Answer.—The statistician in the Department of Agriculture estimates the total number of cattle in all the States and Territories in January, 1882, as 35,891,870, of which number 12,611,632, or a little more than 35 per cent, were milch cows. This estimate, so far as the number of cattle in the Territories, Colorado, and Texas are concerned, is largely conjectural.
JULES SANDEAU AND “GEORGE SAND.”
Mendota, Ill.
Who was Jules Sandeau, who is said to have given Madame Dudevant the now famous nom de plume of “George Sand?” Why did she take that name?
Alice.
Answer.—Leonard Sylvain Jules Sandeau, a French novelist and dramatic writer of some distinction, was born at Anbusson, France, Feb. 19, 1811. He studied law in Paris, but subsequently turned his attention to literature. In 1831 he became acquainted with Madame Dudevant, who lived with him in three small rooms in the Quai Saint Michel at a yearly rental of 300 francs. She it was who induced him to enter upon a literary career. In 1832 they produced together “Rose et Blanche,” a novel in five volumes, signed “Jules Sand.” It was received by the public with encouraging favor. Before she returned to Nahant she conferred with Sandeau respecting a new romance, each of them to write half of it. Fearing that he would neglect the work when she was not at hand to spur him to his task, she wrote the whole of “Indiana,” published the same year, in which her splendid genius rose far above anything in “Rose et Blanche.” Returning to Paris, she found that Sandeau had not written a line. Handing him her manuscript, she exclaimed: “Read that.” He did so, and declared it to be such a masterpiece that he could not review it. She wished to retain the name of “Jules Sands,” but as he had taken no part in the work, he positively declined to allow it. Appealing to their mutual friend, De Larouche, he advised her to take for a Christian name the name of the patron saint of the day, St. George, retaining the name “Sands,” a piece of advice which she instantly adopted. M. Sandeau afterward produced numerous novels and dramas, conspicuous among which are “Mdlle. de la Sergliere,” in two volumes, 1848, dramatized in 1851—generally esteemed his best novel; “La Maison de Penarvan,” 1858, dramatized in 1858; “Le Gendre de M. Poirier,” written in connection with Emil Angier, 1854—his best comedy. In 1853 he became keeper of the Mazurin Library, and in 1858 was elected a member of the French Academy, one of the highest distinctions to which a Frenchman can aspire. He died April 24, 1883.
MAXIMILIAN AND CARLOTTA.
Corning, Iowa.