The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-08-04
CONDENSED
CLASSICS
~
THE MYSTERIES
OF PARIS
~
By EUGENE SUE
By EUGENE SUE
Condensation by
Miss Sara Ware Bassett
70 INTERPRET Justly the works
OF Eugene Sue, one must not


forget to take into considera-
ton the epoch at which they won their
place In world literature.
When Sue was born the novel was
still a comparatively new product.
There had, ii is true, been books be-
fore it's advent, for the invention of
printing had put reading matter with
in the reach Of the people; but until
fiction made It's appearance most of
the material published had been of a
religious trend, consisting Of lives of
the saints, and treatises on theology
and science. Even then such volumes
were costly, to say nothing of their be-
ing of far too pOnderOus nature to
answer the cravings of public scant-
lily educated and DESTROYS for enter
tainment at time when amusements
were few.
Therefore, when out of this arid lit
erary waste the novel sprung into be-
ing, we can easily picture the eager
ness with which the hungering masses
fell upon it. Here at last, was some
thing human and within the scope of
the everyday mans understanding
here, in fascinating form, were pre-
sented not only with characters from
the life with (which he was familiar.
but also adventures in those mystic
realms of romance that he had mag
ined. 1t was like water to the
thirsty
Hence, IL when reading the very
early novels, or even those of the later
decades to which Sue belonged, we are
conscious of stilted dialogue, and mel
odramatic and improbable situations,
let us remember that the writer's of
this era were to no small extent pi-
oneers in a sparsely trodden wilder
ness of art; and that when "the world
was so new and all' in literary de-
velOpment ii is marvel that their
handiwork has endured for so many
years. Sues Mysteries of Paris"
penned in 1912, seems touched with
the fires Of everlasting youth. Indeed,
it must possess the charm of universal
appeal or II would never have held its
place for almost q century. When we
consider how few of our present-day
novels survive a second season, we are
forced to doff our caps to this artist
Of the past, who, like Stevenson, so
well merits the sobriquet of "Tusitala,
a Teller of Tales" and the secret of
whose spell lies in the eternal child
in us answering to the sorceries of
master story-teller.
The book in question is a labyrinth
Of exciting and dramatic happenings,
which, cleverly woven together, en-
body the authors unique philosophy
that the quest for good may be made
quite as seductive a crusade as the
quest for evil; the only difference ly-
ing in the goal toward which one
turns his steps. Certainly the story
bears out this theory, for we are swept
along by the magician's cunning page
after page, chapter after chapter, I'M
til his creative resources seem limit
less. Never for an instant does our
interest lag. When the book Is fin
ished we feel that had Sue so or
dained he could have evolved just as
many more plots with an equal de-
gree of ease.
He opens his narrative with q scene
In the slums of Paris, where Fleur-de-
Marie, q beautiful girl of the streets,
Is being viciously attacked by the
Slasher, brute of the underworld.
A trivial quarrel between the two has
arisen and the man is about to strike
this helpless creature when suddenly
stranger intervenes, and by superior
strength and wit lays low the assail-
ant The newcomer is M. Rudolph,
who styles himself a painter Of fans.
Although poorly CARRIED and speaking
the jargon of the pavements, we speed
lily realize that he Is something other
than he pretends; and In this suppo-
sition we are soon justified, for pres
emily we learn that In truth M. Ru-
dolph is no other parsonage than his
royal highness, the grand duke Of Ger
olstein in disguise. The Slasher, how
ever, does not know this, and neither
does his pretty companion, and we
soon find the three cronies seated ami
ably at cafe table relating for one
another's amusement the stories Of
their past lives.
Rudolph has little to say. He is an
artisan, he declares. The Slasher
frankly admits himself to be an es-
capped convict who has served In the
galleys for murder; but with the in
consistency of human nature he an
nounces that while he has no scruples
against murder, he will not steal.
Fleur-de-Marie, or Goualeuse, as her
comrades term her, is a sixteen-year-
old waif who has never known any
parent save Screech Owl. cruel wom-
an from whom she fled when child;
nor has she had any horse save prison
walls and the haunts OF vice. Never
theless, despite her vile surround
ings, she has kept her soul untainted
and Is essentially pure of heart, being
the victim Of environment and circum-
stances rather than its votary.
Observing this, Rudolph, whose aim