Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-16
DUMAS MODE OF LIFE
THE GREAT NovELIsT's IDEAL EXIST
 ENcE AT MARLY-LE-RoI.

There the Qualities of the Heart and Spirit
 Are PrIzcd, and Little Interest Is Taken
 In the Opinions Of the Outside World.
 A Tendency to Isolation.
 The most romincnt citizen of Marly-le- Roi is Alexandre Duma=. According to a writer in La Revue Illustre, Dumas leads an ideal life in his lovely home and has no cause to regret the distance of the capital "Alexandre Dumas fils," says the journal, "gets up at o'clock in the morning, win ter as well as summer, takes a long walk and returns to attend to his mail. Neither cold nor bad weather prevents him from carrying out this plan. He sleeps the year round with the windows and doors of the room adjoining his bedchamber open.
 His meals are exceedingly frugal for a man so active He never drinks liquor, seldom touches wine and never smokes. At 10 o'clock at night he is in bed. In the preface to the Dame aux Camelias,' writ ten in 1887, Dumas describes his own rules of life, both physical and moral, in the form of advice to his readers. The passage characterizes the man so perfectly that it is worthy of repetition in part here:
 "tWalk two hours n day; sleep seven hours every night; go to bed when you feel the need of sleep; get up when you awaken;
 
 when you are hungry; do not drink except when you are thirsty, and always slowly. Do not speak except when it is necessary and do not say but the half of what you think; write nothing that you could not sign; do nothing that you could not tell.
 "'Do net forget that others depend upon you, and that you should not depend upon them. Do not estimate money at more or less than it is worth; it is a good servant, a bad master Think of death every morn ing on seeing the light, and every night when the darkness returns. When you suffer much, look grief in the face; she will console you and tell you something. Force yourself to be simple, to be useful, to re main free, and before denying God be sure that it is proved to you that he does not eX- ist'
 "'Think of death every morning. etc. It is perhaps with these words that one can explain the tendency of Dumas to isolate himself-a tendency that is certain.
 Recently only scientific questions seem to attract the attention of the literary phi losopher You see he said one day, in reality, science alone is eternal. Literary works very rarely survive their authors and assuredly the greatest artistic work is far from having so great an effect or infiu ence as the least scientific discovery
 "Pasteur and Berthelot excite especially his admiration. His table and the shelves of his library are filled with scientific re views and books on science. His works ot art are almost the only distraction at Mar ly. Despite the numerous sales which Inc has conducted, or rather because of them the collection is valuable. If the number of works is less, the value of those remain ing is greater because of the sorting
 Tn room of the ground floor contain ing the bust of Dumas. the father, by Chapu, a subject for a"istic admiration and the object of filial veneration, is a SUI perb billiard table, on which Dumas play: for hours with his grandson, Il years old. "Visitors seldom, very seldom, go to Mar ly. Literary men there are in the minor ity. One cannot always talk shop. Ther, the qualities of the heart and spirit ar, prized, and little interest is taken in tn, literary and political opinions of the peo pie. The following anecdOte will show th' position of Dumas on these points:
 Rightly or wrongly, among certain classes Dumas is supposed to have rathel old fashioned political opinions. At tn, time of the commune a person very wei known in the Parisian world called on Du mas and begged him to aid in the escape O. a famous communist by procuring a fals, passport for him. A false passport-thar was too much. The author, however, Curi ously and ingeniously proposed to accom- pany the man to NJ. Thiers and induce tn, president to lend them his aid. The sur prise of M. Thiers may be imagined wher receiving such an application. But Duma. was eloquent that the request wa granted.
 "'Very well; so be it. said the president He shall be allowed to escape. And since we are discussing the subject, have you any others whom you wish to see escap, also:' No came Dumas reply, there is nc 1 other
 | "'Mention him-don't be backward | With the assurances of Dumas on thi | point the audience came to an end. Tn communist, armed with a genuine pass port, easily crossed the frontier.
 Be what may, this anecdote helps t. show the largeness of spirit and conse ] quently the goodness of AleXandre Dumas ! heart. How could a man of this breadtl 1 of character be accessible to the low, mar row sentiments which tradition has attrib uted to him:"