The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
PART I. In tl,oro ir CnI alsn ti

| PART I.
 Where Love Is, there is God also" In the character of Jean valjesn, Hugo
 shows the gradual regeneration of a man
 through the power of love that was given
 him, and the love he gave.
 He did not enjoy the felicity of surviv-
 ing parents, therefore he was ignorant
 and his talents and breeding served only
 to fit him for the occupation of tree
 pruner and incidentally to hire out as
 haymaker, as laborer, as neat herd on
 farm, as a drudge.
 Although he put his strong hand 10 any
 hard labor, whatever, for maintenance of | his numerous neces and nephews. the
 small remuneration for his efforts was not
 sufficient to alleviate the bangs of hunger suffered by his seven dependents; and it | came to pass one hard winter, when there
 was a scarcity of food and absolutely no bread, goaded by sense of duty, he was tempted to purloin a grocer of loaf of
 bread. not for himself but for others. He
 had in earliest years learned the lesson of
 noble manhood, that of self-sacrifice. which is true heroism.
 The price of many rightful meal had [ been given for the necessities of the help | less children, and though oftentimes he
 was paying kindness for ingratitude and smiles for frowns from the family he had l inherited. he had schooled himself to the pan of pushing his hunger so far in tho background that it ceased to be an em- barrassment. For this fine qualiIy and others not yet developed, but which are the natural concomltants of such trait. we follow him tearfully and fearfully into the presence of the tribunals of the time and hear the cruel decree pronounced | A. l. tistios show that at that time four thefts
 out of five had hunger for their immediate cause. Had the French government done as did ancient Rome, there would have been no scarcity of work, and two decades of penal servitude would have been given to honest toll. He realized he was in the grasp of the state, a thing alive and in- exorabe- but the hope of his liberation did not desert him. Criminal law is crude sort of lottery when one guilty man
 is punished and Il go free
 Tn 1796 he was condemened to the gal leys. sobbing and shuddering Tn 1910 he emerged irnpassiye. He entered in despair,
 he emerged gloomy. He had become thoughtful and had withdrawn into his own consciousness. Feeling that society, the stronger had outraged the individual,
 the weaker, 1t was now his time to judge and condemn, and he condemned society to his hatred. His feelings were anarchis- tic as one:
 Whom the vile blows and bufrets of the world
 Have so incensed that. he is reckless what he does to spite the world" Human society had done him nothing but harm, and in the battle of life his only weapon was hate.
 Many great men have been late in ed- ucating themselves Cato, at so years of age. began to study Greek. and Putarch Latin. At 10 Jean was attending school
 for convicts at Touon, and there learned I to read and write and cipher. and made athletics a speciality. He was fortfyng his mind and body, which meant to fortify his hate. He condemned society, hs con | demned Providence, his heart was no | longer tender: that spark of divinity which glows in every human soul was in time wel-nigh extingulshed He had passed into the shadow of doubt and dis trust.
 accepted the final thrust of his brother
 man in the yellow passport describing him
 as dangerous. His training Tn the convict school had made him intelligent robust, adroit. and upon that blackest day of his life-hs liberation-he set to work 10 make an honest living.
 We read that in early October, 1915. "an
 hour before sunset. traveller entered the
 little town of D. He was man of