a position that his defeat would have been considered a government
victory, and consequently he was elected. I was glad to find the man
unpopular among democrats of Paris, for his life, like his books, has
many pages in it that were better not read. At that time he was living
very quietly in a village just out of Paris, and though surrounded with
voluptuous luxuries, he was in his life strictly virtuous. He was the
same afterward, and being very wealthy, gave a great deal to the poor.
His novels are everywhere read in France.

I was not a little surprised during my first days in Paris to see the
popularity of Cooper as a novelist. His stories are for sale at every
book-stall, and are in all the libraries. They are sold with
illustrations at a cheap rate, and I think I may say with safety that he
is as widely read in France as any foreign novelist. This is a little
singular when it is remembered how difficult it is to convey the broken
Indian language to a French reader. This is one of the best features of
Cooper's novels--the striking manner in which he portrays the language
of the North American Indian and his idiomatic expressions. Yet such is
the charm of his stories that they have found their way over Europe. The
translations into the French language must be good.

Another author read widely in Paris, as she is all over Europe, is Mrs.
Stowe. _Uncle Tom_ is a familiar name in the brilliant capital of
France, and even yet his ideal portraits hang in many shop windows, and
the face of Mrs. Stowe peeps forth beside it. _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ was
wonderfully popular among all classes, and to very many--what a
fact!--it brought their first idea of Jesus Christ as he is delineated
in the New Testament. But Mrs. Stowe's _Sunny Memories_ was very
severely criticised and generally laughed at--especially her criticisms
upon art.