Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-06-28
Death of Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens is dead. The an
nouncement will come as u shock o
grief TO thousands Of homes. Ill,
has left no brother among mortal
whose loss would be so keenly anC
50 widely felt as personal afiiiction
NO other man has enthroned himsel
in so many hearts no other man hai
visited 40 many households and beer
so welcomed there as beloved guest
Charles Dickens was essentially
and peculiarly the friend of the Poor
the Representative Of the common
people. Before his time, the great
popular writer's had contented them
selves with painting the upper class
es the weakness and strength, the
greatness and littleness, the friend
ships trials, scandals and amours o.
the nobility. Over all the novels o.
the ante-Dickens period, was thrown
the glamour OF the purple. Walter
Scott dipped somewhat into the lives
OF the lowl y people of his time, but
even his novels were written for q
far different constituency than those
OIL tho author Of Oliver Twist. Rul
wer rarely stepped down from hi.
majestic height to talk with the pov.
erty-stricken wretches of his time.
But with Dickens came democracy
in fiction. And he not only wrote
about the common people, but he
wrote tor the common people. He
let in light to all the dark crannies
and rOokeries OF low life in England.
He ledtwenty million readers through
the leprous dens of infamy and blight
and gave them no rest until they
carried relief. For thirty years the
inmates of English prisons have been
less oppressed, the urchins of the
ragged schools have been less meanIy
clad and fed, the plundered victims
of the Chancery Court have been less
prosecuted, the helpless creatures in
the almshouses have been less
wretched in their misery, because
Charles Dickens was their champion.
He moved constantly in their behalf
in palace and hovel, in the church
and at the bar, at court and in all
the seats Of power, and his appealing
voice had a potency that no other
human voice has ever yet attained.
Charles Dickens has gone hence
but what family he has left Up
and down the world they troop, rep
resentatives Of every variety Of the
human race. As Mrs. Dombey left
her character transmitted in her
child when "clinging fast to that
slight spar within her arms, she drift
ed out upon the dark and unknown
sea that rolls round all the world,
so has Dickens, weighing anchor and
trimming sail upon the same sea, left
o wonderful procession of immortals.
Pickwi and Sam Weller, flanked
by the dcvout but bibulous Stiggins
the unpleasant Carker, the wonder
full little Cleopatra, and the florid
Joey b.. Thomas Gradgrind, with
his e2travagant love of facts, Josiah
Bounderby, Esquire, of Coketown,
aud that miserable little comfort
Sissy S'eary Scrooge, Swallowed by
the ghost of Marley, escorted by the
ghost o. Christmas Past, and followed
.imidly by Tiny Tim the diabolical
Squeers, and Nicholas Nickleby Civ
ing him his dues, stalwart and gener-
Gus John Browdie, starving and
frightened Smil1c, the embarrassed
Kate at her first cooking, and the
Brothers Cheeryble, representatives
Of the grandest men that God ever
sent to bless the world Pecksnifl
and the party at Todgers, the jolly
Mark Tapley and the melancholy
Sairy Camp; David Copperfeld, Lit
tie Emily, Uriah Heep, Micawber,
Little DOrrit, and all the other mar
velous creations-they defy death,
and live forever to tell the world
who Charles Dickens was. No need
Of q eu'ogist, when o soul going to
the sunny land leaves such eloquent
witnesses. Dickens will be mourned
but be will rot be forgotten. He
wrote FOR all the world and for all
time, and he will be tenderly remem.
bered as long as the English language
shall retain it's form, and humor and
pathos shall move the heart Of man
---Chicdg0 Post.