River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-03-20
THE DICKENS SEPARATION.
I,cebabte C'0scs u ne InJeticitB u DicIs-
ems Marriage.

I,cebabte Cpttscs Of ne IHJeticity u Dick
ems Marriage.
Buffalo Express.
The telegraph reports that the widow of
(tnhrles Dickens is seriously i'll. The mys-
! tE.ry which led ID the separation of Mr. and
&ra. Dickens has never been satisfactorily
| explained sud perhaps never will be. II
iNonly known that the separation was one
oE tre most sensible affairs of that unf0r-
| tpnats kind tAat ever occurred. There was
! iGSompatibiIiy, at least, and the lives of the
tao could not DO happy so long as they ran
! 0iI together. There was, therefore, a quiet
agreement tEtIsagree. The wife as quietly
| Went to her fathers house, being doubtless
| Allowed sufficient income to al
/ ISW her 30. live properly. There were
IL, public or private complaints. There
| Was no violent quarrel. Mr.. Dickens spoke
| ii. the most complimentary terms of the
| lisiY whenever he referred to her, ana so far
az known she Was equally generous in her
references 10 him. Both held, notwith-
sc.nding tie hundred rumors that werc
asoat at the time and which have been more
or less prevalent ever since that the cause Of
az separation was not the business of the
piblic. They had separated and that was
al: there was about it. There was bad blood,
brt not so bad that Miss Hogarth, the wife's
sister, was Gqt permitted without scandal
AID without objection on tie part Of Mrs.
ngcdens, to remain in the family Of the hus
bt,nd. She evidently possessed warm sis
tttI9 affection for the great novelist, and she
rt8nEined with him until he died
sAn Auburn Clergyman who recently visited
Ltpdon processes to have learned all about
tlss cause Of the separation, and IN a lett sr
to the Auburn ldCcrtiSeT has given the p Ih-
li$ the eftirt Information. The sole snd
OILY trouble vas, he says, that Mrs DicEens
dEi not appreciate her husbands b poLs.
Without having the ability 10 understand, Oh
asaIeasi the cast Of mind necessary to ap9re-
ch.te them, sha WIS nevertheless free IN Ter
cr.tieisms and these to the sensitive mind Of
Nh. Dickens ~SIe excessively annoying. She
pta6isted in has criticisms until they and she
Became hateful, and the separation, 10 two
pessons peculiarly given to judgment and 10
aesion in Opposition one to another, was a
nEluTal consequence. The story seems alb
sud, but IL is the only reason
atss explanation Of the domestic diff
feeence5 Of Mr.. and Mrs. Dick
eng that has set been given; and that the
man who wrote such wonderful books, very
evidently pntling his whole heart in the
work, should he sensitive regarding them,
ana perhaps unreasonable ~ far as tue iudg
meas Of his family was concerned, is not at
all strange. There have indeed been too
mgng such cases to question the reasonable
meas Of the st0ry--too many cases Of more
s8dnsss, the free thinking and free talking
WIFE remaining with the man 10 whom her
presence was persecution, 10 the creation Of
s,Lsilier but iueaper scandal than that which
followed the wiser course If the Dickenses,
whose separation was, after all, mere dec
ag8tion Of d.tmo site peace.
Ia, his frs VISIT 10 the cOU1try Mr. Dick
ems was acco panied by his wife.
In saaly in.tanoes having perhaps been
peraGcuted t5o much by the admiriDg
crowd, he Eses naughty and oyerbearing,
and ghus made enemies He became fret
ful a1d nervous, and his self esteem was de-
veloFed to So greater degree upon bis first
vish dhan yh0a lie came last We have read
somewhere thai Mrs. Dickins on tLsse coca
siong WIS notisl9w 10 chide niIn, even before
his assembled sdmirers tlat she was glad
10 os4cl him u. inaccuracies ia bis unc0n-
siGarad remarks, and TO cor ect them, with
the b9st intentions bHt with an air Of i'm
por.auce anG 1hat whenever she Was thus
free her husband exhibited uumislakable
sigf#s of impaiGnce and even anger. "Be-
hold how grea; a matter little fire kim
dleth' Frou these slight differences
may arise the whole great
trouble. To believe 80 is 10 DO
in ea:ire haunQny with The reasonable story
Of tfla Auburn clergyman aud there are
thousands wiloglI bc glad Of such az ex-
pianasloD pickering il 10 the suppositi0p
that Mr.. DickeEs was unintentionally unjust
" his wife, even ~ the slightest degree, or
that bss part Of tue Lame wag other than
get haye betA expected Of man VI bis
peculiar temperament.
But il is q strange reflection that nan
who Eade 50 Dsauy happy hresides for others
should have had one 50 barren Of love and
CONTEXT for his own. u is told that John
howard Payne whose Home, Sweet Home"
VIII live ss long as there are
hougn aud i.aarts, was mere wan
deYer, aIJ drew the iuspira
ton Tor his so0g from giimpses through
clOsa1 windows 50 domestic circles utterly
strange 10 hiu1. is II that which We cannot
possess which rs asses US mostf is posses
sion aeeagsarily .disappointmeBtr Mr.. Dick
ems fe4itiOue households showed 8 bne
ufds gsssnding " the rule Of disorder that
prevails where 9 sloyenly woman manages.
His story Of tbs child wife in David Cop
peri ela' is the'gery poetry Of mismsnage-
meng al the SAME time that II is one Of
the tsnderest aHa most touching ever written
Will her accomplishments as q critic, Mrs
DieE rs may have possessed all but the low
lble attributes % .'DoTa:7 and we know that
there was visited upon the imaginary women
al TIE manlfness and all the disposition 10
bear and foTbear which characterized the
great aEfhor, 10 tar as the public knows, ia
bus dealings WiiE The real one,
.t 4k-s q Sc L.