The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-11

fight; but found a living impediment at the end
His next move was n swoop at this imped
meut but q sound whack OF the twig disap.
pointed him. He renewed the attack, but
another blow again repulsed him, and the third
was so little TO his taste that he took the road to
the port directed by the ruling rod of his driver
So tame had he become in q few days that he
would present his head through the ears of his
new cage to be scratched by the fingers of his
judcious and panurgic master.
There is one quality allied to M. Dumas
vanity for the sake of which we could almost
forgive an equal amount of still worse thing,
namely, pride. In his personal sketches he
very rarely speaks i'll Oh any contemporary, and
a fund of kindness and ygood-natuIe is visible
through the texture of all the vagaries of his
wonderful seltComp'acency.
Rarely has Alexander been favorte with
the powers that be, a circumstance accounted
for in his own lofty, unapproachabe style.
Compounded OF q double element, aristocra-
tic and popular; aristocratic by my father,
popular by my mother, none ever united in a
higher degree in one heart, respectful admiration
for what is great, aud tender and profound
sympathy for the unhappy. have never spoken
so much OF the Napoleon family as when under
the junior branch (the Orleans dynasty). l
have never spoken so much of the younger
branch as under the republic and the EN- pire.
l worship those whom have known and loved
IN misfortune, and never forget them till they
become happy and powerful.
$50 n fallen greatness passes before me with
out my salutng IL, no merit stretches its hand
TO me without receiving grasp. 1t is when
every one seems 10 nave forgotten those who
have passed away, that, like an untimely echo,
cry aloud their names; wherefore, know not.
1t IS the voice OF my heart, which breaks forth
without reference TO my mind. | have written
a thousand volumes, sixty dramas. Let any
one open any of them at random, at the first
page, at the middle, at the end, aud he will see
that have always inculcated clemency, whether
the people were slaves of kings, or kings
prisoners of the people. As soon as a
parsonage falls | approach him, and stretch out
my hand, whether he Is called the Count of
Chambord, the Prince de Joinvlle, Louis
Napoleon, or Louis Glanc. Thus it is that
| am more frequent visitor in prisons than in
palaces. Thus IL is that have been three times
at Ham, once at the Elysee, never at the
Tuileries.p
In the "Hsto're de mes Betes," he relates that,
within week after the breaking out of the
"Forty-eigh :" he had the following letter pub.
lshed in La Prose- If So and we have no
reason for throwing doubt on what he says, it
proves his dsintertstedness and moral courage
10 be great. Perhaps love of singularlty had
something to do in the matter He had been a
great tavorlte with the young princes, though
disIiked by their father.
ITO MoNsIEGNEUR THE DUKE DE MoNTPENsIER.
"Prnce:-It knew where to lind your High.
ness, 1t would be with my living voice and in
my own person that Would offer you the ex.
preston of my grief Tor the great personal mis-
fortune blch has beIallen you.
II shall never forget that during three years,
irary TO the wish OF the king, who Was well
aware Of my opinions You received my visits,
and treated me as a friend.
81 boasted Of this ri,le Of friend, Nonsegneur,
wbepvo abode in the Tnileries; claim itnow,
when you are no LONGER in France.
~ am certain, Mousyigpeur, that your High.
ness has no need OF thus letter to be assured
that my heart was one OF those which was fully
yours.
"God forbid that should not preserve, in all
its purity, the religion OF the tomb, aud the
worship OF exile.
Il have the honor to be, with respect Mon.
humbln
and most obedlent rNant,
.ALEx. DUMAS"
Colonel Desmoulins was sufficiently vaudallc
to oder the statue of the Duke OF Orleans,
which stood in the court of the Louvre, TO be
thrown down. Dumas WAS furious at the wan
ton insult thus offered, and wrote to Emile de
GiIardin a letter which did his heart credit
He detailed therein the many acts of kindness
and goodness done by the dead prince, though,
as he says, he expected to receive an invitation
next morning to go 'cut throat with the
Colonel.
Poor AleXander's self-estimation was sorely
hurt during his canvass for a place in the
House OF Deputies by the language used towards
him by some Jacks in Office, who had no better
Monsieur" or "that contractor Tor feul-
letons." However. be had one friend,
Nine. de Girardin, who made these "Mes-
sleurs" smart, if their skins were not as
thick as that Of the rhinoceros. If, in
her defense of her admirlng friend, her
praise flowed over the margiu of the
Just measure, Alexander was not Tue man 10
check her liberal hand. Alas for the upcer-
tanty of life, the shorness of the reign of kings
and queens of literature, and the oblivion
which soon obsCures their memories Nine.
de Girardin (nee Delphlne Gay), the beautiful,
the gifted, the witty, she who mastered the
triple octave Of grace, intellect and Vigor, aud
who so ably assisted her husband at his edIto-
rial labors in La Presse, passed away in her
prime, and Mons. Emile ere long consoled
himself with a successor. We copy scraps of
her defense OF her irieEd, when addressing the
three supercilious dogs in office.n She offers,
as an excuse for some of Dumas eXtravagancles,
the FIRE of his IMAGINATION the hot African
blood coursing in his veins, and the giddlness
attendant on literary glory.
81 would like to see you, U men OF reason, In
the midst OF the WhiTlWnd whlch envelopes
him, or the face you'd wear If any one came to
offer you three francs per- line for your Wearl-
some scrawls. All, how insoleEt you'd become,
what superb airs you'd assume, what dehrium
would seize on you! Be, then, indulgent for
those errors Of the imagination and those fits OF
literary pride which you neither know nor can
comprehend.
'The crowd has no time to read the works of
Alexander Dumas. 1t believes that those who
write much must wrIe i'll, and therefore con-
cludes that the few 1t has read are his only good
ones. That the ignorant public should so judge
deputy, man of intellect should join the herd,
| and attack at the tribunal man OF genius,
man OF European reputation, without apprecia-
| ting his literary merit, without rejecting
whether he deserved the nickname OF contractor
! for feuilletons, is almost incredible"
OF compo osition, aud thus descants on
| it:-"This rapidty of composition re-
! sembles the rapIdity OF locomotlon IN
| railway trains . an extreme facility obtained
| by the conquest OF immense dlmcultles. 10
what do YOU owe your rapid passing over long
| 10 formidable hDrS