The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-05

Alexandre Dumas was a quadroon, his father, General Dumas, being the natural son of the Marquis de l Palleterie and neoress of Santo Domingo. In this coun- try he would have been classed as ''col- ored man" and his literary work been cited as an example of the possibilities of the negro race.
 But as he lived in France, nothing of that sort happened. His one-fourth Afri- can blood was swallowed up in the three- fourths Caucasian. It is interesting, though, for the anthropologist to study his works with the idea of finding in them, if he can, the effects or Dumass strain of negro blood.
 Dumas was a prolific author and turned out an immense quantity of stun-some of it of a high order, much or It medlo- ere. Much of his work he did in colab- oration. merely giving to his collabor- ator the plot and suggestions for scenes and incidents. But, after all, when the great man had touched it up, it was Du- mas.
 During hil life when 1t became known that his works were "best sellers" as the phrase is now, many books bearing his namOf were published which Dumas not never MIOlt, Dul lldl aAO AAesiNN iA writing. .'The Three Museteers," 1t is safe to say, is all Dumas, and it is also the best of his stories and the work by which his place in literature Is generally assigned It is pure tale of adventure, with no love in it. except illicit love, ana the morals generally are those or the time of Louis XIII.-that is to say, no morals at all.
 The hero, d'Artagnan, is Gascon h ,1- Ia,- rrJC Vuff friends. three musketeers, commits all the crimes known to the Decalogue in most eX-' citing and fascinating manner. Personal courage is the keynote of the whole story-all else is of no account.
 The "honor' which Dumas's heroes prate about is merely the vanity of a savage Sir Walter Scott also exalted personal courage above all other quali- ties in his writings, but the honor talked about by Scotts heroes and the perverted conceptions of that quality held by the heroes of Dumas are as different as a bright day is from a dark night.
 TyHOSE three valiant blades, Por-
 thos, Athos and Aramis, gentle
 4 men serving under assumed names in the ranks of the Musketeers of tho Guards were sworn friends and insep- arable companions. D'Artagnan, young (sascon serving his probationary time in the company of M. Des Essarts. prepara- tory to becoming Musketeer, made fourth of the little coterie. He had made himself beloved of the others by chal- lenging them each in turn and then hght- ing valiantly beside them against the guards of His Eminence the Cardinal.
 The guards of the Cardinal and the guards of the King fought each other on all convenient occasions. Armand Du- plessis, Duke of Richeheu and Cardinal, was not then the feeble old man we see in the play and as he is generally de- picted, but an active cavalier of 35 or S7, somewhat frail of body, but capable of immense exertions not only in the cabi- net but in the field His cardinals robe he kept for state occasions, and in his own house or in the field dressed and acted like the great noble and warrior that he was. The King feared him. and the Queen both feared and hated him. The King was a piece upon the board in the great game the Cardinal played; the Queen a. pawn of the opposition, to be swept away if necessary So there were two parties in France, the Cardinalists and the Royalists.
 The Musketeers, being directly in the service of His Majesty, belonged natural ly to the latter, and accounted no act quite so praiseworthy as splitting a Car dinalist upon the points of their rapiers Now, Of the guardsmen mentioned, Por- thos was big, clustering fellow, fond of display and given to bragging about his amours. Athos was the great noble to his finger tips, and every one felt that his assumed name concealed one of the most renowned in France. As for Aramis, he was a rather gentle, scholarly youth and had aspirations for the church. "I am a musketeer only for time,' he said. But every time he reached the point of doffing the uniform for the cas- socss there came a little, perfumed note to his lodgings, and he became all mus keteer again. As for d'Artagnan, he had come up to Paris to seek his fortune-he was a young cub, scarcely twenty-and had all his troubles before him.
 The friendship of the four were all the greater that they were dissimilar in character-they never bored each other. In the days of Louis the Just it was worth while being a military gentleman and a noble, and the Gascon youth, d Ar tagnan, seldom paid his landlord for his lodging, though, after the manner of his kind, he fell deeply in love with the land lords wife, the pretty Mme Bonacieux, linen woman to the Queen, much younger than her husband, but older than d. Artag- nan. Boys of twenty always fall in love with woman older than themselves an generally she has been sometime married.
 IL happened at this time that the Queen wanted a trusty and secret messenger who should go to London and bring back a set of twelve diamond studs, the gift of the King. which she had presented to the Duke of Buckingham on the occasion of one of his secret visits to Paris. The Cardinal, who had his spies everywhere, kne-r of this little indiscretion on the part of the Queen, and wrote certain arslt of his in London as follows: s'Milady-You will attend the first ball at which the Duke of Buckingham appears. and cut off two of the twelve diamond studs he will wear. Bring them to me-" | Then he suggested to the King that he give a ball. It would please the Queen, and she would have an opportunity to wear the diamond studs His Majestys present which sho had not yet shown to the world. He suggested a date for the ball far enough away to allow time for Milady to arrive in Paris with the evidence he desired. and the weak Louis, of course, accepted the suggestions of the strong Richelieu.
 When the Queen received the Kings orders to appear at the proposed ball wearing the diamond studs she was in despair; but her faithful Bonacieux said that If mortal man could get to London and bring back the studs in time, that man was her lover, d'Artagnan.
 The adventure just suited the Gascon. but, of course, he could not go without his three musketeers, and so the next morning all four took the road to Calais. If one was stopped the others were to push on. The Cardinal would try to