individuality, a particular stamp, which makes one remember them
forever and afterward apply them to the individuals which one meets
in life. No matter how insignificant socially is the figure chosen by
Sienkiewicz for his story, the great talent of the author magnifies
its striking features, not seen by common people, and makes of it a
masterpiece of literary art.

Although we have a popular saying: _Comparaison n'est pas raison_,
one cannot refrain from stating here that this love for the poor, the
little, and the oppressed, brought out so powerfully in Sienkiewicz's
short stories, constitutes a link between him and François Coppée, who
is so great a friend of the friendless and the oppressed, those who,
without noise, bear the heaviest chains, the pariahs of our happy and
smiling society. The only difference between the short stories of
these two writers is this, that notwithstanding all the mastercraft of
Coppée's work, one forgets the impressions produced by the reading
of his work--while it is almost impossible to forget "The Lighthouse
Keeper" looking on any lighthouse, or "Yanko the Musician" listening
to a poor wandering boy playing on the street, or "Bartek the Victor"
seeing soldiers of which military discipline have made machines rather
than thinking beings, or "The Diary of a Tutor" contemplating the pale
face of children overloaded with studies. Another difference between
those two writers--the comparison is always between their short
stories--is this, that while Sienkiewicz's figures and characters are
universal, international--if one can use this adjective here--and can
be applied to the students of any country, to the soldiers of any
nation, to any wandering musician and to the light-keeper on any sea,
the figures of François Coppée are mostly Parisian and could be hardly
displaced from their Parisian surroundings and conditions.