He was somewhat slow in taking up the profession of
letters, and was thirty years of age before he became in any degree
distinguished. In 1879 the Troisieme Theatre Francais produced a short
play of his, _Histoire du Vieux Temps_ (An Old-World Story), gracefully
written in rhyme, but showing no very remarkable aptitude for the stage.

It was in 1880 that De Maupassant was suddenly made famous by two
published volumes. The one was a volume of Verses (_Des Vers_), twenty
pieces, most of them of a narrative character, extremely brilliant in
execution, and audacious in tone. One of these, slightly exceeding its
fellows in crudity, was threatened with a prosecution in law as an
outrage upon manners, and the fortune of the volume was secured. The
early poems of De Maupassant like those of Paul Bourget, are not without
sterling merit as poetry, but their main interest is that they reflect
the characteristics of their author's mind. Such pieces as
"Fin-d'Amour," and "Au Bord de l'Eau," in the 1880 volume, are simply
short stories told in verse, instead of in prose. In this same year, Guy
de Maupassant, who had thrown in his lot with the Naturalist Novelists,
contributed a short tale to the volume called _Les Soirees de Medan_, to
which Zola, Huysmans, Hennique, Ceard and Paul Alexis also affixed their
names. He was less known than any of these men, yet it was his story,
_Boule de Suif_ (Lump of Suet, or Ball of Fat), which ensured the
success of the book. This episode of the war, treated with cynicism,
tenderness, humor and pathos mingled in quite a new manner, revealed a
fresh genius for the art of narrative. There was an instant demand for
more short stories from the same pen, and it was soon discovered that
the fecundity and resource of the new writer were as extraordinary as
the charm of his style and the objective force of his vision.

It is unnecessary to recount here the names of even the chief of De
Maupassant's stories. If we judge them merely by their vivacity,
richness and variety, they are the best short tales which have been
produced anywhere during the same years. But it is impossible not to
admit that they have grave faults, which exclude them from all possible
recommendation to young and ingenuous readers. No bibliography of them
can be attempted, the publishers of M. Guy de Maupassant having
reprinted his lesser stories so frequently, and with such infinite
varieties of arrangement, that the positive sequence