Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-07-28
DICkENss AMANUENsus.
A Talk with a Man Who Wrote shor
hand for The Aulhar

| lGarret Dumas In Louisville Commercially
You were an amanuensis of Charles Dick.
ems, were you ?"
Yes l did shorthand work for Mr..
Dickens for eighteen months. did not take
dictations for any of the novels-only his fu.
gitive pieces. lie dictated to me most Of his
articles In All the Year Round He was q
very clever gentleman to those under him.
lie always treated me very well indeed
MOST people seem to think Dickens was
ready writer. This is by no means the case.
He used to come into his office in St. Gather.
inc street about eight o'clock in the morning
and begin debating He would walk up and
down the floor several times after debating
sentence or paragraph and ask me to read
IT, ! would do so, and he would, in nine
cases out OF ten, order me to strike out Ger
tain words and insert others. lie was gener.
ally tired out by eleven O'Clock, and went
down TO his club on the Strand. A very sim
guar thing was that he never dictated the
closing paragraphs of his story. lie always
finished it himself. 1 used to look in the pa-
per for it, and found 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 one
hundred times day. lie seemed never to
tire of it. The first thing he did on coming
into the office was to comb his hair. have
seen MIN dictate sentence or two and then
begin combing. When he got through he
dictated another sentence. He was very
careful about his writings. He wanted every
sentence to be us perfect as possible before
letting 1t go TO press. Dickens was an odd
fellow regarding the company he sought. |
have known him, while was employe by
him, to go down to the Seven Dals. about
the worse place in London, and sleep and eat
there. be roasted his herring where the
rest did, and slept with the poorest. lie
loved low society. He never seemed so hap
py us when seated in poor coifee-house
with crowd Of the lower classes talking
around him. He never missed word that
was said, and was thr closest observer ever
saw Nothing escaped him. Tho most
minute mannersms were noted and stored
away. When l WIS working for him he
was at the zenith of his fame, Just before his
death, and even then hc loved these careless,
rollicking rounds among the poor better
than high-toned dinner
Was he as great drinker as he has the
reputation of being!"
Il never saw him drunk myself. have
seen him several times exhilarated, however.
lie only drank the best of wine, but he drank
that very freely, Sherry was his especial ia
vorite, and he never refused glass of fine
old sherry. He was an Unsuitable cigarette
smoker, and when dlcta'ing to me he always
had cigarette in his mouth He was u
very spruce man, too. lie brushed his coat
frequently, and changed his collars several
times in day. He was every bit as humor-
GUS in bis speech as in his writings. When
he was in a particularly fine humor he could
keep you laughing by the hour with his wit
ty talk. He was not one of thos. 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 atter-dnner speaker in England. |
heard him once at Whitehall, the occasion be-
Ing the anniversary OF The British Museum
There was an enormous crowd, hardly stand
Ing room, and he kept them in one continual
roar. lie was fine actor, aud this, added
to his wit, made him rresistibly funny"