The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1880-12-07
A Visit To Dumas.
icy Hooper's parls Letter.

Lucy Iiooper's PARIS Letter.
The ilustims dramatist babe us
welcome with even ELUSIVE warmth,
shook hands with us most cordially, and
declared that his friend was very wrong
not TO have appraised him Of our COM
ing beforehand, so that he could have
shown us through the house himself
Had we seen every part of it? the
libraryP the drawing-roomp the picture
gallery? IL we chose to 90 all over il
again, he would be most happy To ac-
company us. But we disclaimed any
intention of occupying 10 much Of his
time, so he declared that he must take
us over his Swiss chalet. This pictur-
esque structure was bought by him at
the Universal Exposition, was put up in
his garden, aud now serves as a place
OF deposit for portion of his over
whelming wealth of artistic treasures,
What delightful hah hour ensued!
Dumas talks as wellasrhe writes, and
there is straight-forwardness and frank
ness about him that is altogether capti-
waiting. He is n finc-looking man. tall
and of vigorous physique, with blue
eyes, pale yet Notwithstanding COM
pleXion, and prematurely silvered hair
and mustache. The chalet 10 which he
conducted us was so crowded with pic
lures, busts and figures in tsfrecuite,
and other curiosities and works of art,
that it would have taken whole day
20 inspect them all. He pointed out TO
us CHASTITY picture Of dead woman
with her baby trying to draw nourish-
ment from the lifeless breast, study
by Delacroix for one Of the groups in his
Massacre of Sc,o. Then he showed
us n veritable art curiosity in the shape
of three-quartered figure of st. Luke
painted by Meissonier in 1883 to fill an
order for publisher who was getting
up an illustrated edition of the New
Testament. This picture was sold by
the artist for 600 francs.
When we returned to the house, M.
Dumas kindly brought down from his
bedroom the gem Of his whole colfec-
ton and displayed it to our admiring
gaze. 1t is the famous "Artist at
Work." by Meissonier, painted in 1852,
when his talent was at its apogee, a
small-sized picture of such marvellous
perfection of execution that "the sense
ached at it," And yet it represents
merely painter in black eighteen-cen-
fury costume, with his unpowdered hair
gathered into a club behind, seated be-
fore his easel with his back turned to
the spectator. This picture originally
sold for 1000 francs, was purchased
some years ago by M. Dumas for 49,
coo, and within the last few days he
has refused 10000 francs (Sl2,0O0)
offered for it by picture dealer.
Well, it is worth it. 1t is MISSIONER
of first quality, and such q work as
the old man no longer has the patience
or, perhaps, the ability to execute.
M. Dumas told me that he could
never write in Paris, as he was exposed
to interruptions. His just completed
three-act comedy, which he wrote in
six days, was composed at the country
house of a friend. Its provisional title
is "The Princess of Bagdad" 1t is in
tended for the Coincide Franchise, and
Mile Croizette is to take the part of
the heroine, Lionette. He laughingly
remarked that he did not write for
young girls, and that his own daughters
had never seen any of his plays till
Mile. Colette profited by her marriage
to 90 to see the Ellis Naturel" He
spoke rather bitterly of the fact that
"La Dame aux Camelias' had been
played fully 5000 times in the United
States since it was first produced, and
had never brought him in one single
farthing. agreed with him heartily,
for the non-exstence of copyright laws
in our country, so far as the writings of
foreign authors are concerned, is
shame and scandal. He took from his
writing-table and showed us model
in bronze of broad, powerful, fieshy
hand-the hand of his illustrious father,
and also q model in the same material
of an exquisite female hand, that of tho
well-known water-color artist, Nile.
Madeleine Lemaire. And so, charmed
with our visit, and still more so with
our gracious and courteous host, we
took our departure