Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

pages and pages to bring another
group up to the same point. While
| Dumas perforce must use this f1ctional
trick, he does it with discrimination,
so that the reader escapes the appli-
cation of four-wheel brakes which SO
suddenly jerk him to a standstill in
/ Dickens
The "she-wolves" are two beautiful
young women, Bertha and Mary de
Souday brought up by their father to
ride behind the dogs at wolf hunts, and
to become strange mixtures of mascu-
line and feminine The neighbors of
the countryside called them, in sheer
envy, the "She-Wolves of Machecoul."
the latter being the great forest in
which they went wolf hunting. Dumas
ends that fourth chapter with the
| forceful statement of fact:
They called them the 'She-Wolves
of Machecoul' ;"
| Yes, they called them the "She-
Wolves of Machecoul.' In reality they
were very nice girls, Bertha with a
forceful disposition, Mary with sweeter
traits; it was no wonder that each
one fell squarely in love with the first
, young man they met, the young Baron
| Michel, who came across their path in
| wolf hunt, and got stuck in a bram-
| BILE hedge, from which the athletic
young women rescued him, among
much laughter on their part
| It is interesting to note that Dumas
| portrayed here, half a century ago,
| the perfect type of athletic young lady
who has now become widespread around
the world through the medium of
| swimming and tennis. Bertha and
Mary were athletic girls ahead of their
| time These "She-Wolves" were SIM
ply normal girls who went in" for
| Workmanship and hunting rather than
| for the sophisticated doings of court
life.
Into their lives comes the young
baron fine bit of character drawing
He is timid young fellow, wholly I'M
der the sway of his mother. The way
his character changes, through his
efforts to please his two young friends,
and especially Mary, whom he loves
constitutes fine piece of handling
The reader is shown not only the
changes, but is made to feel that these
| were normal changes, resulting from
the character himself and not from
mere caprice on the part of the author
From the fourth chapter on, the jerky
sentences change to Dumas carefully
constructed lines, mixed with large
slices of conversation, of which he was
4 OAtC OOtillACtC NIdobCA. we dlC cltOWLl
the plots of the DuchesSe de Berry
and how our hero and the two heroineS
take part therein. We are led along
country roads by night and follow the
march of the general through the
| Vendee country, surrounded by enemies
| who never show themselves. One is
reminded of Gen. Braddock's march
through the American forest.
The troops are on their way to the
Castle de Souday to apprehend the
sprightly duchesse and her adherents
but when they get there they find hel
gone. 1t Is a situation to the entire
liking of Dumas and he makes the mos
of it. The spirit with which the ole
marquis invited in the soldiers and en-.
tertains them with cynical good will il
something which few authors coulc
touch. There is much running to anC
fro, but it is all understandable to ths
reader, who knows that Dumas viii
never break faith with them.
To give the plot of such tale !:
futile; one must read it. There are
too many characters, too many angles
to make brief synopsis anything but
bore. 1t can be done, but In the doing
the entire spirit of Dumas Is lost, and
! this great gusto, as we have said, is the
essence of the tale. Without it 1.-THE
She-Wolves" would not be Dumas, but
| somebody else. AS we read this story
| we propose to give, from time to time
| bulletins of our progress. One feels
| the desire to send out dispatches as he
advances into this land of romance.