Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-01
DICKENS INGRATITUDE
How He Was Entertained While 10
This Country.
A SUPPER GIVEN TO BOZ"
HccolIectiOns OF the Trip Of the Great
Novelist I'm 1Si2-TyrOne Powers sub.
sequent Visit and the Courtesy He Re.
ccivcd-Other Disiing uished Men.
Written for The EVENING srIn


AW indeed, fault to have forgotten il. bu
in the forty-eght years which have dropped
into the ocean of eternity since that memoir
able night it had faded from my memory: but
like an old painting, obscured by time and dust
it has been restored and all its colors bright
ened by the recollection of it which remained
80 clear in the mind OF Col. Berret, and
whose description OF Boulanger brought back
SO vividly the night wlen with the colonel, who
presided, we entertained the immortal BOZ. y
Boulanger had removed from the avenue to til g
houses he occupied so long near the War De-
partment, and to get to the supper room we
had to traverse long passageway lighted by
tallow candles, which only served to make
darkness visible" but when we ascended
TO the supper room there was ample
light and warmth, and such a supper as only
Boulanger could prepare. Dickens enjoyed it
and the whole surroundings immensely and
was seemingly at home with the few gentlemen.
about sixteen, Col Bsrret says. who had prof.
fered him this hospitality. Among them were
Alexander Dimltry, Mr.. kingman. Mr.. John
Agg, Randolph Coyle. think Mr.. Carlisle and
others whose names the abrasion of the wheel
OF time IN all these years has erased from our
memory. We had all read and admired Dick
ems, as who had not. and he found himself
among congsnial spirits and expressed himself
as very much pleased at the attention, so de-
void Of form and ceremony. / think we saw
him at his best and certainly we were charmed
with him. Whom his American Notes. ap-
peared, however, We felt. as every one did.
that 1t was an ungracious return for the hospi-
talltv heapsd upon him. The toadyism which
was displayed IN New York and elsewhere had
DO following here. The entertainments Civ
him were by sincere admirers, and,
In the case of this supper Col
Berret. Mr. Kingman and Mr. Agg waited
m th.sr
tanment without pretensiOn and be accepted
1t IN like manner. He expressed himself graft
fed when we called to say goodbye, and only
when his book appeared did We feel called on
TO resent his abuse of the kind hospitality
which was SO complimentary to his genius and
testified so sincerely the admiration for him
and his works which pervaded the whole coun-
try. His description of Washington. while
faithfully portrayed, as by a photograph, was
colored by prejudice which rendered it very
unpleasant. remember, at the time.
NEW YORK ToADYIsM TURNED HIS HEAD.
He reached here on the 9th OF March, 1912.
do not find in the columns of the National In
telligencer that any demonstration other than
that due to a distinguished author was paid
him, but the lavish display and toadyism
which New York bestowed upon him turned
his head. The New York ECening Post APP
pealed In vain for protection OF him against
the very element which is responsible for
speak as he did of America and his enter
tanners. Evidently Mr.. Bryant himself issues
this note OF warning in the ECsnplJ Post of
January "A. 1912: Poor Boz We did think
there was common sense enough in the cOun-
try to secure him little peace and comfort
but II seems there is not. The man Is doomed"
This foolish aduatiOn was born. however of
hospitable intentions and should have been
respected instead Of being ridlculed and bur
lesqued. We. however, are only interested in
what he said of our city. and however unpIeas-
ant there is good deal of truth in it.
"Here Is Washington fresh In my mind and
my eye. lake The worst portion of the CITY
Roads and PentODvIlle, or the Struggling out
side of Paris. where the houses are the smallest
presenting the oddities, but especially the
small shops and dwellings occupied by-in PEN
tonvi!le (Out hot in Washington furniture
brokers. keepers of poor eating houses and
fanciers of birds. Burn the whole down; build
1t up again III wood and plaster; widen IL a
little; throw in part of St. Johns wood; put
green blinds outside of all private houses with
a red curtain and a white one in every window;
plough up all the roads; plant a good deal OF
coarse turf IN every place where 1t ought not to
be; erect three handsome buildings in stone and
marble anywhere. but the more entirely out of
everybody's way the better; call one the Post
Office, one the Patent Office and one the Treas
ury; make II scorchIng hot IN the morning and
freezing cold in the afternoon, with an occa-
slonal tornado Of wind and dust: have brick
where a street may naturally be expected. and
this Is Washington. Il has sometimes
been called the city of magnificent distances
but 1t might with greater propriety be termed
the city Of magnificent intentions.
Il W TX 10 the front window (Fullers Hotel
then, now Wiiiards). and look across the
road upon long struggling row Of houses, one
story high, and terminating nearly opposite.
but little to the lett, in a melancholy piece of
waste ground with frouzy grass which looks
Like a small piece of country taken TO drinking
and has quite lost Itself Standing anyhow and
all wrong upon the open space, like something
neteoric that had fallen down from the moon
is an odd, lopsided, one-eyed kind Of wooden
building that looks like a church, with a flag
staff as long as itself sticking out of a steepIe
something larger than a tea chest" the old
Franklin engine house.
The three most obtrusive houses near at
hand are the three meanest On one-a shop
that never has anything in the window and
never has the door opens printed in large
characters, The City Lunch kept by John
Hand At another which looks like a back way
TO somewhere else, but is an independent
building IN itself oysters are prOcurable In
every style. At the third, which is a very,
very little tailor shop, pants are fixed to order,
or III other words pautRIOOns are made to
measure. And that Is our street in Wash
ingtOn."
NOT VERY FLATTERISG PICTURE,
but Photographic, taken, however. through
an ungrateful camera, and developed by preju-
dice and fault-inding disposition. Let me
interpOse suggest on: that Alexander r.
Shepherd was at that time only seven years
old, and II was not until seventeen years there
after, when mayor, did James u. Berret make
the hrst move for Its Improvement by obtain
ing through Gov. Albert q. Brown, then chair
man OF the District committee of the Senate
an assessment OF the government property
Dul OF that, more anon. L remember when a
laundIced eve could see our loved city Just as
Dickens did, but with all its faults it was a
dear Ola home of some Of the best people on
Gods footstool- Pardon this outbu-st While
Dickens was at Niagara he wrote TO the Nat Ondl
IRteAJeHcsT letter. dated Nav IL. 1872, re-
questlng the publication of an address to the
American people urging the passage by Con-
gress OF international law Of copyright
signed by Edward Lytton Bulwer, Thomas
Campbell, Alfred 1ennysOn, i. y. Talfourd the
author OF Ion }, Thomas Hood, Leigh Hunt
Henry Hallem, sydney Smith, II. Il. Milman
(authOr of ''Evadne') John Forster and Barry
Cornwall He sent also letter from Thomas
CARLYLE, very Characteristic, dated "TempIand
(ior LondOn). March 70. 1872"
In an ancient book, reyered / should hope
on both sides Of the ocean, il was thousands
OF years ago written down In the most decisive
and explicit manner thou shalt not steal-that
thou belongest to different nation and
can st steal without being certainly hanged for
H. gives thee no permission to steal Thou
shalt not in anywise steal at ALL So il is written
down for nations and Tor men III the law book
OF the Maker of the Universe. When
Mr. Robert Roy McGregor lived in the district
Of Menteith. on the Highland border, two cen.
turiaz AGO he hig mari fOund NOR. cop-