Page:Around the World in Eighty Days (1873, Towle).pdf/21

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Verne laughed heartily at the illustration, and, as he is amiability itself, apprised the member of the club that in the next edition of the book he would substitute for the obnoxious sheet one admitted into the club to which the famous Phileas Fogg belonged; and, as the editions are rapidly succeeding each other, the discontented gentleman will doubtless ere long be fully satisfied.

The author of our little sketch leads the laborious, regular, and sober life of a student. Wherever he may be, he works from five in the morning till one in the afternoon, passes the day visiting shops and factories, where he carefully studies the machinery, and goes to bed at seven o'clock. Extended on this bed, he devours all the scientific publications till midnight, and when they fail him he looks over books of travel and tourist adventures. He has no need, however, of borrowing ideas of travel or geography from others, for he has himself travelled much, and is quite familiar with Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

He had an adventure in Sweden, with which I must enliven this brief biography.

Verne was stopping at a hotel in Stockholm. As he was on the point of ascending the coast of the northern part of that picturesque country, he wished to pay his bill, and