Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-05-31

universities and the higher schools. The
authority of Professor Carpenter is SO high
and his own writings as an instructor are
SO favorably known that his advice may be
received with some surprise, although 1t Is
sure to be hailed with delight by all of
those who are fond of reading which is
both exciting and healthy.
Professor Carpenter said that all stu
dents ought to give some time, perhaps a
little while daily, in their summer vaca-
lions to serious reading-that is to say,
that some author whose style is accepted
as fine example of pure English and
whose subject and treatment of it are ear
nest and serious should be selected and
one or more of his works carefully read,
analysed and digcsted
But Professor Carpenter recommended
an abandonment to novel reading as being
both recreation and at the same time q
healthy intellectual stimulus. He did not
advise the reading of what are called phil
osophical or even the analytical and real
istic novels. While he did not say SO in
direct terms, yet he seemed to intimate
that such stories as these, while they may
be of value as intellectual study, are, after
all, wholly outside of the true purpose of
the romancer or novelist, which ought to
be the telling of a story which is worth
telling and the incidental development of
character by means of the story itself.
That such was his opinion was to be in
ferred from something which he said about
George Eliot. 1t will astonish the persons
who regard themselves as highly cultivat
ed to know that this accomplished writer
and authority said to the students that if
he were compelled to read much of George
Eliot as n summer relaxation he would
find after q time that he was strongly
fNr
q healthy reaction. Professor Carpenter
meant by that that George Eliot's stories
require an intellectual effort which is a
mental discipline if they are to be well
read, whereas in the exciting tale of ad
venture which is to be found in the stories
of some unrccOgniZcd author there may
be u healthy intellectual stimulus which
is very refreshing to those whose pursuit
is study or brain work
Then Professor Carpenter went on to
say that for himself after his years of OK
pcricncc u reader of fiction and romance,
he remained satisfied that, after all, the ro
manccs of Alexandra Dumas were the most
delightful satisfactory and on the whole
mentally invigorating of any that are
available to young persons now.
That statement comes from man who
is associated professionally and personally
with some of the ablCSt rcaliStS who are
writing American fiction He is the friend
of William d. HowcllS and an associate
professionally of Brander Matthews and H.
H. Boycsen.
Aside from the splendid rush of incident
swiftly and naturally succeeding one an
other, Professor Carpenter said that Du-
mas works gave a fair idea Of French his
tory so far rs it related to the courts Of
Franco from tho time of Louis NH down
&l,C
he was we'll within bounds when he said
that such knowledge as the greater num-
Der of American youth obtain of French
history was gained by the reading of Du
mas rOmancCS
This testimony, coming from an Amcri
can professor, is regarded in literary circles
very important, since it indicates that
there is Il reaction from the photography
which has recently passed for fiction. Pub
fishers say that Dumas works are called
for moro frequently than any of the mod
crn written novels with two or three OK
captions. In some of the great libraries
Dumas Count of Monte Cristo" and
''Thrcc Guardsmcn' are included in the
first half dozen works that are most great
ly in demand. Robert Louis Stevenson
has acknowledged his Indebtedness to Du
mas, whom he pronounccs the greatest ro
manCCr who ever lived, and whose D. Ar
tagnan he regards as the finest creation in
all romance.
Last summer. while speaking of his lit.
crary likes. OK Speaker Reed said Il word OF
enthusiastic praise of Dumas, whom he
is able to read in the original French.
The late Jeremiah :. Black, one of the
most learned and able lawyers this Coun-
try has ever produced, was accustomed,
when he Was weary, to take up one of Du
IDoS' stnTir; and fbDDl i'm tho rtrtliDtr Ot
it completes mental rest and delightful OK
citCmvnt The late JUST ice of the supreme
Court Lamar always confessed that Du
mas stories had Il fascination fer him even
in his old age. and he once said, perhaps
half jol,ingly, that he would rather have
written The Three GuardsrlCn' than tC
be chief Justice of the Cnitcl States, fo1
the author of that work was bound to be
immortal and to give happiness to mil
lions of persons, whereas the chief justice
might not be long remembered and legal
decisions always gave disappointment to
one side.
Mr.. Howclls has recently been giving
a series of very interesting sketches to tn,
public, describing what he calls his liter
airy passions. One of the young authors
who is rapidly gaining fame, whose attCn-
ton was called to this series, smiled queer
~ and then said: Mr. Howclls' passions:
l did not know that he had any. Tell me,
docs he speak we'll of Dumas?" And when
this young author heard that, so far as Mr..
HowcllS is concerned, Dumas might never
have written, since no mention is mado OF
him, that young author said, WELL Mr..
Howclls never had a great mob waiting i'll
front of publication office for an install
mcnt of one of his stories, and that was
an experience which happened to Dumas
several times in Paris
+. J. EDWARDS