The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-11-28
AN INTERVIEW WITH DICKENS.

The first time met Charles Dickens was
in 1912, when, as he said himself, he came
here on business and the Yankees chose to
make fools of themselves. His business
was to obtain the passage of an inter-
national copyright law, and failing in that
he felt nothing but bitterness towards the
people who had treated him so Hospitality.
He put upat the Astor House, and there
went armed with letter from James W.
Gerard, the celebrated lawyer, who was
prominent member of the committee who
had received Dickens, and who paid the
great author much personal attention.
suppose | may have overstepped the bounds
of etiquette but | was not aware of it,
when took with me Robert II. Elton,
who will be remembered by old New
Workers as the publisher of 'Elton's
Comic Almanac the breeder of all
funny papers. We were ushered with
much shoddy ceremony up to Dickens re-
ception room, where fortunately, as it
proved. there were very few people, and
found Dickens lolling nngracefully in
chair with several obsequious looking citi-
zens standing about him, while Mrs.
Dickens was looking out of the window
onto Broadway. My first impression of
the couple was that Charles was decided
snob, being dressed as no American gentle
man ever dressed, loaded with jewelry, and
that she as loud in that particular as a
woman as he was as man. He scanned
my letter through his glass, looked at me
sl,percliously, and well ?" came snap
pishly from his mouth | was a little
taken back but tried to say something,
which something was Truth lies at the
bottom of WELL Mr. Dickens"
"Who's that % was his unsmiling re-
Spouse, pointing at Elton, who was not
man to be easily taken abaek, but looked
annoyed. introduced him. Dickens did
not respond, but looked again through his
glass, and then said:
Its not customary, where came from,
when you have a letter of introduction to
take anybody with you; | don't know how
you do it here. !"
said nothing, and at this moment Mrs.
Dickens came to our aid, and, in very
ladylike and gentle way, drew us aside to
the window, volunteering the remark, MIR.
Dickens isn't very well this morning.. and
then endeavored to entertain us by asking
questions for fifteen or twenty minutes,
when we took our leave, Dickens barely
noticing us as we departed.
''He's hog" growled Elton, when we
got into the street, and | was not inclined
to disagree with him.
The next time | saw Charles Dickens
was dozen or more years ago, when he
again came on business, to read to the
Yankees and as his business was pre-eml-
nently successful he was more amiable.
He put up at the Westminster Hotel, and
| was introduced by his old and especial
friend, Arthur Mathieson then residing in
| this city. This time | found Dickens
pleasant enough and sufficiently talkative,
but his talk was Charles Dickens, and
nothing but Charles Dickens. He invited
us to stay to lunch, which We did and dur
about himself and swallowed bumpers OF
champagne until his talk became mo-
notonous and trifle maudlin. This, how
ever, does not take away the fact that he
was the greatest writer of fiction that the
world has ever produced. Exchange