A Romance of Youth -- Complete

the captivity of the office to Amedee, and he departs before the end of the sitting for a stroll in the Medicis garden around the pond, where, for the amusement of the children in

ay, Vio

rmous success in an act from the "Precieuses," at the last quarter's examination-he says so himself, without any useless modesty-Jocquelet, who will certainly have the first comedy prize at the next examination, and will make his debut with out delay at the Comedie Francaise!

little too noisy to please him. After all, he was an old comrade,

was named Jocquelet. One is either an actor or he is not. This personage was always one wherever he was-in an omnibus, while putting on his suspenders, even with the one he loved. When he said to a newcomer, "How do you do?" he put so much feeling into this very original question, that the one questioned asked himself whether he really had not just recovered fr

nd, touched by the interest s

I am not dissatisfied. I think that I have made some

gs of a sincere artist, but Jocquelet, as we have said, thou

ng short, a hundred or a hundred and fifty lines-a

ntiment and quite the military spirit, verse which savored of powder, and went off like reports of musketry. He took the sheets out of his pocket, and, leading the comedian into a solitary by-path of sycamores whi

o imitate Chatterton? That is an old game, entirely used up! You must push yourself, show yourself. I will take charge of that myself! Your evening is free, is it not? Very well, come with me; before six o'clock I shall have told your name to twenty trumpeters, who will make all Paris resound with the news that there is a poet in the

toward the quay, crossed the Seine, the Carrousel, and passed before the Theatre-Francais, at which Jocquelet, thinking of his approaching debut,

hed; for you will only find a cafe, just like any other, with its groups of ugly little Jews who discuss the c

ndidates in your democratic journal, you had your pipe in the rack of the Cafe de Seville, with your name in white enamel upon the blackened bowl! Remember, Monsieur le Depute, you who voted against all the exemption cases of the military law, remember who, in this very place, at your daily game of dominoes for sixty points, more than a hundred times ranted against the permanent army-you, accustomed to the uproar of assemblies and the noise of the tavern-contributed to the parliamentary victories by crying, "Six all! count that!" And you too, Monsieur le Ministre, to whom an office-boy, dating from the tyra

ance's happiness. Otherwise he would have respectfully taken note of each drinker and the color of his drink, since at a later period this would have been very useful to him as a mnemonical method for the understanding of our parliamentary combinations, which are a little complicated, we must admit. For example, w

stributed several riotous and patronizing handshakes among these fu

ey lived a sort of hurly-burly life, on good terms, but one could not get th

ery, a handsome young fellow with a wide-awake face, who was nonchalantly stretched upon the red velvet cushion

I think are superb, and I am going to recite them as soon as I can, at some entertainment or benefit. Read them and give us y

comer, whom Paul Sillery courteously invited to be seated, with the established formula

brated men with large heads and little bodies, and Amedee had read in it some of Paul's poems, full of impertinence and charm. An author whose work had been published! The editor of a journal! The idea was stunning to poor innocent Violette, who was not awar

some fin

the heart of the poet from

from his seat, and, extending both hands over the c

ve some verses for my paper; they will be, I am sure, as good as these, if not better. To be sure, I forgot to tell you that we shall not be able to pay you for the copy, as La Guepe does not prosper; I will even admit that it only stands on one leg. In order to make it appear for a few months longer, I have recently been obliged to go to a money-lender, who has left me, instead of the classical stuffed crocodile, a trained horse which he had just taken from an insolvent circus. I mounted the noble animal

rt by so much good grace and fraternal cordiality, was so troubled in trying

they are like the majority of Adam's sons, vain and envious, only they still keep the ability to admire, and the gift of enthusiasm, and that proves their superiority and is to their credit. I am delighted to have found a mare's nest to-day, an original and sincere poet, and with your permission we will celebrate this happy meeting. The price of the waltzing horse havi

long hair, a la Clodion and Chilperic. As for Violette, he would have fol

elf with the most flattering of laurels at the mansion of some princess of the royal blood. In reality, he was going to see one of his Conservatoire friends, a large, lanky dowdy, as s

of burnt meat greeted them as soon as they reached the top of the stairs. They found there, seated before a tablecloth remarkable for the number of its wine-stains, two or three wild-looking heads of hair, and four or five shaggy beards, to whom Pere Lebuffle was serving soup, aided by a tired-looking servant. The name under which Sillery had designated the proprietor of the

t, which, contrary to other vegetables, grows all the more, the less it is watered with instalments. We must pardon the good man," said he, lowering his voice, "his little sin-a sort of vanity. He wishes to be treated like a comrade and friend by the artists. Those who have several accounts brought forward upon his ledger, arrive at the point of calling him 'thou,' and I, alas! am of

ning, with the sardines, which evidently had been pickled in lamp-oil, a terribly hairy man, the darkest of them all, with a beard that grew up into its owner's eyes and then sprung out again in tufts from his nose and ears, pres

least important of beards, one of those that degenerate into side-

um," replied the

for his failures, and the young man could not help thinking that if the one hundred thousand heads in question had

over the shoulders of a young story writer-between us, be it said, he made a mistake in not combing it oftener-imparted to his brothers the subject for his new novel, which should have made the hair of the others bristle with terror; for the princi

do you write

eplied, in a t

sh the bou

de the slight

ned with success. He went so far as to ask himself whether the character and cleverness of these bourgeoisie would not lead them to ignore not only the works, but even the existence, of the authors who sought to "astonish" them; and he thought, not without sadness, that when La Guepe should have published this young novelist's

his new friends and the unknown world opening before him. In this Bohemian corner, where one got intoxicated with wild excesses and paradoxes, recklessness

e little, sparsely furnished first floor in the Rue Pigalle, where he lived; and half a dozen other lyric poets, who might have furnished

cigarette paper. They began to recite their verses in a cloud of smoke. Each recited his own, called upon by Sillery; each would rise without being urged, place his chair in front of him, and leaning one hand upon its back, would recite his poem or elegy. Certainly some of them were wanting in genius, some were even ludicrous. Among the number was a little fellow with a cadaverous face, about as large as two farthings' worth of butter, who declared, in a long speech with flat rhymes, that an A

knew their business and had real talent. These filled Amedee with respect and f

u newcomer! Recite us yo

motion and recited, in a thrilling voice, his military

use, and all the auditors arose and surround

it is

rely

ke an enorm

is needed to ar

ething else!-s

the poor people. He next recited some of his Parisian suburban scenes, and then a series of sonnets, entitled "Love's H

is audience vied with each other to approach Amedee first, and to shake his hand. Alas! some of those who were there would, la

ain and heart intoxicated with the strong wine of praise. He walked with long and joyful strides through the fairy scene of a beautifu

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