Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-08
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOOklOVer

buckler, as tireleSS ana eager an adj
venturer as his own DArtagnan, If we
accept Herbert Germans picture of
him in THE Incredible Marquis" His
career of defying all authority. of pleas.
ing only himself, Of continual play-
acting. began early, for his widowed
mother was never successful in exertjnQ
any control over her hayward son
whom no one in his boyhood ever sus-
pected of being a genius. When
Thomas Alexandra Dumas, son of
Frenchman of good birth and a Nerress
named Marie Dumas, fell into disfavor
with Napoleon, after more or less dis
tinguished record as general, he re-
tired to the village of Villers-Cotterets
and there soon died, leaving his widow
and two children very little in the Wav
of means of support. While his mother
kept a tobacco shop, the young Alex
andre spent most of his time shooting
and trapping birds in the neighborinS
forest, fencing, and roaming the fields
desultory study which his mother ar
ranged with the village able. He
learned practically nothing except a
clear, flourishing penmanship. which
was responsible, few years later, for
his securing a position In the ofices
of the Duo d'Orleans in the Palais
Royal at Paris. Dismissed from
solicitors ONCE, where his mother had
placed him in an effort to make him
earn portion Of his livelihood, he
rejoiced at his freedom and left for
Paris, with few francs in his pocket.
Throughout his life, Dumas seems
always to have been delighted when
ever he lost paid position. probably
because he held such positions only
under protest. in order to pay ele-
mentary expenses.
Paris meant to Dumas not work, but
adventure, and soon the chief of his
! adventures began to center about the
| theater. Free tickets enabled him to
| attend most Of the popular plays. So
his nights were spent at the theater
and his days, in the dukes ofices, In
scribbling plays of his own. The duke
| was thrifty man and Dumas was soon
denoted and then told to choose be-
tween his position and his writing. OF
| course, Dumas chose the writing and
| left in rage, but secretly pleased that
he need no longer bend over an Office
desk, copying correspondence In his
| Furnishing handwriting. At this time
| he had dependent upon him his mother,
mistress and his illegitimate son,
Alexandra flls, but his responsibilities
never weighed heavily upon him. After
depress him more than momentarily,
| fortune came his way when his play
! Henry III and His Court" was pro-
| duced at the Theatre Francois, and
| won success as forerunner Of the
new romanticism. After that plays
tlimbled from his pen for the rest Of
his life, most of them poor or indif-
ferently good. 1t was not until 1885,
| when he was 80, that he attempted nc
1 Srgikh n Anf0HV
which he borrowed literally from Scott.
Dumas had few literary scruples and
little pride of originality. He never
hesitated to borrow, without mention
| ing the fact, from another author who
had anything tempting to offer. With
| the appearance of THE Three Mus
keteers" in 1914, the drama fell to Sec
ond place in his life and he became the
most popular writer OF romance IN
Europe.
The apparent anomalies in the char
acter Of Dumas are simple enough, ac-
cording to Herbert German, If he is
| considered as a child-a barbaric child.
/ His son, Alexandra fils, often said Of
him, MY father is a great baby Of
mine-born when was quite little
child" During his career of popularity
Dumas made huge sums of money, but
always spent much more than he made;
| he died in a bare room i'm a pension
near Dieppe, cared for and paid for
by the two Legitimate children who
had retained intermittent relations
with him. Longing to be elected to
the French Academy and making re-
peated and crude efforts to attain that
end, he never achieved IL. He en-
| ployed various hack writers to write
portions of his works and to rummage
libraries for material, and was the sub
| Ject Of vicious attacks because of this
| practice, but he seems not to have
overStepped the law, probably by good
luck rather than by planning. He
was involved in many lawsuits for
breach of contract. as he never hesi-
tated to leave France for some tempt
| ing journey, even though he was
obligated to turn In regular installmentS
| on a number OF serials. He loved
snowy clothes-gaudy waiStcoats, many
chains and rings, flowing capes, and
uniforms. He was an epicure and a
good cook, and loved to concocC delica-
cies for himself and his friends. He
was generous, wasteful, with his money,
and often fed several hundred friends,
acquaintances, and even strangers, ut
! his table In the days of his greatest
"folly''-the chateau which he called
Monte CriSto. He was affectionate on
impulse, but was easily wearied by. de-
mands on his affections. He said Of
himself that he never reasoned but
always acted on impulse. Perhaps the
Due dOrleans, later Louis Philippe,
pronounced his most appropriate char
acterization when he said OF him,
What q playboyl"
y r X X
Among other interesting sea warns
narrated in "Ships and Sailors: Tales
OF the Sea-" by Stanley Rogers, who
has also illustrated the volume, Is a
true story which goes to prove that
Jonah might have been swallowed by
whale and come forth alive. This
same experience, says Mr.. Rogers, was
unoergone by sailor, James BARLEY,
who, IN the excitement Of harpooning
cacnalot, was lost overheard the Amer
ican Whaler Star Of the East, in 1891,
of the Falkland Islands. The next
morning, after the whale had been
dispatched, its stomach was opened up
in search OF ambergris, and the body
OF man, doubled up and unconscious
was found. 1t was BARLEY. lie was
delirious for two weeks, but completely
recovered, although his skin was rer-
manently bleached to deadly white
ness.
\ 4 k*
John Wesley is seen in a romantic
light in The Lords Horsemar1," by
Umphrey Lee. The Key OF his picture
appears in the description of the
single figure, small and slight, his
long gray hair falling over his shoul-
derS, sitting on a tired horse, plodding
forward with looSened rein" John
Wesley was not mere preacher; he
was humanitarian, philosopher, per-
Sonal adviser in q way to suggest mod
ern workers in mental hygiene, I'M
! ofncial physician. For about go years
he travelled and preached and Gealt
with the troubles OF human beings; ne