AN ANECDOTE OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1587, 19 January 1884, Page 2

AN ANECDOTE OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS.

The following story from the life of M. Dumas, the elder, say the Parisian papers, has never been published before :-Ono day the great novelist had to pay a draft of £s,ooofrs. If he could not pay it, tho doors of the prison at Clichy were open for him. Walking along the Boulevards and meditating on his position, he came upon one of his fellow workmen, as yet unknown, who had only a few days, been admitted into the Society of Dramatic Authors. His .clothes were shabby, his hat of advanced age, and he himself was long find thin, with flat feet, and a walking stick in his hand, " I am saved," thought Dumas, and to the man.he said, ''Do you want money?" "Ofcourse." "Comealong, then, and do as I bid you." They took a cab and drove to Scribe's, where Dumas told his companion to walk up and down the pavement while he went into the house. On arriving Dumas dashed into Scribe's room exclaiming, "They have caught me j I must go to Clichy." " Impossible. How much money is it?" "A mere nothing—--5,000f. Look down there," ' Scribe stepped to the window and saw tho stranger' keeping guard hear the vehicle, He gave Dumas the money and the latter took his departure in j great haste, His companion received 500f,, and the rest he kept for himself, A few days later a meeting was held by the Society of Dramatic Authors, at which Scribe presided, There was only a few members present, and Du-' mas, with his fellow worker, sat in the first row. On rising to open the meeting, Scribe recognized the shabby fellow, and angrily called for the servant to throw the police officer out oi the room; ffSucli people had no business, there." In the midst of'" tho general confusion Dumas approached the President's chair, and whispered somsthing . into Scribe's, ear. -,; Tho latter burst into a loud laugh, and composing himself said,' "Pray pardon me, it was a mistake; you may stay."

—* —mhHHHhß In a recent number °^HmHHH Surrey, writes:—Being, as*l am, trMU Short-horn beeeder,no doubt you will bo prepared to hear that J do. not beliovo thoro is any race of cattle for ■ general farm purposes at all coniparablo to them, and therefore, even at the risk of being suspected of partizanship, I must state my convictions, basqd as on observations on whatever has gone before, and for the following reasons with others:—First, the breed adapU itself more readily than any other to the various localities; it is at home on the prairies of Texas or in a nobleman's park; its breed has been used more extensively than any other for improving inferior animals; it can bo moulded and converted into a "milkmachine" or a "beef-maker," or. as near as may be, into a perfect combination of both. It matures earlier than any other breed, and feeds as rapidly and as economically as any other; audits quality is equal to anyV and superior to most,-and its pvefr tent power of transmitting its excellencies to its offspring is unrivalled. For a confirmation of theso opinions I refer to the much-respected name of the late Mr Carrington, whose dairy of graded shorthorns cquld not bo surpassed; and to Mr' Hutchison and Mr Tumbull, the [winners of tho hist prizes for dairy farms at the recent Royal Agricultural Show at York, to the prize-takers at the show itself; for out of nineteen entries of dairy stock, the first, second, and third prizes were taken by Bhorthorns; and in the next class, for heifers, the only prize awarded was for a shorthorn. Then I appeal for further confirmation of this to the great London dairyman, Mr Tisdall, and others, who look first to the dairy qualities, and then to their remarkable cm-cases. Tho Galloways, Herefords, Bevons, and tho Sussex cattle, aro all good beef makers, but lack to a large extent, the other requisite qualities of dairy stock and prepotency; tho Ay rehires, Jerseys, and the Guernseys, are excellent for dairy purposes alone, but for beef makers they are out of the running, to say nothing of the delicacy of constitution and the difficulty of acclimatising, in our colder and damper counties, the Channel Islanders. It is. not claimed that every short-horn cow is good at •the pail, or as a butter cow, or that there is nover a "screw;" but what I do claim for them is that they have nearly always one or the other of these two distinguishing qualities—either dairy cows of the highest merit, or flesh formers of tho foremost rank, and generally they have a combination- of both. The history of the shorthorn fully shows that from the- earliest period, as a rule, they wore very large milkers, and when cultivated with a view exclusively to dairy purposes, no animal of any breed excelled them, and very few equalled them in large yields of milk and butter. lam fully aware that, as thoroughbred cows, from their much higher value for breeding,purposes than for dairy use, the lacteal qualities have been to some extent neglected; but the quality is inherent in their organisation, and with intelligent management is rapidly developed when that quality is a desideratum.