The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-29
M VTTOR HUGO

the characteristics of the primitive is- landore and of the moods and mysteries Of the sea are. therefore. written frum intimate personal knowisdge. a.. a foremost for the story, Toilers or the seA." is m untemYttng. and on rne whole. difficult book. The auLnor continually wanders far away into fields of science. pseudo science, r1eta- physical speculation. historical anec- dote and philosophy. It seems almost as R Hugo had tired 50 completely or the tale that he seized on every possi- bls excuse to talk about sometnins
 Nor is the book much more satisfac- tory to the reader whose greatest pleasure is found in literary style, for In .-Toilers of the Sea" Victor aaago a. ,nrs nss for .effsct." Judged as pure literature his style is almost atrocious In spots, but 1t is the sin of genius and never tns weakness of mediocrity. The raulls ot and debris whirled in the arms of the tempest, Behind them is the thrill oi the mighty breath of heaven.
 0nliatt's battle with the devinsn, has made the novel popular and ever fascinating among all classes or peo- pie, epitcmizcs the faults ana the ge- hius Of the work. It has become one of the imperishahie stones Q. ..esr nvssv
 
 book of selections from school reaoe,s to anthologies, and it Is quofed Wnoiiy or tn part in almost every reference 10 the slant octoRods and ether ether ssa ssat mons tens of thousands all over the world know rollers of the Sea" by title and nave fair inkling of it's remarkaple style. without ever having read the book It. self.
 when Mess Lethlerry of Saint Samp- son In the island of Guernsey had com pleted fifty years of sea he discovered one day that he could no longer lift his great three hundred pound anvil with one hand. and thus was brought face to face with the sudden knowledge that he was no longer young.
 With the same swift determination that had so often taken him to the side of wrecked ships thnnugh spouting seas like . lion with a foaming mane, the old seaman set to work at once to pro vide a competency not so much for himself. as for his bewitching. beauti- ful. entirely delightful niece. Deru- chette.
 On Deruchette old Lethierry would have sfaked his life. his soul and his future throughout eternity without hesitation. For her sake he staked his whole fortune. all his painfully gath cred hoard, and in addition all that he could borrow, on venture that Tor those days was almost diabolic.
 It was just at the time when people began to talk with sage shakes of the head and with superstitious thrill of new kind of ship that was moved, not by sails, but by . strange power that came from boiling water. Lethierry heard. considered and investigated. Soon he began erecting . strange hull on great covered stocks. He exhaust d alI his ski1l as shipwright in this construction. As his vessel grew his love for her grew. until when her won- derfuI engines at last arrived from France and had been installed. hts pride and toy in Durande, the ship, were barely second to his worship of Deru- chette, the girl.
 one day when Mess Lethierry had spent his last franc the frightened peo- ole of Guernsey, crossing themselves as they stood grouped on the rocky coast, beheId a monstrous form which souffed and blew, horrtd machine which roared like a wild beast ana smoked Ike volcano. as it rnshed out to sea with a frightfui beating Of its Ans and a throat belching forth flame. From that day the :mpious contrivance was known throughout the Guernsey Islands as the Devil boat.
 With typical wickedness, however, the devil has a foul trick of making himself impressively useful, not to say necessary: thus the Durande, being able to carry four times as much cargo as the biggest sailing vessel and in one quarter of the time between ports, became a great success. There- fore, though many honest people de- clared that they could distinctly see the horns of the evil fiend himself sticking up between her paddle boxes, and though sermons were preached in village churches to prove that the ves- sel was a work of black sin because God had divorced fire and water at the creation. Mess Lethierry soon be- gan to pay off his loans.
 Mess. Lethierry commanded his be- loved Durande till rheumatism had him by the heels. Then he turned the command over to Sieur Clubin. Sieur Clubin looked like notary, but was a. wonderful sailor; he was a renowned swimmer and as taciturn as the chan mel rocks; and he had impressed his strict, quiet painful honesty on men 60 long that they often said, "As hon. est as Sieur Clubin."
 Nevertheless, Sieur Clubin's enviable reputation, which he had earned by many years of scrupluous honor in matters of sous and francs. was only the stake that he had laid on life's gaming table, He but bided his time for making one. and only one, great stroke wh ich should sweep off all the stakes, leaving trusting fools behind to gape and wonder One day when he brought the Durande as usual into St. Malo he saw the game shape his way.
 That night sieur Clubin fnrtively bargained with a vagabond for cer- tain ingenious new contrivance which that gentleman had brought from America. It was that important, if not useful. invention, the revolver. Armed with this novel means for making one's self irresistible, Sieur Clubin made his way next day to & great cliff near St. Malo. where the rocks rise sheer as the side of monstrous house out of sea monstrously deep.
 On the very edge of this dizzy pla- teau there stood a coast guard on this was Iyipe to of the shore. Soon he saw 6 boat lowered away. It moved vigorously toward the cliff.
 At this moment a man of huge stat ure stepped from the concealment of a rock where he had lain hidden. His foot fell as silently as cats. He moved swiftly. yet with infinite pre- caution. toward the unsuspecting watcher. Suddenly his two fists flew forth and struck the coast guard straight between the shoulders. With out cry the guard fell headhrst into the sea.
 The large man stepped calmly to the edge of the bluff and looked at the few circles widening out and vanish ing in the .darkening water. He saw a dark spot that began to diffuse it. self through the green sea. Nothing