Evening star., 1926-02-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

to say The Conspirators" is as Hooc
as The Three Musketeers." which
the world long ago gave premier
place, but certainly, in tho affection
| of some readers, it occupies a place
along with that sterling romance.
The ConspiratotS' IL a great story
| not only because 1t cal ries one right
along. but also on account Of the
reality Of Its characters. A narration
can be good without the characters
so being. One may feel conscious that
he Is reading only about men OF straw,
but at the same time appreciate the
narrative.
When, however. an author gives, by
nne, loving touches. little peculiarities
10 each character, so that they all
live, in the moving mind of the reader
las they did In the creating mind OF
the author), then there stands forth
a first-class novel in every respect.
The scenes in the Street OF Lost
Time are unforgettable. The narrow
thoroughfare, scarcely a crack in com
parison with great avenues, strikes
the imagination by u thousand fea
lures.
Deity, like the dramatist he was,
Dumas builds up his romance, one to
appeal to every reader, for where Is
there the person who aas not dreamed
OF living In garret and finding across
the way, IN another garret, d. beau
tiful young girl?
Here is an eternal situation, which
very Few persons in all the world are
ever given to find, yet any one may
realize 1t at will by reading "rhe Con.
spirators!"
Such is the eternal power of n real
romance.
~ /.
II you, gentle reader, are fed up, ~
as the saying is, on much modern fic.
tion. turn to the old masters, whose
pace In the world of books IS secure
The seal Of approval Of thousands of
readers has been placed upon them
the Judgment of countless readers has
branded them AL"
II The Conspirators" were an.
nounced for publication next month,
one might reasonably be suspicious of
H. IL mas been too long published, how.
ever. for any one to doubt its merit.
somewhere in France there are
l.2o0 romances kicking around with
the name Dumas on the title page.
The vast bulk OF these stories is un.
known to American readers. Prob.
ably no modern Frenchman has read
more than 100 OF them.
80 AS~ We
latlons OF perhaps so Of the more than
q thousand tales. These are the sifted
hour; these are the cream of them all.
The reader may perhaps wonder
how Alexandra Dumas managed to
write 80 much.
He didn't
He had fiction factory" in which
he was the chief conspirator. His
agile brain worked SO fast, his gift of
inventive genius was SO large. that
neither he nor any other man that
ever lived could have put into words
all he created.
So he hired men to do the writing.
The Romance Factory Of Alexandra
Dumas and Company" as 1t was
called, naturally enough produced
many mediocre novels. The best of
them all, and especially the ones ac.
tually written entire by the pen of the
master, have come down to u.s.
Let no one lament. therefore, that
he cannot read the rest of them. Time
Is a tireless, remorseless critic. In
the huge generality Of cases what
time leaves US Is what is worth
while.
The Conspirators" is one of the
best.
To all those readers of "The Count
Of Monte Cristo.' THE Queens Neck
lace" The Black Tulip" etc, this
lesser known novel. THE Conspira-
tors" is recommended, with the assur.
ance that they will find there true ro-
nance, and a corking good story.