the possession Of the historians
grandson, Count Francois de Maistre,
at his Chateau OF Nendeuil, in the de.
partment of the Disc,
According TO correspondent In the
ST. Petersburg "Novosti" who has Just
Visited him at Yasnaia Poliana, Count
Leo Tolstoy has given up altogether
the reading or newspapers and Is now
content TO learn from his friends what
IS going on In the world Tolstoys in
iured leg, which he hurt In fail from
MS horse Some time ago is now almost
well, and he is full OF energy. He
spends, "A good deal Of time roaming
about In the woods, but finds time for
a lot Of literary work, too, and has
finished and is revising three more
books. one of these has for its hero a
political criminal who, converted to
true Christianity In prison. goes to the
scaffold with the GOSPEL In his hands.
As most readers know, Heinrich
Heine and his wife, Mathilde, did not
exactly recall Darby and Joan. An
echo Of their frequent squabbles comes
In Maurice Bloch's new monograph on
Alexander Well who was an intimate
of the family. Well used to boast
that neither the poet nor his wife
stood on ceremony with him, and
one day he received a conclusive proof
Of this. He was dining with them and
pike was set upon the table. what
Is your candid opinion of this pike|'
Madame Heine demanded. Madame,
II IL stale" was Wells reply and
the words were hardly out of his mouth
when the lady threw the fish In his
face Heine only laughed. 1T Is a
proof he assured WE'LL "of Mathide's
affection for you. II / did not know
you so well | should be jealous for
those demonstrations are. as rule,
reserved for me-
In connection with the Cervantes
commemoration ceremonies, which win
be held in Spain from May to Q, the
Spanish academy has decided to dis
tribute free among the people, go, 900
copies of specially prepared popular
edition Of Don QulXote,"
Some uncommonly interesting stalls
tics regarding the importation OF foreign
books INTO Japan have just been given
cut by the French Minister to the
Mikado's court, NJ. tIarmand. It seems
that IN 1901 Germany supplied the
greatest number OF books to .tapan.
1881 Great Britain being second with
Ah6OS The next year, however the
importations of English books almost
doubled, while the German supply fell
Off little. In 1908, the imports of Eng
fish nearly doubled again the number
belng B5,0lS-lnOre than all the other
countries nut together. A significant
thlng about the figures is the rapid rise
that took place In the demand for Rus
sian books by the japanese I'm 1903. In
1909, Japan only bought 1913 books from
Russia, the next year the number rose
TO l,l39, which is interesting In view
OF subsequent events.
Although France has about as many
important women writer's as any other
country, 1t IS rather surprising fact
that the national language contains
no feminine of the native word
'auceur' \ Partisan journal has been
getting the opinions Of eminent men
OF letters as to how this deficiency
should he remedied, and these opinions
oiiter widely Messrs. Breal and Havet
are In favor of "autoress," NJ. NJ. An.
tone Thomas and salmon pon,,l, so,
fer "antricc,' while NJ. Remy de Gollr.
mont votes for 'auteresse." Meanwhile
PAU Never asserts that the best
French authoresses are quite satisfied
TO be described as "auteurs" and would
regret any change.
HAYDEN CHURCH.