CHAPTER X

DUMAS--HUGO--STEVENSON

A story can scarcely open better than by showing us a young man setting out to find his fortune. One of the most eminent of romantic writers, Alexandre Dumas, begins _The Three Musketeers_ after this fashion. We have a choice of reading the story either in French or English. Dumas, a Frenchman, wrote _Les Trois Mousquetaires_ in French, and, therefore, naturally, this thrilling story is more wonderful in French even than it is in English. But an English translation, one can promise every boy and girl, is very well worth reading.

On an April morning of the year 1626, in the market town of Meung, in the country of France, a young man, eighteen years of age, came to the door of an inn. He was riding an orange-coloured pony, none too good a specimen of a steed. His name was d'Artagnan. He came from Gascony, and in a story it is always taken for granted that Gascons are very proud and hot-tempered. He was poor and somewhat shabby in appearance. A man at one of the windows of the inn appeared to be laughing at him and at the queer colour of his pony; indeed the man had called the pony a buttercup. D'Artagnan, who was wearing a sword, at once challenged the man, Rochefort, to fight with him. There was a fight which was rather a scuffle than a combat. Still d'Artagnan {60} acquitted himself with credit, although later he was beaten into insensibility by Rochefort's servants. He lost, however, the precious letter his father had given him to M. de Treville, Captain of the King's Musketeers. Nevertheless, that same day he rode to the St. Antoine Gate of Paris, sold his horse, and on the day following presented himself in the antechamber of M. de Treville.

There he meets the three famous musketeers, Athos, Aramis and Porthos. Louis XIII is King of France, Anne of Austria is Queen, and Cardinal Richelieu is as powerful a leader as either of them. So begins the thrilling series of romances in which d'Artagnan appears, the whole series being the masterpiece of Alexandre Dumas.

_The Three Musketeers_ is the first story about d'Artagnan. The second is called _Twenty Years After_; the third, _Vicomte de Bragelonne_. In the second story, Louis XIII has died and Anne of Austria is regent. Her chief minister is Mazarin. We see in his youth the young king who is to be the famous Louis XIV. But the really important characters are d'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos; the Vicomte de Bragelonne, who is dearly loved by these four heroes, is Athos' son.

French history is shown by Dumas to have a curious relation to English history. But the connection is more or less imaginary. When we read these stories, it is possible that we may obtain some idea of French history, even of English history. We see brilliant scenes of colour, romance and intrigue. We read of triumphs, catastrophes and great occasions. But what really {61} matters are d'Artagnan's splendid wit and audacity, the silent dignity of Athos, the subtlety of Aramis, and the marvellous strength of Porthos.

These four form a heroic comradeship. They help, support, rescue and defend each other. Danger follows danger. Intrigue leads to intrigue. D'Artagnan never fails in strategy, nor Athos in nobility. When any one of the four is sorely pressed, the others are certain to appear before the danger becomes overwhelming. There are many famous episodes in these stories, the recovery by d'Artagnan and his man Planchet of the Queen's diamond studs, the release from prison of the Duc de Beaufort by means of a colossal pie in which are concealed ropes and daggers, the kidnapping of General Monk by d'Artagnan and his followers disguised as fishermen, the epic of the death of Porthos, who is one of the strongest heroes to be found in any romance.

When we read such stories as these written by Dumas we are made to feel light-hearted. He is gay and witty, while under wit and gayety he hides a tender heart. The man who wrote the stories is himself frank, kind and generous, and we discover the same frankness, kindness and generosity in the pages of his romances. His writing is characterized by speed, directness and clearness. It has been said, and no doubt truly, that sometimes a person suffering from homesickness has been so invigorated mentally by reading one of Dumas' stories that the fit of homesickness has been cured.

Dumas was something of a giant physically, {62} like Porthos. Indeed, it is thought that he may have made Porthos a partial portrait of himself and of his father, who also was a large man and very powerful. Dumas' grandfather, a Frenchman, had left France for St. Domingo and there had married a native of the island, a coloured woman. Dumas inherited the physical characteristics of his father who was like his St. Domingan mother. The vivacity and gaiety we find in the works of Dumas may have come in part at least from his grandmother. His mother was left a widow early and she and her children lived in great poverty. Dumas' immense vitality and high spirits conquered many obstacles. We enjoy reading about d'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos all the more for knowing that the writer who invented them and wrote of them so gayly, was a brave man.

Romance carries us easily from one country to another. Yet a second noted writer of romance, in some ways more gifted than Dumas, is also a Frenchman, Victor Hugo, generally considered greater as a poet than as a writer of prose. Two of his books, _Notre Dame de Paris_, and _Les Misérables_, belong to the famous books of the world and may be read in the French original, preferably of course, or in an English translation.

Hugo's romances, as well as the romantic stories of Dumas, were inspired to a certain extent by the novels of Sir Walter Scott. But in Scott we find ourselves in the sunlight of a reasonable and happy world. The atmosphere of Hugo's stories one might compare to that of stormy days, illuminated by flashes of lightning. The romance of {63} _Notre Dame de Paris_ is dominated by a vision of the cathedral in Paris which seems in the story far greater and larger than it is actually. Some day you may see the cathedral for yourselves, but before doing so, read Hugo's story. It imparts to the famous cathedral an air of wonder and mystery which proves to us Hugo's remarkable powers as a writer. Round Notre Dame he gathers as strange a multitude of people as can be found in any story, the beautiful gypsy dancer Esmeralda, her goat Djali, the terrible dwarf Quasimodo, the swarm of beggars, with their beggar king, Claude Frollo, Captain Phoebus, Pierre Gringoire, and the unhappy recluse Gudule.

An even more remarkable romance by Victor Hugo is named _Les Misérables_. The book is more than a story. Hugo brings in so many affairs outside the story itself that when we have finished the book we feel as if we had read part of the history of the world. You remember the strong impulse to heal and relieve the distresses of humanity which we found in the novels of Charles Dickens. The same powerful motive is seen in action in these romances by Victor Hugo. Perhaps there are few books in which we can find explained so clearly the problems, distresses and poverty of the older and more crowded countries of the continent of Europe as they existed at the time of the story. Hugo means to awaken our pity and he does so. Jean Valjean, the escaped convict of _Les Misérables_, is condemned by harsh and wicked laws, yet he becomes the soul of tenderness and goodness. For his sake, and for the sake of the good Bishop Myriel who first {64} showed Jean Valjean what love and forgiveness mean, we should read some part at least of _Les Misérables_; or we may be able to find someone who has read Hugo's immensely long novel and is willing to tell us the story of Jean Valjean.

It is difficult to imagine a sharper contrast to the writings of Victor Hugo than the gay, youthful, carefree stories which Robert Louis Stevenson wrote for young people. Yet Stevenson admired Hugo greatly, and was as well one of the most loyal adherents of Dumas. Stevenson wrote _Treasure Island_ to help his step-son, Lloyd Osbourne, then a boy of twelve years old, through rather a dull and lonely holiday spent near Braemar in the north of Scotland. Stevenson's father, an old man with a boy's heart, used to listen to the story when it was read aloud in the afternoons as soon as each chapter was written, one chapter a day. It was Thomas Stevenson, the father, who wrote out the list of the contents of Billy Bones' sea chest.

Robert Louis Stevenson loved adventure, and this is one of the reasons why _Treasure Island_ is such a delightful story. First, he and Lloyd Osbourne drew the map that you will find at the beginning of _Treasure Island_. Then the story begins, told by Jim Hawkins, whose mother kept an inn, the Admiral Benbow. To the inn comes Billy Bones, bringing his sea chest. Later one old sailor after another arrives, the most terrifying of all being the blind man Pew, who felt his way tapping with a stick. Soon it appears there is hidden treasure to be found. Jim Hawkins, Dr. Livesay and Squire Trelawney sail away on the {65} _Hispaniola_, but many of the crew on board, led by John Silver, mean to take the treasure for themselves.

_Treasure Island_ is one of the best stories of adventure ever written for young people. What happens on board the _Hispaniola_ and at the island is waiting hidden in the pages of the story for you to read.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in the city of Edinburgh, which was also Sir Walter Scott's native city. He was a brave, very lovable person. All his life, he was more or less of an invalid. But he did not allow ill-health to make much difference to his way of living. He kept on working, and as you know, his work was writing. There is nothing about his books which would make any one think he was an invalid. Finally, he and his wife went to live at Samoa in the South Seas, where the climate suited him, and he was able to lead a more active life than had been possible for some time. He was engaged in writing what is judged to be his best work, a novel called _Weir of Hermiston_, when he died. Of the many books that Stevenson wrote, two others besides _Treasure Island_ are especially interesting to boys and girls, _Kidnapped_, and its continuation _Catriona_. Together, the two stories make one volume, called _David Balfour_ after the hero.

Swiftly moving, gay, gallant, easy to read, sweet and sound at heart as the kernel of a nut, Robert Louis Stevenson's romantic adventurous stories belong more completely than most books of fiction to the world of youth. He wrote _A Child's Garden of Verse_, _Underwoods_, and _Ballads_, as {66} well as other novels, _Prince Otto_, _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_, and _The Master of Ballantrae_. Stevenson's essays are much thought of; and he was an individual and delightful letter-writer.

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