Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-16

Those who are acquainted with the
fact that the writer here is engaged
| in the pleasant task of reading the last
, of the romances of Alexandra Dumas
which he was able to find in trans
lation may wonder If this residue, as
it were, of the works of great autho,
are equal in quality to those better
known romances which are STANDARD
reading throughout the world.
1t is with genuine pleasure that we
announce that these few remaining
works, little known to the average read
er of Dumas, are in every way the
equal in SO far as reading merit are
concerned, of such masterpieces as
THE Three Musketeers," "Chicot the
Jester" and '"The Queens Necklace"
In "Ascanio," "Sylvandire' and
BLACK, the Story of Dog" the Du-
mas lover will find trio as sparkling
as any the master ever wrote. One
would not go SO far as to say that
they deserve or by any chance will
ever receive the universal fame which
has attached itself to the series which
bears the glowing name of d'Artagnan
like fiery ruby in a setting of gilt
tering diamonds.
No, there is but one d'Artagnan
even for so prolific an author as
Dumas.
"Black, the Story of a Dog" will
bear comparison with the best the great
Frenchman ever wrote. In a literary
sense there were two Dumas, the one
who wrote of the ancient French courts
and their attending conspiracies, and
the other man who could turn his
hand to novel of another type, that
of character.
The glamour of the first Dumas, the
famous Dumas, has almost swallowed
up the merit of the other and lesser
if you will, but none the less interest
ing Dumas. From time to time in
this column we have attempted to give
some idea Of this other Dumas, espe-
cially in the articles dealing with 1.-The
She-Wolves of Machacoul," "Olympe de
Cleves" and "Chauvelin's Will" Nor
must "The Conspirators," sometimes
called 1.-The Chevalier, d'Armenthal,'
be forgotten, because 1t belonged to
the. same secondary Dumas of which
we speak.
In all these. as in "Black," the reader
is presented with striking portraitures
of character. In the other group
Dumas characters were essentially
stereotyped. He was so interested in
-action-action-- he let ac-
ton run away with him-and his read
ers No one who cares for tremendous
vitality of this author would wish il
otherwise: but sometimes, in the end
less flow of intrigue and sparkling
chatter which make up the typical
Dumas book, he will sigh for one in
which each character stands out indi-
vidual and alone.
X X X \
In such a case let him turn in conf
dence to BLACK, the Story of Dog,
sure that he will find in it some very
noteworthy things.
First of all, he will discover it to be
a very admirable animal story. as
stories concerning the so-called dumb
bruteS are sometimes called.
He will find that this type of story
by no means is the sole possession OF
English and American authors. BLACK
is dog story to the life, first-rate dog
story, one all the better in that the re-
doubtable spaniel hero takes a second
airy position in the narrative. So dogs
do in life.
The real hero is the Chevalier de la
Graverie, who was born shortly after
his mother saw his father beheaded in
the grim days of the Revolution. AS
the result of his tragic birth and SUBJ
sequent bringing up by an old maid
aunt, the chevalier became the direct
antitheSiS of what the average novel
hero is either in the novels of today or
Dumas day. The chevalier was timid
irreSolute, dreamer; he was of ten
der, nervous and sympathetic diSposi-
ton; he could neither ride, use a rapier