The sun., 1910-06-12
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very heartleas N. Doumic refuses 10 con-
form to the custom. The two lovers
wished for the suffering. wanted 10 eH-
perienoe the Incompatible sensations. and
got enjoyment and profit from Il. for they
Wers entirely conscious that they were
woFhinE for pOsterity. George Sand had
not been able 20 endure her inferior hus-
hand: now she Wearied Of her superior
lover and tell In love With the very hand
some but somewhat slow witted young
doctor who attsnded De Musset through
a severe illness. where she was the
devoted nurse and earned all the money
for eXpenses. From the very begin
ming they took the WhOls circle Of their
friends into their confidence. were per
fectly aware that they were ON show. a. Il
were. subjects of an experiment that would
be discussed by 'ths gallery Then they
proceeded 10 make literary capital % their
letters. Of their suffering and Oi each
other. The interest and the lesson Of the
Venice eadventure is that there are unWhOle-
some fashions in litsraturs which trans
lated into life mean ruin: but De Mussst
came out of the shock q great poet. hav-
ing been only aoharming poet before. and
owes George Sand more than she owes him.
though her taste vas tho purer for his
criticism and influence She transformed
him by her strong individuality. and IN
this case at any rate vas not the mere
reflection of the man with whom for the
time heing she was infatuated. What
she sought was a dOminator. and she
thought she had discovered him i'm 1851
in Michel. an advoCate of BOurges. a man
u peasant extraction. utterly devoid u
charm either in person Or manner, bu,
he could talk unendinRly
Part of her cOrrespOndsnce with him
was published recently and none of her
letters sirpasseS these epistles for fervent
passion. beauty % form and a sort Of
superb immodesty n the entir, CORE
EpOndenoe should be published many
people might prefer Il 90 hsr letters TO
De Mussst For ons thing she was not
thinking of writing literature al this time
bat she soon decided that sh- was tired
oi great men and would prefer 20 Sc them
all in Plutarch carved IN marble or cast
n bronze. anything % that she might s'e
no more ~ them and NJ DOumlc ap-
pends an italicized -Aman Michel
Disguised her by he vanity and craving
for admiration bat the influence he had
over her thought was rsal and IN a certain
way beneficial Tie brought her over %
republicanism. and she learned that
another object must ha given 70 thF .oroes
u sympathy ~ n generous heart In place
of love exclusively and that such an object
may be the ssrvioe of humanity. devo-
ton 20 an idea This was a turn in the
road and led her az a writer 70 abandon
the personal for the impsrsonal style.
Moreover Michel won her cas- in her suit
for separation from her husband. In a
letter hitherto unpublished she Describes
20 her half brother the violent scenes
which finally induced her 20 take legal
measures against this eminently dis
Greet husband he had spent all his
own money and was living on his wife'a
income She paid his debts and the two
then signed an agreement that their
respective propsrtifs should be sspa-
rated Dudevant repented this agree
ment and tried 20 shoot her Even after
she allotted him a pension h. stole away
her daughter Cshe was supporting the two
Children. and after tho separation he
out in a claim for fftsen pots q jam and
a frying pan. Then George Sand went
of to Join her friends Daniel Stern the
Comtesse d'Agoultl and Liszt In Switzer-
land. and through them later on In Paris
she met ChopiA Just az this point her
talent had developed. and -Mauprat. .
the Arst of her masterpieces. was pub
lished In 1851 In French narrative liter
aturr there Is nothing. says w. Dounic.
10 surpass the first hundred pages IN which
George sand introduces us 20 the bur
graves of central France. and she il
equally happy when she takes ~ to Paris
with MaupFat 20 Paris Of the old regime
-Mauprat- also contains typical peasants.
and VI Doumic declares that We come
across good natured Patience. the rustic
philoa,pher. In Russian novels with name
ending in OF or Ell With -Mauprat-
George sand took her place in the first
rank Of great story tellers.
She auarrelled with Nine. d'Agoult and
Liszt over Chopin. and gave Balzac the
theme for a novel. which she found IL in
convenient 90 write herself, 70 b. called
.Gal6riens- OF -AmouFB Forces. the gal
Iey slaves being her former friends
Balzac used IL a. -Beatrix' in his 'Com6die
Humane Beatri1 being the Confess
while Cont is Liszt. When Chopin came
into George Sands life he was q. six
years younger than abe. She made the
first advances He appealed 20 all women.
and In addition there was the absolute
contrast of their two opposite natures
Then too he was III. and she could tend him:
her maternal instincts reinforced the
others. With her children and Chopin she
vent 20 MajOrca for the sake of health for
her son and the composer. IL was an un-
fortunate choice. materially az well a.
otherwise They had five sorts Of meat
Thy way II illustrating one sort Of difficulty
this may be oited) pig. pork. bacon. ham
and picked pork They left hastily. AZ
tho last. and when they reached Barce-
Iona Chopin was splitting blood Art and
literature did not gain much by this sx-
pedition. though Sand finished -spiri-
dion there The alliance between her
and the composer lasted Tor nine years
and she went on nursing her invalid with
admirable devotion Iona after her infatua-
ton was over. He had a mania for med
ding with family Affairs and she felt that
he never understood her sslf-abnegation
40 ahs turned everything diligently into
tgs...s,,y. - uands An aual,,-iw - -.