The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-17
NEW SUBWQ AY POET
FOUND IN MINES
MINER CALLED THE WALT
WHITMAN OF FRANCE
Jales ~Mousseron Writes Verses 600
Feet Under Earth-Finds Poetry
Even Without the Aid Of the Sun
and the Flowers.

Paris.-The Courrieres catastrophe,
the horrors Of which sent thrill across
the civilized world, has brought into
prominence the .'poet miner jules
Mousseron, who in rude but, powerful
numbers celebrates the perillous and
Yesterday unknown, save by his
comrades and few persons interested
in the Valenciennes patois, Jules Nous
| seron, poet of :" the Black Country as
the coal regions Of northern France are
called, Is TODAY hailed as a French Walt
President Failleres for his humanitar-
| ian services.
Mousseron is poet Of nature g own
making, singer whose innate gltt OF
verse has neither been fostered by edu1,,
cation nor influenced by schools. "
The only life he has known, is that
which he describes in rhyme-t The hum I'm.
fuel in the sunless bowels of the earth.
This is the theme which has inspired
him, and in singing he has endeavored
to elevate his untutored companions of
the mine, for as he himself says, "no
man can find his nourishment alone in
bread.'
Hard Scratched Verses.
Born at Denain, small village in
the north of France, some thirty odd
years ago, Mousseron, after mere
documentary schooling, was put to work
at the trade of collier, which his father
had followed before him. While still
lad, pushing the heavy coal cars in
the mouth of the mine, the poetic in
stinct within him made him strive to
express himself in ignorant form.
Later, crudely assisted to knowledge
of prosody, Mousseron by the light
of a candle and seated on barrow i1
subterranean gloom, would write frag
ments Of verse traced with the point Of
nail on fragments Of shale loosenee
by his pick. These poems were eventu
ally put into book form and already
the young Jules devoted the money re
allied from his volumes to the sus
tenance Of miners widows and orphans
Jules Mousseron IS poems, penned il
the rugged dialect Of the collieries Of
northern France, treat of the life of thu
mines which years ago inspired Emil
lola to write his poignGantly vivid ro
Mousseron is not socialistic, as nigh
be supposed. Turnout his songs rum
instead spirit of touching resigna
ton to the miners lot, the philosophy
e of one who is at heart fatalist
"Flowers Underground, "sketches il
Charcoal "Blackened Leaflets, ;
! these are the fanciful titles he ha
I given his works, and If the tone j
2 somber, in a preface to one Of his vol
umes he apologies for the fact b,
saying that his verses are for the mos
: part "written 600 feet under earth
L and much as he oft might wish to SIM
= of blue skies and the rose, perpetual
night claims him ever as it own
Is Still a Miner.
Altho enjoying the friendship Of tn
president of the French republic an
receiving the praise of literary critics
z the miner-poet remains modest and sim
q pie. He has not been tempted to leav
n his work in the mines, for his fello7
workmen possess his love and it is wit
them that he means to live, sharir
. their sorrows and their joys.
= A statue of Mousseron has late!
- been made by the sculptor, CORNELL
Theunissen,2 whose collier groups al
among tie attractions Of the sprir
salon. Like the Breton sailor-bar
Jean Niber, Mousseron is tall and
stalwart proportions. His face
swarthy and bearded, his darl
melancholy eyes proclaiming the poe