The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-09-22
SOME DIcKENsIANA.
London GosaIp.

of "The Dictionary of National Biog- raphy," calls to mind many "uncon- sidered trifes" relating to the man, his habits, sayings and doings, which, owing to lapse of years, have lain dormant in the recesses of memory.
 We once saw it quoted that tbe quaint surnames of many of the crea- tions of the great novelist's brain were the result of much painstaking labor, on which, with genius which might have justified his trying it implicitly and solely, he invariably placed his chief reliance. It is said that when- ever he saw strange or odd name on shop-board or in walking through a village or country town, he entered it in his pocket book and added it to his reserve list. Then, so runs the story, when he wanted striking surname for new character, he had only to take the first half of one real name and add it to the second half of another to produce the exact effect upon the eyes and ears of his readers.
 In the August number, 1858, of Notes and Quertes-a periodical which, by the by, takes it's motto from one of Dickens best-kn characters, the renowned Cdptasn Cutie, it was sug- gested that the familiar name of "Carker" was framed from the Greek, as so much is said concerning Mr. Carke''s teeth. Dickens, however, re- piled to this suggestion, stating that the coincidence was undersigned. We find it further suggested that the name may have been constructed from "canker," and "carking," as in the ex- pression "carking care," and these are certainly very expressive of the blight ing influences ascribed to Cdrker. As for the world-fam Pickwickian names of Wardle, Losoten and Doscler, all these occur in an account of the duke of York's trial in 1909, published in the Annual Register. Apropos of the novelist's methodical habits and dogged perseverance, we are assured, on the testimony of one who knew him well, that he never worked "by fits and starts," but had regular hours for labor, commencing about ten o'clock in the morning and ending about two in the afternoon; and, it may be stated, his works which we read with so much ease were by no means easily written; in fact, the labor expended both upon their conception and execution was prodigious. All his hours and days were spent by rule. He rose at certain time, he retired at another, and, although no precisian, yet it was rarely found that his ar- engagements varied. His hours for writing, as we have already said, were between breakfast and luncheon, and when there was any work to be done, no temptation was sufficiently strong to cause it to be neglected. This or- der and regularity followed him throughout the day. His mind was essentially methodical, and in his long walks, his recreations, and in his la- bors, he was governed by rules laid down for himself and by himself.
 It has been said that no writer ever set before himself more arduously the task of giving the reading public the very best. A celebrated artist, who once painted his portrait while he was engaged in writing one of the most popular of his stories, relates that he was completely astonished at the trouble Dickens apparently took over his work, at the number of forms in which he would jot down thought before he hit out the one which seemed to his fastidious fancy the best, and at the comparative smallness in the quantity of manuscript which each days sitting produced.
 Speaking of his manner of literary composition, writer in the issue of the Weekly Dispatch for June IS, 1870, remarks: "I remember we'll one evening, spent with him by appoint ment, not wasted by intrusion, when l found him, according to his own phrase, picking up the threads of "Martin Chuzzlewit" from the printed sheets of the half volume that lay be- fore him. This accounts for the seem- ing incompleteness of some of his plots; in others the design was too strong and sure to be influenced by any outer consideration.
 In his own immediate literary cir cle, and amongst those who were on the most familiar terms with him, it is remarkable that the name "Mr. Dickens" or "Mr. Charles Dickens" or even "Charles," with his most inti- mate friends, was never heard. The respect felt for his genius-his supe- riority-tooka more striking although more familiar, form. He was invaria- bly spoken Of ss "the chief" At the i! office of AU tse Tear Round, the ques- tion, we are told, was never "Is Mir. Dickens in2" but, "Is the chief in?" or, "Has the chief arrived?"
 When in congenial society, the nov elist's humor was so abundant and overAowing that the impression 1t gave the listener was that it would A.. c