Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-01-02
Anecdotes of Public Men.
BY COL. JOHN W. FoRNEY.
From the Sunday Morning chronicle.

4.-..- BY COL. JOHN W. FORNEY.
From the Sunday Morning Chronicle.
l am reading, with infinite zest, Johr
/, ,Forster's second volume of the Lite o
| Charles Dickens. Every page is a new
! pleasure, every chapters a new revela
ton of the better side of the truesl
friend of humanity in the literary
world. Neither Shakespeare, nor Byron
nor Walter Scott, nor Tom Moore, mol
! Alfred Tennyson, deigned to show 81
honest devotion to the poor and un.
fortunate as Charles Dickens. He al
/ ways seized the holidays, and especial.
! ~ Christmas, to extend his warnings
/ to the rich and his encouragement to
/ the poor. BLESSINGS on your kind
/ heart, wrote the great Jeffrey, of the
/ Edinburgh Reriets, in 1912, after he had
read "The Christmas Carol;' s'you
lsleuld be happy yourself, for you may
! be sure you have done more good by
this little qualifications, fostered more
! lZiadiy feelings, and promoted more
/ positive acts of beneficence than can
betaced to all the pulpits and comics.
siOslals in ChristOndom." r"Who can
listen 9lexclaimedT Thackeray, "to Objec-
tions regarding such book as this? II
seems to me national benefit, and to
every man or woman who readSrit a
personal kindness "It told, ~ says
Forster, his biographer, ,"the selfish man
to rid himself OF his selfishness; the Just
man to make himself generous; the
good natured man to enlarge the sphere
of his good nature. Dickens had iden-
Titled himself with Christmas fancies.
It's life and spirit, itsahumor in riotous
abundance, of right belonged to him.
. Its irlaginations, rs, well as kindly
thoughts, were his; and its-privilege to
light up with some sort of coTfort. the
Sg4iididest places he had made his oWn.'
With, h,brave!and strong restraints, what
is evil in ourselves was to be subdued;
with warm and gentle sympathies,
what is bad or unreclaimed in others
was to, be redeemed. The Beauty was
to embrace the Beast, as in the diyin-
est of all those fables; the star was to
rise out OF, the, ashes, as in our, much
loved CindereIla;' and we We're to play
the Varentine with our wilder brothers,
and bring, them, back with brotherly
care to civilization and happiness."
g. After, the Christmas Carol" came
:s.Phe Chimes" for the. holidays, in
1874, This beautiful story, was written
in Genoa, Italy. The argument here,
as in the first, was TO induce the rich to
help the poor, and. the poor to forget
their, miseries. 1t. is curious how he
found the title.of "The Chimes" He
had theisubject, but not the name Of
his book, in his mind, and, says .Fors-
ter, 1s.sittins do@n, one morning reso-
lutte for WORK, such a peal { f Chimes
arose from the cityas7 he found to be
maddening. All, Genoa lay beneath
him, ard up from it, with some sudden
gust of wind, came IN one fell sound,
fhe clang and clash Of all its steepIes,
pouring into his ears, again and again,
in tuneless, grating, 'discordant, jerk
ing, hideouS vibration, that made his
ideas spin round and 'T5und till they
lost themselves in n Whit of veXation
and giddiness.' 'Only two da 3 later
came a letter in which not single
syllable was written, bat 'We have
heard "'nhe :Chimes,'l at midnight,
Master Saallow;s then 4 knew he had
discoVered' he wanted" His one
great idea was. always that the poor
should be led out of their poverty; the
of taeir vices; thelunfor-
tunate out of their misfortuneS, and
that Christmas hYas the season to en-
force the moral. In Venice ne said:
sAh! when I'saw those palaces hoy I
that 10 leave ones hand upon
the time, lastinglF upon the time, with
one tender touch for the mass of toiiing
people that nothing could ebliterate,
would be to slift ones self above the
dust;of all 1.-the, Doges in their grayes, /
upon the giants ,staiEcase
that Samson could not overthrow
. In 1S4Jhe conceived THAT splendid
hristmasideaB "The1 Cricket on the
.7aiiWhen he was deliberating
it, h+-wrote to Forster, that his new
story should contain" Carol philosophy, i
cheerful viehs, sharp anatOmization of
jolly good, temper, and aview
of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful,j 4
)eaming reference in everything. to-
lome and tireside; andI would call it,
'ir, .Thei Crieket;l Cheerful Creature |
hat Chirrups on the Hearth natural |
history" 'It would be delicate and |
fancy, for, Christmas book,
making the. cricket a little household
,od- silent in, the wrong and sorrow. of |
he tale and loud again when all went I
veil and haPpy.nnd Those ,of, US who l
ecQllect the wonderful charm of the
Cricket on theHearth,U with its weird
nd simple characters, viii not need to
'e told By. Forster that '""its sale at the
n.ssf dsalPlesd1 ls1t that2f all its predecceess-
%2'ft sni go NniTas,i >.;y!tg. ..af,.,-.,iI
.sChriotmas always inspired him. The
lolidays were .his,o season, of joyful |
thoughts aid magnetic writing. And I
QWs as we recall hin in the. glowing
ages, of his confidential 'biograph,r,
1hy should not .We remember those ]
cred during this immortal interval
le psarrenthssi9, SO to speak, between
be Old year and the .neW-the pleasant
preh ip which we, take, leave Of the J.,
ne and eiitser upon the other? A ben T.
factor Of his species fike William w I,
plr9ran, Of Washington, D c., fortu--
ate in bis active life, and still more
)rtFfIate in its closing, days, becduse
by the prayers of tfrose
2 hhs aided by his fiberality.i and byf
ne res pect and hopor'of the greatsDis- r
'ict he has beautified by ihf5H princely
ndowments-sucfi d man ought to ;
pend a most comfortable Christmas;
nd George'W.! Childs,f of philadelphia,
hose royal bounties aIl'theyeaf round i
ave so touching crown in his, h6li!
ay gifts TO tile needy, as if7to show he
oes not forget how he broke the prison G
ans of poverty and escaped the 'stwin t
iiors ofstfie daring heart;" and Jay ]
06ke, with his great heart full of the III
'armest impulses, and ieager 10 help If
18th uninqpiring gbenevolence--the pa G
'0niof every noble art and the helper q
/ every stricken wanderer;s and w. G r
.allston, of San F'rancisce, who, also q
san from, the ranks of toll, recolleets y
rat he should iss ..,iE -. 10 .,1-r. 4. /
Give, rs twas given, a blessing totfee;' I
=, 1ni bar tI"issfJ = . - is-.f.i!. moo I
fF,i ,sontia Daai ai4c -jaucilfra3tI Il
Gives, as 'twasgiyen, ablessing ho6e, rl i
I'd bright Thomas A. Scott, proto-