pon
the American humorists which dealt with Mark Twain appeared in the
'Revue des Deux Mondes' in 1872; in it appeared her admirable
translation of 'The Jumping Frog'. There is no cause for surprise that
a scholarly Frenchwoman, reared on classic models and confined by rigid
canons of art, should stand aghast at this boisterous, barbaric,
irreverent jester from the wilds of America. When it is remembered that
Mark Twain began his career as one of the sage-brush writers and gave
free play to his passion for horseplay, his desire to "lay a mine" for
the other fellow, and his defiance of the traditional and the classic,
it is not to be wondered at that Mme. Blanc, while honouring him with
recognition in the most authoritative literary journal in the world,
could not conceal an expression of amazement over his enthusiastic
acceptance in English-speaking countries.

"Mark Twain's 'Jumping Frog' should be mentioned in the first place
as one of his most popular little stories--almost a type of the
rest. It is, nevertheless, rather difficult for us to understand,
while reading this story, the 'roars of laughter' that it excited
in Australia and in India, in New York and in London; the numerous
editions of it which appeared; the epithet of 'inimitable' that the
critics of the English press have unanimously awarded to it.

"We may remark that a Persian of Montesquieu, a Huron of Voltaire,
even a simple Peruvian woman of Madame de Graffigny, reasons much
more wisely about European civilization than an American of San
Francisco. The fact is, that it is not sufficient to have wit, or
even natural taste, in order to appreciate works of art.

"It is the right of humorists to be extravagant; but still common
sense, although carefully hidden, ought sometimes to make itself
apparent. . . . In Mark Twain the Protestant is enraged against
the pagan worship of broken marble statues--the democrat denies
that there was any poetic feeling in the middle ages. The sublime
ruins of the Coliseum only impressed him with the superiority of
America, which punishes its criminals by forcing them to work for
the benefit of the State, over ancient Rome, which could only draw
from the punishments which it inflicted the passing pleasure of a
spectacle.

"In the course of this voyage in company with Mark Twain, we at
length di