Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

nor swim, three unacceptable accomplish
ments of a gentleman of his era.
Not satisfied with introducing such a
hero, our author has the temerity to
introduce him at the age of so, using
| three chapters for~this purpose, then to
take the reader back in DEPRESSION
lasting for 1870 pages, in which he brings
the chevalier from birth to the age
mentioned.
Now there was task to try the
ability of any novelist! If there is any
| thing the average reader detests (and
especially this one) it is one of these
long "cut-backs" With most writer's
they are simply a poor expedient to
| drag in whether or no what should
have been presented in some other
manner
This is not true of Dumas in the
work under discussion. He had sure
sense of values, and when he began
with his hero an old man he knew what
he was doing. There is certain ef-
frontery to genius which makes a left
hand turn when all the signs Say~it is
against the regulations. Dumas never
bothered his head with rules. He
wanted to tell the story so, and he told
it so. that was all. You could like it or
not like it. You will like it.
In the remarkable depression the hero
is taken on trip through the United
States of 1880, and clear to the Island
of Tahiti. We suppose Dumas got mis-
facts for this South Sea atmosphere
from Herman Melville'S 'Typee" and
"Omoo," more popular among the
French than in the United States until
a tardy recognition in 1910 or there
abouts led to Melville taking his proper
place in proper appreciation in his ma
tive land of America.
X X X X
We have refrained from giving the
plot of "Black, the Story of Dog
Any one can rehash a plot in few
words, but to do so spoils the story for
those who may want to read it.
The story deals with the betrayal of
the gentle cavalier by two of his ac-
quaintances and the remorse which
considerable of man. The story of
his understanding of the simple soul he
had wronged and his atonement makes
fine story all by itself. He teaches the
Chevalier de la Graverie how to shoot,
fence and swim, and, in dying, attempts
to keep up the spirits of his dependent
friend by telling him that maybe his
soul may return to earth and seek him
out in the guise Of dog-yes, black
dog, who knows?
The chevalier returns to France-and
Dumas to his story where he left it at
the end of the third chapter. A black
spaniel appears. 1t follows the chevalier
and will not go away. He repulSeS It,
only to have it follow him home.
| So our hero-Who is so, remember
takes in the dog after various adven-
lures and is half in doubt whether it Is
just a dog or his old friend, Dumesnil.
The charm of this story lies exactly
| here-that Dumas makes no attempt to
give supernatural twist to the nara
tive. Black is just dog, a real dog
who enjoys his Jumps of sugar, kills a
chicken and shows Partially toward
more than one person In the tale. He
becomes just a bit more than dog
because the chevalier, with his almost
| feminine nature, ever a. dreamer, half
! inclines to believe that Dumesnil has
come back to steady him, to help him
as he did in life.
There is nothing, of course, either
mawkish or morbid in Dumas, so this
story is shot through, as are all his
others, with the merry lavishness which
makes the reader wish that the entire
thousand romances which Dumas is
supposed to have had a hand in were
translated into English so that he
might have never-ending supply of
stories as entertaining as BLACK.
Would they beA We think they would
They would have to be, for Dumas had
the master touch, the inimitable some
thing which gave interest to all he
| wrote or helped write