The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-20
,EIr. Dickens and His Visit TO the United


doubtless form q distinguishing feature in the
intellectual recreations of the winter. Thou
sands among the multitudes whom Charles
Dickens has charmed by the marvellous power
of his works, will feel it to be a memorable era
in their lives when FIRST they see and hear the
great magician whose wondrous spell called
into being Captain Cutie and Little Nell, Paul
Dombey and Mr.. Pckwick, and whose genius
has wrought scenes of enchantment in colors
that will live and glow while books are read
or human hearts can sorrow or rejoice All
who have read his inimitable works will want
to see him, to know what manner Of man this
Is who for SO many years has held the hearts
of young and old at his command.
Mr.. Dickens was born at Portsmouth, Eng
land, in 1872, and was educated, by his fathers
wish, for the life of an attorney-a fact which
will explain his familiarity with the forms and
feohnicalities of the law, familiarity which
he has turned to such good account in some of
his works as to secure the extensive modifca-
lion Of many of the most serious legal abuses
In England. But the profession did not suit
Dickens, whose mind, already forecasting its
destiny, was turned towards literature; and
porter, and afterwards a writer Of sketches
and tales, in which his peculiar powers of
mind soon began to reveal themselves. In
1886 these "Sketches Of London Life' were
collected and published. The "Pickwick
Papers" followed in 1887; aud the thirty years
that have since elapsed have been years of
hard labor, of keen and careful observation,
and of almost unexampled success.
In 1912 Mr.. Dickens made visit of about
six months to this country, publishing on his
return his "American Notes"--a work which
called down upon him the maledictions of
many of our critics, and which even vet
s. causes foolish prejudice against its author in
The minds of thousands who have never read
the book.
N 1t seems scarcely necessary to call atten-
tion to the distinctive characteristics of Mr..
N Dickens writings. No books are more widely
known; none have gained frmer place in the
affections of the masses. Inimitable in humor
and pathos, they have stirred to laughter
and to tears many who are not easily moved
by fictitious scenes, and have prepared the
hearts Of some fora reader sympathy with their
neighbors' woes. Their power is strictly origi-
5 nal The style is unique, that of no other
author being traceable in them in any degree
and it has been noticed that they are almost
or quite free from quotations-the thought
and the graphic form in which it is pre-
sented are alike the fruit of the authors
= genius. OF this peculiar character are his
Pictures of Italy" We were accustomed
30 the artists sketches of Italy, to the hsto-
rian's comments, to the poets verses; but
Dickens alone visited that land of romance
Bimply as humorist; and as a result, he has
. given us a view of every scene, however solemn
ENOr sentimental, illumined by flashes of his
own peculiar and irresistible humor.
In every department Dickens seems at
home. Thackeray portrayed with astonish-
ing power the follies of fashionable life, but
Dickens has found in the tavern and in the
prison Oel as well as in the drawing-roOm
and the Office of trust, materials for his facile
pen. Hawthorne painted the quiet scenes of
our own domestic life as background on
which to trace some one startling hguFe-
Weird beautiful, unlike any other; but among
the hosts of Dickens characters, who can say
which are the unimportant ones And sud
denly turning aside from his wonted themes,
he has given us, in ''The Tale of Two Cities"
suoh scenes from the gloomy terrors of the
French Revolution as would lead us to say
chat historic painting was his forte, did we
not remember the myriad other forms in
which his power is displayed.
Some persons have objected to the works of
Mr. Dickens that they portray too fully the
Woes Of society especially Of the lower classes;
that too many Of his characters are such as we
would shun in real life--such as we ought
scarcely to mention to tears polite" But
there is virtuous silence in regard to acknow-
Iedged evils which often amounts almost to
federation of vice. If in Mr.. Dickens heroes
or herOines vice was dressed in attractive
pOlOrs and rewarded with final success, a verv
serious charge might, indeed, be brought
against him; but in the very reverse of this he
has one OF his prominent characteristics aud
an enviable distinction among the writers of
fiction. "We must all admire him." as the
Lord Chief Justice we'll remarked at the late
Dickens dinner in London; "for the unyarying
honesty of purpose which has never induced
him to pander to vicious tastes, which has
made him teach us-unconsciously, perhaps
to admire only that which is beautiful and
true, and helped us to hold up to execration
and scorn all that is loathsome, vile, and base.