Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-08-20
HOW DICKENS DICTATED.
An Interesting Talk With the Man
who Used TO Write for the Novelist.

Gurret Dumas ~, LovisriRc Commercial
"Iou were the amanuensis of Charles
Dickens, were you not"
"Ges; did Shorthand work for Mr.
Die kens for eighteen months l did
not take dictations for anyone of his
novels, only his fugitive pieces. He die
tated TO me most of his articles in AL
the Year Round. He was very clever
gentleman to those under him. He al
ways treated me very well, indeed.
Most people seem to think Dickens was
a ready writer. This is by no means
Office in st. Catharine street about
eight o'clock in the morning and be-
GIN debating. He would walk up and
down the floor several times after die
tating sentence or paragraph, and
ask me to read it. / would do so, and
he would, in nine cases out off ten, order
me to strike out certain words and in.
sert others. He was generally tired out
by eleven o'clock, and went down to
his club on the Strand. A very singu-
lar thing was that be never dictated the
closing paragraphs of his story. Heal
ways finished it himself. used to look
in the paper for it, and find that he had
changed it very greatly from what he
had dictated to me.
"Dickens had very odd habit of
combing his hair. He would comb it
a hundred times a day. He seemed
never to tire of it. The first thing he
did on coming into the office was to
comb his hair. / have seen him die
tate sentence or two, and then begin
cOmbing. When he got through he
dictated another sentence. He wanted
every sentence to he as perfect as posi-
bic before letting it go to press. Dickens
was an odd fellow regarding the COM
pany he sought. | have known him,
while | was employed by him, to go
down to the Seven Dials, about the
worst place in London, and sleep and
eat there. He roasted his herring
where the rest did, and slept with the
poorest. He loved low society. He
never seemed so happy as when seated
in the poor coffee-house with crowd of
the lower classes talking around him,
He never missed word that was said,
Nothing eScapeU MIN. me minute
We're noted and stored
away. When was working tor him he
was at the zenith of his fame, just before
his death: and even then he loved
these careless, rollicking rounds among
the poor better than heightened dim
ner."
"Was he as great drinker as he has
the reputation of beingw
81 never saw him drink myself.
have seen him several times eXhillarat-
ed, however. He only drank the best
of wine, but he drank that very freely.
Sherry was his especial favorite, and he
never refused glass Of fine old sherry.
He was an Unsuitable cigarette smoker,
and when debating TO me always had
q cigarette in his mouth. he was a
very spruce man, too. He brushed his
coat frequently, aid changed his collars
several times day. He was every bit
as humorous in his speech as in writ
ing. When he was in particularly
fine bumor he could keep you laughing
by the hour with his witty talk. lie
was not one of those men who are above
those they employ; he chatted as freely
with me as any member of his club on
the Strand. Dickens was undoubtedly
the best after-dinner speaker in Eng
land. / heard him at Whitehall once,
the occasion being the anniversary OF
of the British Museum. There was ali
enormous crowd, hardly standing room,
and he kept them in one continual roar
He was o fine actor, and this, added TO
his wit, made him irresistibly funny.
He was great eater, not an epicure,
but a gourmand. He ate, and ate, and
cared little for the quality so there was
enough before him."