The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-03
DUMAS HAD A HOBBY.
b"und sss Hospit atty on rcd at til.
Chateau OF Monte Chr.sto.

Bound sss Hospit ,iity on rcd at the
Chateau OF Monte Chr.sto.
From the Century Magazine.
At his architectural folly of Monte
| Cristo, near st. Germain-en-Laye, which
| ne built at cost of upward of 200, 00C
| francs, and sold for $1,000 francs in 1s4s
Dumas had uninclosed grounds and gar
dens. which, with the house. afforded
lodgings and entertainment not only to a
host of bohemian ''sponges." but to all
the dogs, cats and donkeys that chose to
quarter themselves in the place. 1t was
called by the neighbors ia maison de bon
Dieu. There was a menagerie in the
park, peopled by three apes; Jugurtha
the vulture, whose transport from Afri-
ca. whence Dumas fetched him. cost 49,
600 francs Qt would be too long to tell
why; big parrot called Duval: a macaw
named Papa and another christened Ev-
efard; Lucullus, the golden pheasant
caesar, the gamecock; a pea fowl and a
guiena fowl; Mysouf H.. the Angora cat.
and the Scotch pointer. Pritchard.
This dog was a character. He was fond
OF canine society and used to sit in the
road looking for other dogs to invite them
to keep him company at Monte Cristo.
He was taken by his master to Ham to
visit Louis Napoleon when a prisoner
there. The latter wished to keep Pritch-
ard, but counted without the intelligence
his face to leave him behind The pointer
set up howl so piteous that the gov
ernor of the prisoner withdrew the au-
thorization he had given his captive to re-
tain him. Some of the dogs that Pritchard
invited stayed altogether: others remain
ed only for a meal.
One day Michel. the gardener. said to
his employer: Does monsieur know how
many dogs there are in his property?"
mo, Michel. / don't" well there are
H. AN unlucky number. Take care that
they don't all eat together, for If they did
one would surely die in the year" "Oh,
it's not that that troubles me-" pursued
Michel What is 1T, them" I'm thinking
that all these brutes are able to devour
i'm one day a whole OK, horns and ALL"
You don't mean to say that they'd eat
the horns"" "Oh. If monster takes the
matter as joke 1 have nothing more to
say" But / don't see any joke in it,"
Wei, then, just let me lay the whip on
IL of them and the house will be rid of
them right away" Wait a bit, Michel.
You see, all these dogs, in quartering
themselves here. pay a compliment to the
mousse give them grand dinner to-mor-
row and at the end of the dessert tell
them to clear out. If they don't 20 show
severity" Michel was Withdrawing when
Dumas relented. "Holdv' he cried You
see when the bon Dieu gives us riches, a
hne house and position he also imposes
charges upon us. Since the dogs-which
after all, are his creatures, too-are in the
house l prefer that they stay. / don't
believe that anyone was yet ruined by
what brutes ate However, see that the
number of Is is changed" "Will monster
let me turn one away, and then there
VIII be only 12?' mo, encourage Pritch-
ard to invite another. which will bring
them up to a." But il will then be a |
pack. with all my heart, provided the |
dogs don't quarrel and go mad" They |
never did bark and bite. but lived in fra |
ternal kindness until MONTE Cristo was
sold Dumas. before left it, got 10 |
friends to take as many dogs and kept |
Prtchard. who died with him of old age. |