The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-11-15


he had been spending was not very
noble one, and that, man has other
missions TO fulfill than those of rolling
about boulevards in q phaeton, and sign
ing his name TO l O Us. Anyhow, the
resolution he took in the courre of one
day, and unfinchingly adhered to dur.
ing several years, revealed in him a
firmness Of character and an honesty of
purpose which could not have come
from parental example, and must have
been innate. He severed himself com.
pletely from his former mode of living,
his friendr, and associations. His dis.
carded his phaeton and grooms, sub.let
his fine lodgings, sold off his furniture,
dressed plainly. and, having convoked
his creditors, told them with frankness
that he oosid mol Aay than then, but
that If they would give him time he
would work ill he had discharged his
obligations to the last farthing. One
would have been glad to record that the
creditors met this assurance in a be.
lieying spirit; but the fact is they tried
to lodge him in Clichy. He eluded
them, however, teok refuge at Fontain-
bleau in q small inn.room, for which he
paid thirty sous day, and there, during
two years, worked like man. He had
already written q novel, an absurd book,
called &c Les Aventures de Quatre Fem
me, ct dun Perroquet." He now
changed his style, and, perceiving that
he had not imagination enough to com.
pose sensational novels, like his father,
set himself to the minute ANALYTICAL
portrayal of such social manners as he
had observed. As his lot had been cast
in the very loosest of social sphei es,
La Dame aux Camelias" was the first
result of his observations. This novel
was fair succgas. Then he wrote the
dramatized version of the tale, and sub
mitted it to his father, who, not suspect.
ing him of having much brains, was
startled at the dramatic power Of the
work, and with tears of pride, as he
himself often repeated, accepted it
for the Theater Historique. This thea.
ter, however, like many other under.
takings of the great mans, was at this
time on the eve of bankruptcy, and
young Dumas was soon obliged to get
off with his piece on a round of mana.
gerial visits, which lasted two years.
Oddly enough it was in most cases his
name which damaged him. Alexandra
Dumas, the elder, having been the most
successful author of twenty preceding
years, had naturally accumulated very
satisfactory collection of rivals, and it
was feared that some of these would be
only too delighted to hit blow at the
father by organising o csbal against the
son. Other managers took alarm at the
immortality of the drama, and this i'm
morality also disquieted the authorities;
70 when La Dame aux Camelias" was
eventually accepted by the Vaudeville,
its performance was prohibited by the
Home Minister, II. Leon Faucher. Is
it to this that we must attribute NJ.
Dumas distaste for republican iustitu.
tions? Certain it il that, the following
year, when the Empire had been sstab-
iished, n. de Morny actively bes.irred
himself to get the piece licensed, and of
course succeeded. He had nice little
theory of his own, this NJ. de Morny, on
the morality of stage pieces. Every
piece was acceptable, according to his
notions, so long as it excited the public
to talk on other topics than politics; /;
thus La Dame aux Camelias" would
be moral and Ruy Bias" not SO. The
moral piece was therefore performed in
1852, and took the actors who played it,
| the manager, the audience, and soon
the whole Town, by storm. 1t was the
most startling success on record. M.
Dumas astonished creditors emerged
from their lairs, pounced upon him,
and had him arrested eight times within
| a fortnight. But the manager was there
to pay; for the young author had be-
come in one evening almost as famous
man as his father in thirty years.
There is not Partisan but knows the
8. Dumas Fils," who then took his place
among the hslf-dozen princes Of French
4 dramatic art. A tall, strongly.built
man, with bald forehead, woolly hair,
mustaches with wax on them, and keen,
gray eyes; he was not unlike his father
in race, but seemed to have no single
mental characteristic in common with
him. Cold and rather naughty in his
manner, he welded species of wit
which fell upon his victims like the
thwacks OF q well.made riding whip.
When he paid his father one Of those
occasional visits which filial duty com.
manded, the greater Dumas syc ycophantic
familiare all shrupk away, not liking to
risk veal from that terrible tongue
and even Dumas pere himself felt un'
comfortable in the presence of this son,
who had grown up 10 be SO unlike him,
and whose domesticsted, orderly ways
began 70 strike him constantly in the
light of . reproach. 1t was often said
that father and son had qusrreled; but
this was never true. The elder Dumai
had too warm heart, and the youngeI
was too good son, for collision TO be
! possible. Only they saw but little o.
J each other, because, when one man IL
q family has banned debt as Pesti
lence, while the other pervists in look
. ing upon it ss the natural state OF man
, when one picks his society, and th'
, other admits all men to his fellowship
when ono is all sentiment, and th'
other all sense, intercourse is apt to b
: improbable. So young Dumas kept Z
: his set OF friends-a brilliant, artistic
set, in whose company all the super
| fetal ice in his nature thswed; and h
worked. This point must be dwelt ol
: that the highest of his production
t | is, and always has been, the result Q
| thought and labor. He does not, Us hi
. father did, sit down of . morning Will
s six or thirty blank pages, quarto size
, before him, and make it his duty t
e cover them with writing Of some snr
Y before going out. Having got an ide
q -or a paradox, for to his essential
. French mind, it is all one-into h1
e head, he turns the same over patienti
= by himself, discusses it with his p,