Connecticut western news., 1920-07-08

nOOlo BLOCK, nld a&WS#yM ancestors on his
 fathers side hay
 ing been simple Hx$M@A peasants.
 lE$S6 &x 5{6nEx1sEXI He was we'll
 u c q 1 n IASN Nz2E Al France and in l N34NAMDH Spain, where his Ia father held high lSSN rank under Na- lAN ES21 poleon's brother.
 He was a preco- cious lad. writing long plays in verse and prose while hardly more than child. Before his 21st year he had won several high prizes for his verse. But, thrown on his own resources by the death of his mother, he found it difh- cult to live by his pen. He moved into an attic, where he had his only expe- rience of actual poverty. His writ lngs, however. soon became popular and he was able to marry. at the age of 21. Adele Boucher, his playmate of childhood days. It was a happy mar riage for 10 years Then Hugo be- came infatuated with an actress to whom he was devoted 30 years.
 From his youth until his death, on May 22, 1885, Hugo wrote rapidly poems. plays and novels. No other man of his time had such an inter national reputation. Swinburne hailed him as "the greatest man born since the death of Shakespeare"
 His most famous novel, Les Mis- erables." was published in 1862. but he had been working on 1t for 15 years. Thirty years before had appeared his first great prose romance, "Notre Dame," and the third. 'Toilers of the Sea-" came out in 1885.
 A BOUT the time of the French
 "A ravoIufjop Toop uoIiaoD of a A Brie, a day-laborer, earned scanty living for his sister and her seven children. One time, when the family was starving, he stole a loaf of bread, was caught and condemned to the galleys for five years. Twice he attempted to escape and failed. He was convict for 19 years. When he was discharged ins1S15 he was wicked, silent, chaste, ignorant and ferocious; his affectionate nature had been poisoned against society. But he had taught himself how to read, and he had thought.
 Refused shelter or food at tavern or private house, he came to Monsign- eur Myriel, Bishop of D--, in the foothills of the Alps. He was treated like prince, but in the night he stole some of the bishops silver plate, was caught as he made off and was brought back to the good bishop, who, with smile, assured the gendarmes that the articles were not stolen but given. Adding two silver candlesticks, the bishop said to him: "Take them and become an honest man. My brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul of you. I give 1t to God"
 As he fled, he yielded to one last temptation to do wrong; he took from a hurdy-gurdy boy a two-franc piece, but almost immediately, filled with remorse, he tried in vain to find the boy. Two years later a stranger, dressed like a workingman arrived at the little city of M sur M. Just as he arrived fire broke out in the Town Hall and he rescued two children belonging to the captain of the. police. This saved him from hav- ing to show his passport. He made an invention and soon became prosper ous. He built great workshops, en- dowed a hospital, founded schools, paid high wages and was made mayor.
 Employed in his factory was Fantine, a girl who had been deserted in Paris her baby, Cosette, with crafty and hideous pair named Thenadier. When It was learned that she had an illegiti- mate child, she was discharged with out the knowledge of M. Madeleine, the benevolent manufacturer, and was reduced to such poverty that she could not pay the Thenadiers, who took Cosette's clothes for their own girls and wrote Fantine for more. The girl sold her beautiful blonde hair; then they informed her that Cosette was III, which was lie, and demanded 100 francs. To obtain this she sold her front teeth to a travelling dentist; then she went on the town, and when absolute dandy, to annoy her, put snow down her back, she scratched his face and was arrested by Javert, inspector of police, brutal and over officious tyrant, who had been attached to the galleys when Jean Valjean was there and suspected the mayor of M of being the former convict. The mayor freed Fantine. She sup posed he was the cause of her mis- fortunes and spat in his face. He took the affront meekly and investi- gated her complaint. She was i'll of consumption and he provided for her and promised to look out for her child.
 About the same time the police ar rested another man who three former ,onvicts swore was the missing Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean's conscience would not allow an innocent person to be punished in his place. Surmount