The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-04
Gentlemen, when the shadows of that

"Gentlemen, when the shadows of that
iron work on the summit OF the brlck
structure has been reflected OH the grades
of the parade, I have seen my. children
thread the mazes of the intricate pattern,
avoiding the dark marks. I have been
familiar with every stone in the place"
Those stones are gone. The Kings
Bench prison was demolished several years
| ago. ''The Six jolly Fellowship Porters''
is still said to exist, but the evidence is not
| strong. The house of MIR. I%ulkinghorn,
tho lawyer. is in existence, but the pauper
| cemetery of st. Clements Dawes that figures
| SO much in "Bleak House is said to be
| covered by Kings College hospital.
So the London of Dickens is being swal-
| lowed up by a greater London. There is a
body of enthusiastic admirers Of Dickens.
| who are doing their best to identity any
| old views and resorts that were ~favorites of
the great novelist and that still stand
| under other names, but so great v been
the changes in London that the work is
very unsatisfactory.
II may nave been a visible passing OF tho
London of a generation ago that led the
Younger Dickens to take up the london of
to. day. But the younger Dickens in the
work that no has compiled on London has
not entered the field that his father worked
so we'll. You will not SEQ it in the plnched
| face OF Poor jos as he moves on nor the
| shrinking figure of Nancy Sykes as she
| makes her way in the darkness to London
bridge, her footsteps dogged by Noah Clay
| pole, nor the form of Mr.. Miaawber waiting
for something, nor the ugly Taco OF Qulip.
| or any indeed of those people with whom
London was peopled by Dickens fancy.
| The younger Dickens knew the limits by
which he was bound and gave no reln to ms
fancy. His father bent London to suit his
will. His son has written a handbook, do
%tionary, or call it what you will, OF London,
that ia Il masterpiece i'll its way, just as the
| frat TiCkana' hooks were i'll theirs.
What struck me US being peculiar was
that Dicken s the younger should have sue
oeeded his father ~ an authority. on Lon
don, although the nature OF their work is
so widely different. l mentioned TINS TO
Mr.. Dickens when IN conversation Win
HIM. He laughed. -, -,
This has never occurred to me" he SAID.
II compiled my book because Thought 1T
was needed and would make Il hit, which
fortunately it has"
Gadshili, the homo Of the older Dickens,
has this season been the Mecca of many
| American pilgrims. 1t was and Is still a
beautiful home. Dickens loved every piece
of the wood used in building 1t. 1t was
there he lived the last years OF his life, and
there ho died. He had entertained iavlshly
there and waa happy in its possession. Inc
old house han now passed into the possess
sion Of strangers. 1t cost Dickens about
SlO, 600, and the money came from the
profits of his American lecture tour.
The American who visits the home OF the
great novelist cannot but wonder that the
Dickens family allowed the property to pass
out OF their hands since Dickens himself
loved it SO we'll. hut even aside from its
associations with the novelist it il a resi-
denoe that any man might wish to have for
his own. ... /,
All of us who have read Forster's Life Of
| Dickens will remember that Dickens him
/ self has described how from his hoyhood he
Ind ionped to W this house. In one of
those inimitable letters that ho used to
write to his friends he describes how as a
boy no used to daily 90 out Of his way 70
pass this house and admire it. That he
should one day own it never occurred to
him in those, the days of his poverty and
youth. He relatea how IL day he passed
the house in company with his father and
how the latter pointed TO 1t and sale 10 the
boy; - ].
house like that" /,
But az the novelist himself said, it seemed