The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-08

as did his son. for no one else so knew
him and loved him. This profound ana
sincere admiration Of his father--and mas
ter he would have added-was very char
scteristic Of the noted dramasist who
has so lately passed away, and is promi-
nent in many of his writings
1t was only a few months. ago thar
visited the younger Dumas at Marlyie-
Roy. where he entertained me with rem
fniscences.
.Tbe remembrance Of my father.+ he
frequently said TO me. lis like Ponce Dc
Icons fountain of youth. / have OHiy
10 look at it TO recall all my early years.
Aside from all flial sentiments, it is like
some good genius which 1 love 80 sum
mon
As I happened to speak OF the preface
which he had just written for the new
edition Of THE Three Muskefeers," Du-
mas continued:
4 am glad it has met VI ia 50 much
success. 1 have received a number Of
letters on the subject, and in nearly all
OF them the writer confesses having been
moved to tears. This only goes to show
that one has only to be sincere, IN art
as in other matters. to touch the heart.
ITO me the most agreeable part Of this
in which my father worked. While writ
ing. I could fairly see him at 3 Rue de la
Chaussee-d' Antin, seated az ain at his
little wooden table in small room, SIT
uated in the rear of the house. lie loved
TO work and was never happier man Wien
he had his pen in his hand anct was living
with the characters created by MS pfool-
gious imagination. His WORK ABSORBED
him to such an extent that ne frequently
neglected to breakfast, contenting him
self with a cup of chocolate taken IN the
morning and a few glasses OF lemonade
swallowed between the chapters.
{" 'I.emonader he used TO eXclaim.
There's nothing like it to stimulate the
fancy. =, to,,o. % a.,
breakfast he ate everything at the same
time-soup, entree. dessert II seemed "a
him AT these moments.
81 remember once having a rather VIC
lent discussion with him on the subject.
1t ended, naturally, in burst OF laugh-
ter. One afternoon, seeing MIN more
tired than usual, / wished TO tear MIN
away from his desk
"'No! said he, resolutely nave
three feuilletons to write tonight and
have only reached the second. A prom
Use should be kept, my son.
Then, as i insisted
'I.istenr said he, as a last resort.
open my desk and tell me how much
money l have left"
II obeyed mechanically, not knowing
at what he was driving.
Forty francs 1 replied, showing him
two gold pieces - .,...., -.
Paris from Villers-Cotterets, had fifty
three francs in my pockets. We are IN
the presence of deficit Of thirteen
francs. l have been struggling for twenty
years to catch up with these thirteen
francs. AS long as have not done so, 1
must keep on working. Good nlghtE
And his pen resumed its course over
the paper. -.,- ,..,...
i shall always remember an incident
xrh4 ah I uvff n "a hotel where
we were stopping. One morning l was
waiting for him in the parlor, knowing
ticle. Suddenly. heard peals- Of laughter
issuing from the room where fancied he
was alone. Much surprised, | opened the
door and seeing him busy writing, l said:
You had some one with you a moment
ago?'
No, he answered.
I was laughing he replied. I have
Just found a very amusing story for my
'Corricolo.' All. but it's a funny one!
ale burst out into another fit of laugh
ter. The story made the book success.
zone day he read story called The
Police Unveiled, the story of Antoine
Allu 1t was a short anecdote of about
twenty pages. The story pleased him
What did ne make of 1t? The Count of
''He was an excellent Judge withal. and
dealt impartially with his own work.
remember calling on him during the lat
Boulevard Malesherbes. l found him
snugly esconsced in corner and reading
a book. .,,.-o, u,..s
A" The Three Musketeers'
{" All! And what do you think of it?'
Between ourselves, 1 don't mind tell
ing you that it's good. In fact it's very
And Monte Christo."' queried.
Have you re-read it,?
Yes. 1t isn't bad but 1t doesn't come
to the MuSEeteerSp -
The author Of La Dame aux Camelias"
then reverted to his own career as a dra-
matist, but through all his recital It was
easy to mark the great influence which
his father had eXerted over him.
Il became dramatic author in a man
ner that was quite as unforeseen as my
fathers" he said to me. AT all events
he felt drawn towards it by an irresisti-
BILE vocation that only needed 4 lucky
circumstance to develop it. You know
how It happened. one day, on entering
one of the offices of the Palais-Royal.
where he was employed as an attache
20 the secretary Of the Duke of Orleans,
my father found on the table volume
OF the History. of France, by AnQuetil.
The book was opened at the passaEe
which relates the facts connected with
the assassination of Saint-Megrin. Three
months later Henry III and His Court
was accepted at the Theater Francois,
and its great success decided the author
TO pursue career of letters.
1T is true that another play Of his.
called Christine, was really his debut
in dramatic art, but it had been lying
for some time in the desk of the manager
of the theater Francois. This piece, which
was only played in the following year
OF the T'heater de I Odeon, had been in
spired TO him in & manner which was
also quite unexpected. 1t was while
strolling through the salon that he came
across a small bas-relief representing
Queen Christine of Sv eden causing Mon
aldeschi TO be assassinated and Il immc-
diately suggested the play to him.
'As you see. the least incident of a
dramatic nature was sufficient TO set
his Imagination at work.
AS for myself continued the young
er Dumas, If my career was determined
quite as suddenly, the event was not pre-
ceded by any of the artistic pre-occuDa-
tions that haunted my father at his de
butts. Before writing la Dame aux Ca
melias' / had not done anything that
could lead one 10 suppose that I would
one day adopt the profession of a dram
atist. did not feel myself drawn to-
wards dramatic art in preference to any
other province Of literature. In fact /
did not even know whether 1 had The
ability TO write.
AT that time-that is 10 say. right af-
ter the revolution of ISL was con
scious enough OF the modest resources
OF Imagination and observation 1 nos