AN HOUR WITH DUMAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9130, 11 August 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN HOUR WITH DUMAS.

THE BEST HOOKS. 'Well, what are we going to talk about? Literature? - ' paid M. Dumas. "By all means. And begin by saying why you are so hard on your contemporaries, old and young." "Because I am surrounded by cltfiT'Hvrc. Everybody has written one, and wants you to know it. Che/.s-d'ivuvre f\re not so plentiful as that. One may deem himself fortunate if, in a lifetime, he writes one good thing. Take the inventory of a cental v, and see what you find—the eightteentli, for instance. Diderot, two novels : ' (4il Bias' and ' Manon Lescaut'; two p'ays : ' Le Manage de Figaro' and ' Le Barbier'; a few comedies by jlarivaux ; some extracts from Voltaire —and that is all. Why,'everybody can write. Nothing is more common than literature. Bub the pretty phrases mean nothing. It is action—great initiatives 1 want, though they demolish great beliefs." PUMAS AND WOMEN". c; It is a cause of very legitimate pride with the men 01 America, ' said Le Cocq de Lantieppe, of the Critic, " that their countrywomen have proved that a liberal education and personal judgment are the best and safest promoters in the choice of a husband." " Booh, pooh !-—a woman marries a man because she lilies him, or doesn't marry him if she does not ; that's the beginning and the end of their analysis. I am surrounded by women, now mothers and grandmothers, whom I knew as girls. I have been able to observe very closely how much is implied by marriage. The day that woman is given the same rights and privileges as man, she ill despise him. Until that time she is dependent on him. What is more farcical than the institution called marriage? .... Women regard it as a liberator. It prefixes ' Madame' to their names, and takes them away from papa and mamma, of whom they are no doubt very fond, but whom they are delighted to leave. For some it ensures the gratification of maternal instincts ; nothing else." VP THE OLD OAKEN" STAIRCASE. Intimate friends climb two flights of a fine old oaken staircase to the study of the dramatist, where the eye is gratified with a mass of pictures and books. In the middle of this well-lighted room is an immense writing table laden with letters, papers, books, and a stand for penholders, where bristle as many as thirty yellow goose-quills. Dumas will have nothing to do with the prosaic steel pen nor the aristocratic gold pen, and the legibility of his chirography sutlers somewhat in consequence. Next to this study is the author's bedroom. Here again are pictures and other objects of art, a beautiful set of Sevres and Saxe being especially noticeable on the mantelpiece. The bed is low and wide, with a spring and hair mattress. The only luxurious things in the rooms are objects of art. HOW DUMAS LIVES AND WORKS AND AMUSES HIMSELF. Dumas is an early riser. ire is out of bed at 0.30 in summer and at seven in winter. After dressing, he goes to his study, where he lights his own tire, reads his letters, receives his friends, and works a little. He does not read the papers, for he generally hears the news before it gets into the journals. Ilis first breakfast consists of a glass of cold milk ; the second, which occurs at noon, is a very plain meal. After eating, Dumas works until about four, when he goes out for a promenade. He walks rapidly, with head erect, rolling his shoulders a little. lie dines at six, and goes to bed between ten and eleven. Dumas is a light eater but a heavy sleeper, lie needs from eight to nine hours of repose. He enjoys: exercise, and plays billiards with this in view. lie is very orderly. I have seen him more than once, feather-duster in hand, employed in dusting his study ; at another time, I have found him in his shirt sleeves, aided by a servant, changing the place of a piece of furniture. It is on Sunday that lie especially indulges in this house-cleaning mania, He is often assisted on these occasions by his godson—a young man of forty ! —who is as much attached to Dumas as a son would be. Ills TWO DAUGHTERS. Alexandre Dumas does not believe that young girls should enjoy much liberty. His two daughters were never allowed to go to the theatre or to balls. Up to the day of her marriage Mdlle. Collette had gone to but one evening party and but twice to the theatre, on both of which occasions tragedies were played. But since she has become a mother Mdme. Lippmann goes everywhere, reads everything, sees everything. She copies her father's manuscripts, and frequently criticises them, and the father often profits by the observations of his daughter.