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Show loots the hearse or brings her imnior-lellos, imnior-lellos, it it then tin; Flauborts iiioiint lo their niche, anil it is then the Zolas are cpitaphed ami forgot. KixiAit Saltus. EDGAR SALTUS Ocal "FAME." Ho ll.'CiU-s Ttott C'-ntnipurarf Naitorlcty lu aii't Flit tit liill. New York Trutli. Once iijioii it lime, lifly yearn api to be exact, or to lie graphic, in those cImvjS when French literal ure. if mil m'l door ! Id :l J ;ll 1 M T lieil ill ihe ;llne l'eel; ill I hat epoi-li when ( iaul ier h us promeuad-' promeuad-' iii J:i uuliins waUieo.iN up anil down t he jo;lic anl-l, ami Alfred l!e M:l-et I wa-J diiekintf ;i lr-iiil ln lo the lini-o, i there lived in thai pari of l'.irU wiiieli I i locally known as the Left. Haul;, two ; yoiin men ho had deierini ml to oilier ! the lemple of fame oil lvsoiiudiutj ! I liee'.-tt and claim Ihe donni in theirs, j Meanwhile I hey snbsisied on enlTee ami h. ii -. Their davs were pa- d in an j int. Telia n of I henries mid eiirarelles; J I heir iii:;-lils wel' iiMollateil willl is- iops of thai iri'acious ladv wiiosn name I is Slleees, TheVMere deselailllflll of I I yesterday, Ihey u.'iv eonlideiit of to- I I morrow. In addition lo t!ii I hey were ipiite well to ilo; their pockels were tilled Willi paradoxes; tliey had a loom and a prejudice in common; they had acquired a pretty taste fur flowered neckcloths and ad ampin provision of rhyme. Had I hey bin-11 deceit ed by Ihe saoie woiii.ui thi.y could not h.iu been belter friends. Until wore popular and both were well received. TheV knew Victor Hugo by s'.irht. Ill brief, willl the exception of their landlord, there was no one. that had mil Ihe fairest ! proL'iiosliealion.s of their future. ' These prognoslieal ions Ihey fullilled to tho tips. O.10 of them seduced a publisher- in (hose davs ami in that iitarter of tho planet lucre wow publishers pub-lishers that published verse and produced pro-duced between pink covers a .slim volume vol-ume of liocl.ry which bore for title, "Firo unit Flames." There is no gainsaying gain-saying ihe mailer, which, by the way, is a part of Ihe literary bis'lory of ihe romantic school, the verse was excellent. excel-lent. Verlaine, Soiilary. our own Stuart Morrill, anv coiieoltist in fact, miilit have sdimed (lie work and been very well pleased with himself in so doing. do-ing. In short, iho footfalls of ihe gracious graci-ous lady had not been intercepted in vain. Success was immediate. The author was proclaimed from one end of the left hand to I lie other, It was even rumored that his name bad crossed (he Seine, and that Alexander Dumas, while voluptuously sipping whipped cream from a skull, had commended ihe verses to Then. What more could anyone ask ? Apparently Iho author of "Fire and Flames" ashed nothing else. That, one slim volume was his lirst; it was .si, his last. Presently he became known as the cxt iniriiished volcano. Meanwhile Mean-while his friend had not been idle. He caused the before-mentioned publisher lo print on the back cover of ' Firo and Flames." and beneath the enchanted ruhio "In Press," this titular master-piece master-piece "The Iiicoiiiinodily of Commodes." Wherever "Fire and Flames" spread so did that Immortal title. Of the two, the success of tho hitter was, historically histori-cally the greater. It was a lille so Wt nrtiiii-;, 'wftiti f tlio promise of ad-Venture ad-Venture and surprise, so suggest ivo of unhallowed struggle with Iho unyielding unyield-ing drawers of oaken and resolute chests, 1 hat its parent marched through a concert mid crescendo of praise. In that concert ho loiled. n.ud of him today the (Iran ing-riiimi of lellers contains bin the niieedoiie and the iinfullilled expectation ex-pectation 01 I hat astounding work. Iu this w ise taiii-he.l two young pools who had set out to conquer tho temple of fame. We have many of us a, eollecliou of platitudes, which we excha litre with our neighbor when he ltit!onhol,s ns with the slate of his healih, ami among tln-m I here is one so false, so back-country, so absolutely hay-seed lhal decent men decline to give it speech, ltislo the effect that 1101 hi 11 g succeeds like success. Iu connection with this the disappearance disappear-ance of I lie t wo young poets might serve as lext I'oriiilenuinaiile homilies. Success Suc-cess does not succeed; it is faibtro that does. About success there, is a henilincss which few h:u e u ilh-slood. bill willi the inapprcci.aiion of one's neighbor comes a diU'erenl and far belter liiued guitar. As everything which is exijiiisiie ripens slowly, so is the durability of fame i 11 exact proportion to its growth. It is trite to assert thai the notoriety of iho (lay is a! the caprice of to-morrow, but the chronicles of deeds and of men are choked with examples of ma-lerpii s which, unrewarded by coiiiemporarv applause, luce passed safely aud siireiy into the welcome of a later age. Time: whatever the darts uo aim at him, is at least a gent Ionian; he brings us our due unasked, lie is a laggard, perhaps, but he always requite-. In Ihe oiuuis-cielicp oiuuis-cielicp whieli comes of eternity, he has recognized that celebrity is not desir- uole that only the merit u hieii should .'recede it is. II is merit that endures, not vogue: l!al:ic. not De Koek. Wc have forgotten ' ('ailed Lack'' already, but is not the "Vicar 01 Wn helical" In lovedaud remembered stilly We may inquire w iiai has become of Wiikie Coilins, but. who shall ask where Thackeray is? N, p. W illis has dis-ai;'eal'ed dis-ai;'eal'ed as utli rly as though lie never w ere, and it seems only yesterday that l'-amidelaire was Iran ailing Foe." And Willis, if may be noled, enjoyed a celebrity cele-brity So magnilieent, so enique, thai when lie entered a drawing room, women fainted in coil.-,. Where is he now where is his work? For I hat Matter, where is "Loiaair?" W here is "Aurora Floyd?" Then. ; not a l ook shop in iho oily lhal, has either of Ihem 011 sale, and there is not a book shoo, in the city -where you eai'i.ol liiid Montaigne, and jiaeoii, loo. Iiow w ise D'Alcmbert was when h" described the temple of fame as ir.ha! iled by certain people who were not there in 'their life time, ami by others v, ho are shown the door w licit 1 hoy die! Siiiiiwiiti! h is said somewhere that genius is patience, and the si Toncst of Lilian poets has added for him thai he w ho sliders not ea 11 eoiioner naioiii li is easy to be notorious; oi'all easy things the easiest is to make people turn about and stare at you in Ihe street, so easy Pelham gave the. receipt : "Get in the' way of tw o 'buses, stand stock still and scream for assistance; the nest day you have your name in the paper, it may be spelled wrong, but at least it is there. There are many that have followed and do follow that advice, as manv perhaps as those wlm hold I hat ihe next worst thing after lec. ing your name in the papers is not to havA it there ai all. In view of these premises, is it not permissible to assert Ihallhe qualiiv I which is to pleasure ihe idlesso of general gen-eral ions yet lo be is not only diseon. Heeled with the caprices of fashion, but linciaimabie until t he exponent is .securely .se-curely dead It is thou that fame nog- |