The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-02-16
ALEXANDER DUMAS
He Wrote 1900 Volumes, Ern-
ed $5,OOO,OOO And Died
In Poverty.

The Three Musketeers has been
a "beSt seller" for almost "a CEN
fury. Your grandmother probably
thrilled to it in the theater when
she was a girl, and hundreds OF
people are reading it this very
minute, in a dozen different Ian
guages all over the world.
Alexander Dumas, the man
who wrote The Three Muske-
teers. was one of the most aston
ishing nOveliSts that ever dipped
a good quill into ink. In spite OF
his fat, grotesque appearance, he
did have a way with women.
He declared over and over
again that he would never marry.
But he boosted once too often
and one of his sWeetheartS called
his bluff. She had her guardian
buy up all of Alexander's debts
at a bargain price.
In those days, you could be
clamped into Jail for debt; SO
Dumas. the great lover was po-
litelv informed that he could take
his choice-marry or go to the
hoosegoW. He married.
Dumas even looked strange.
Three-fourths of the blood that
coursed through his arteries was
white; but the other fourth was
negro.
An epicure and a gourmet, he
was nearly as famous for his
ability to concoct a sauce or roast
a duck as for his ability to write
a novel.
He would eat a meal that
would have put even Bismark to
shame; yet, in spite of his glut-
tonous appetite, he never drank
coffee or liquor, and he never
smoked.
When he was busy writing, he
didn't even care about food; and
sometimes he even forgot to eat
at all. If a friend dropped in to
see him while he was working,
he simply held out his left hand
in greeting and kept on scrlb-
bling with his right hand.
But he was frightfully temp
Ornamental about the kind of pap
er and pens he used.
For example, he could only
write novels on blue paper, and
with a special set Of pens. If he
was writing poetry, he uses yell
low paper and a different set OF
pens.
If he was writing an article for
magazine, he couldn't possibly
use anything but rOse-colored
writing paper; and he never, un-
der any circumstances, used blue
ink.
Blue ink gave him the filters.
And he couldn't compose play
while sitting at his desk. In or
der to write play, he had to lie
down on sofa with good soft
pillow propped under his ell
bow.
Ridiculous? Yes, but before
you laugh at him, let me tell you
what he accomplished. He wrote
over one hundred plays and so
many novels and histories that
the collected edition of his en-
tire work today totals one thou
sand, two hundred volumes!
Think of it! He earned over five
million dollars-far far more
thany any other writer of his
age.
The characters in Dumas books
were intensely real to him. He
dreamed about them and gossip
ed about them just as if they
were living people; and he wrote
about them with a sweep and
gusto that holds you spell-bound
now, almost a hundred years
later.
Sometimes he would be carried
away completely with his story
and he would shout with laugh
ter and joke with his characters
as if they were actually sitting
across the table from him.
Blessed with energy OF a Jack
Dempsey, he tore all over Europe
by stage coach and horseback and
he often kept five novels going
all at one time, appearing, day
by day, as serials in the news
papers. He didn't have time to
read his own books; but he did
have time to fight twenty duels
with swords and pistols.
AS he grew older, he went II
for wine, women and song. No
No. I am wrong. He didn't drink
and he didn't sing; but he did &c
in for girls in big way.
When the many gold dlgger'