The only difference between the short stories of
these two writers is this, that notwithstanding all the mastercraft of
Coppee'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 Francois Coppee are mostly Parisian and could be hardly
displaced from their Parisian surroundings and conditions.
Sometimes the whole short story is written for the sake of that which
the French call _pointe_. When one has finished the reading of "Zeus's
Sentence," for a moment the charming description of the evening and
Athenian night is lost. And what a beautiful description it is! If
the art of reading were cultivated in America as it is in France
and Germany, I would not be surprised if some American Legouve or
Strakosch were to add to his repertoire such productions of prose as
this humorously poetic "Zeus's Sentence," or that mystic madrigal, "Be
Blessed.
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