Alexandre Dumas, the Elder, an illustrious French dramatist and romancist, was born at Villière Cotterets, Aisne, July 24, 1803 (?), and died near Dieppe, December 5, 1870. A few of his great romances are: “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Twenty Years After,” “The Knight of Maison-Rouge,” “Viscount de Bragelonne,” “Queen Margot,” etc., etc. Some of his historical romances are: “Joan of Arc,” “Michelangelo and Raffaelle,” “Louis XIV and His Age,” etc. His most famous plays were: “Henri III. and His Court,” “Antony,” “Charles VII with His Grand Vassals,” “Napoleon Bonaparte,” “Mdlle. de Belle-Isle,” “Marriage under Louis XV,” “The Misses St. Cyr,” etc. He also wrote entertaining narratives of his travels in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, etc.
Heaven is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.
“Gradatim,”—-Josiah G. Holland.
Josiah Gilbert Holland, a famous American poet and novelist and editor, was born at Belchertown, Mass., July 24, 1819, and died in New York, October 12, 1881. Among his works are: “Letters to the Young,” “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” “Plain Talks on Familiar Subjects,” “Nicholas Minturn,” etc. Also poems under the titles: “Bitter Sweet,” “Kathrina,” “The Mistress of the Manse,” “Garnered Sheaves,” etc.
The energies of our system will decay; the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit and all his thoughts will perish.
“The Foundations of Belief,”—Arthur James Balfour.
Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour, a distinguished English author and statesman, was born July 25, 1848. He has written: “A Defence of Philosophic Doubt,” “The Foundations of Belief,” “Essays and Addresses,” “Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade,” “Speeches” (1880-1905), on “Fiscal Reform,” “Criticism and Beauty,” “Theism and Humanism,” etc.
I remember, I remember
How my childhood fleeted by,—
The mirth of its December
And the warmth of its July.
“I remember, I remember,”—Winthrop M. Praed.
Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a celebrated English poet, was born in London, July 26, 1802, and died in 1839. Among his best known pieces are: “The Red Fisherman,” “Private Theatricals,” “Every-Day Characters,” “School and Schoolfellows,” “A Letter of Advice,” “Our Ball,” “My Partner,” “My Little Cousins,” etc.