Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-13
INTERVIEW WITH DICKENS.

ga. Head" humorous writer, thus
chronicles an interview with Dickens:
l saw him at the Parker House, Boston
Common, the other day, and over glass
of lager beer We talked over the parst.
Said he: -
"Head, am delighted to see youl
hear you are newspaper man p
"Charley, give me one long fond, en-
brace, and "Let Me Kiss Those Tears
NTSst w olung q G8 81
~'Tis Years Since Last We Met, My
Head p
at are, Charley, since we met in this
aboriginal, tobacco chewing country; but /
heard you read in London for / and shil-
lings hedp HuE
"Hush my boy, get So here, and any
quantity of wine and hot suppers to boot.
You know, my Head, that when / wrote
about your country some years ago, didn't
expect ever to come here again; but when
my agent told me in England how much
money could make over here, / dis
covered that whatever little notes my
beamy eyes have deserted in that country,
they are a kind, large-hearted, generous
and great people, Hear. !"
Sed j, Charley, bless you for those
utterance; let me embrace you !"
We cllng
Another glass of lager was ordered up
without regard to expense. After our
mutual emotion had suhsided, he perseded: ::
"You write for papers in the South, don't
you, my HeadP
Eyes, the Trombone of Freedom, the Gull
lotine of Progress, and the Gofer of the
Gulf" said /.
"Then why couldn't you go for me 2" said
he, smiling as though he made joke. /
saw it," and said
"Charlie, we Americans will do anything
for you Englishmen. If you want two or
three column puff in any one of my papers,
you shall il have, and we will serenade you
TO sleep, and carry you on our shoulders to
show the people how much we think of yon,
and how little we think of ourselves"
"Will you," said he with another emotion,
"then let me embrace you again p
We clung
Another emotional glass of lager was
ordered, and "drank standings we'll as
we could.
He continued:
"What great, glorious, generous, goT-
geous people you are, you Americans, l
can get 81 a seat, payable in advance" all
through you distracted country. To think
that a man should have written so about
YOU in England, and signed MY name to it !
It's too much p and "by the waters of BabyN
lon--we sat down and weptp
Have you been to see the big origin p
/ asked as soon as / could recover my self
possession.
"Yes," said he, and his voice trembled
with emotion, sand Boston Common, to
which our Hyde Park in London is as the
Duke Of Wellington's statute to your
Bunker Hill monument The great men
of Boston have took me everywhere, shown
me everything, and paid all the bifis.
You are a great peoplel Your resources
are inexhaustable; your baked beans are
the best, and am willing to forgive and
forget the past, and read to your people at
81 ticket in greenbacks. o, say nothing
about the gold, my Head, your paper
money viii be accepted by me, and
freely forgive your people.
We chung!
The interview lasted some time by the
"Old South Church" and terminated amid
mutual pledges of love as long as he re-
mained in this country. Charley gave me
a whole ticket to his readings free, and ]
| promised TO write him two or three
columns. We newspaper men don't care
for or columns it don't cost anything
of course mott we only publish papers
for the sake of seeing our names in print,
that's ali. We don't care who is President,
we are going TO devote all our space to
Charley ID. now-all the space We have in
our heads. We ought to close up our
stores for Englishmen when they come to
this country, they do so mach for us-so
much-and they "do" us SO we'll Good
bye, Charley we are glad that you conde-
scend to take our paper money, and are
grateful that you forgive US for what you
have said Of us.
p. S. We clung-and separated