M. Thiers has figured prominently in French politics, was a minister of
Louis Phillippe, and is a historian. He is a man of a singular nature,
witty and eccentric, rather than profound and dignified, and it will not
do to pas him by without a notice. He was born in Marseilles, in the
year 1797. His father was a common workman, but his mother was of a
commercial family which had been plunged into poverty by a reverse of
fortune. The young Thiers was educated through the bounty of the state,
at the school of Marseilles, and was, when a boy, known principally for
his rogueries. He sold his books to get apples and barley-sugar.
Punishments seemed never to have any terror for him. At one time he
concealed a tom-cat in his desk in the school, with its claws confined
in walnut shells, and suddenly in school hours let him loose, to the
great astonishment and anger of his teachers. He was condemned to a
dungeon for eight days, and received a terrible reprimand. The effect of
either the lecture or the imprisonment was decided. He became docile and
obedient, and paid attention to his studies. For seven years he studied
with unremitting attention, and during all that time took the first
prizes of his class. He now went to Aix to study law, where his old
habits returned to him, and he became wild and mischievous in his ways.
At eighteen Adolphe Thiers was a favorite with the liberals and a terror
to the royalists, and was the leader of a party at Aix. He already
showed fine powers of oratory and composition, which later conducted him
to power. He spoke and wrote in the interest of the enemies of the
restoration. He wrote for the newspapers whose columns were open to him,
and increased the vigor and eloquence of his style by this constant
practice.
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