The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-02-13
EcY Books.

of the dav. It is impossible that book
| from any DUMAS, from the grandsire down,
should not be eccentric and faulty. 1t Is
equally impossible that any Of their produc.
tons should not be bright and original. The
book before us deals with social and domcs-
tic life, and the marital obligations. 1t says
many true things in an inimitable style, and
asserts some untcnable propositions; the
most Of them, however, so palpabty errallc
that any reader will be sure TO take issue
with the author. 1t was suggested by the
murder of his wife, taken in adultery, by
one DUBouRG, which occasioned great sem
sation in Paris, and gave rise to great deal
of discussion. DUMAS takes wide latitude
IN treating the subject. There is high
moral tone mixed up with views lit
tie strange now and then. AS 4 sample of
| 4 chaste temper and pure morality which ap-
pears in its pages, the translator gives seve-
raj quotations, from which we select the fol-
lowing:
| "Seycr seek for love outside Of marriage !;
there only is esteem, and and i0ce uitho,tt
estee,n is an angel nth only one ,clng."
1t is very beautiful and very true. if love
outside of marriage can lie at all compared to
an angel.
And here is another extract that is admi.
| rable:
"Eycry man whose actual life is not regll-
| lated in accord with the prinripIus he pro-
tesSes in public, or the counsel that he gives
to others, is Il hypocrlte or maniac, on
| whom society should turn its back. II Jesus
had contcntcd himself With formulating his
admirable code Of morals without practising
| il himself, he never would have founded his
religion; his doctrine would have died with
him. lie aras dirlne by the harmony Of his
| life with his prccepts !"
| And yet, with these moral, pious, and
| Christian sentiments, and with more of the
same sort almost as beautifully expressed,
the author winds up his book with rs great
o barburism as any that ever prevailed
in Africa. After discussing the relations OF
man and woman to each other and 10 God
after presenting some very clear and happily
expressed views of social life, with the bear.
Ing OF TIC law and morality Of tie Bible
upon it, and, furthermore, discussing them
with view to tue Christian diSpcnsation
and presenting the religion of Christ in 9
bright light, and declaring lis ardent devo
ton TO it, he winds up with statement OF
the advice he would give TO his son iii ht
had one) when he became of age. This adj
vice relates chiefly to marriage. The rules
he prcscrbeS for selecting wife are excel
lent. and, with such wife as lie describes,
he predicts all of earthly happiness that man
can enjoy. But, if the son should be 50 I'M
fortunate as TO select a woman who should
turn ont to be one OF loose priuciplcsand WAN
ton disposition, and vino should prove faith.
less to him, DUMAS tells him that ne must he
Judge and Erccutioncr. He "must STAY
HER.
Thus he declares bis appreciation Of the
DUBoURG murder.
So strange conclusion to such book
such a barbariSm at the end of an essay so
marked, with some exceptions, by the very
best morality, and, with Il qualification here
and there, such good Christian principles, is
amazing, and we can only account for it with
the help of one of the chapters of the book
itself.
| In discussing the "infuence of race"
| DUMAS speaks of the crosses Of distinct races
generally rs the result Of wals and their bad
effects. Owing to this lie says: "There are
| "found =. in the bosom Of our modern
"society individuals srringiHg from the
crossing Of two OF three, maybe of five
"or six, races and their varieties, who con-
"tain in themselves, in proportions more or
"less equal, the attenuated but permanent
characteristics Of the different types Of
(which they are the result" He argues
that these characteristics crop out in Success
sive generations and break through the re-
straints of civilization, and lead "to folly, to
crime, to suicide, to sterility." Some in
stinctively return to the cradle of their race.
Combining his illustration rather to women,
he pictures the sad fate Of young London
merchant who should marry girl who de-
rives her descent from the sayages of Mendana,
"who dress in feathers. tattoo themselves,
"draw the bow like WILLIAM TELL, and oc-
"casionally cat up their children, like
"SATURN." He says "there are young girls
cat city Neutrality-suspicious. who think
nothing of their studies, but who Ought
"to be racing over the Pampas with the
"Gauchos, or eating clay with the Amey-
"pures, or be serving in the guard of honor
60 the King Of Dahomey, or painting their
"eyes, pluckiug off their hairs, aud putting
"stars on their forehead in expectation of
1.-The Sultan. We daily elbow red
"skins with rosy tint, negresses with plump
"white hands, veritable anthropophage,
"who not being able to eat men raw, pre-
spare and make themselves ready to nibble
chm up daintiy alive, as becomes civilized
"women, with the sauce of marriage or
"pleasure, with plates, napkins, forks, finger.
"slasses, sacraments, and legal protection.
90 1t is in vain for you to bring up q
shear in cotton, and put blue ribands on his
"neck, you will never make dog of him.
He will always be savage at heart, always
spine after the woods, and sooner or later
"he viii fly at your throat"
Exactly! And
This gives us the key to the monstrous
conclusion of DUMAs's book. His grand.
father, General DUMAS, was half African
half white. His father had qusrter African
and he has one-eighth. So the irrepressible
characteristic of barbarism breaks through
oil civil and religious restraint, and DUMAS
boldly arnws the frinan nassin,, for ,r,;f,