Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-07-31
GOTHAM OF DICKENS.
A VILLAGE iMMORTALlZGD IN rH1
"PlCkWiCK PAPERS,"

Less than ali horr and n half from
London is the quiet little station at
Stole street. named, | suppose, in honor
Of q II Mgn road anl trodden by travel
ers us they approach the manifold glo.
rics of Gotham.
Gotham. the Kentish Gotham, is one
Of those places in which Kent is so
rich, favored alike by nature and art
and historical association. For what is
| called park scenery it has few superiors
in England. The church has memorials
of it's fourteenth century lords as fresh
as when they relt tie last touch Of the
workman S tools. while the inn opposite
is redolent with the memories Of Charles
Dickens, and the rudy old Elizabethan
| hall is one 4 the stateliest homes il
FDglapd-a real home, constantly lived
| in.
TO zee Gotham in its glory one must
Of course visit il in summer. 1t is hard
~ fair to 60 there, as / did, on a weep
ing autumn day, though it was full Of a
charm Of its own. In the first place, the
season precluded my approaching Cob
ham i'll the orthodox way-from the
back Of the ancient buildings which
form the new college. The boy who acts
as porter ut the station did not recon-
mend the short cut for very wet day.
1t had recently been plowed. So, pass
ing first an old Kentish black and white
house to the left and then a fine red
brick Georgian mansion described by
him as a farm TO the right, strobe up
the main street of Gotham village to
where putative leather bottle swings
in front OF the inn which Dickens i'm
mortalized in "Pickwick. " The leather
bottle, which, proudly labeled "Ecce
signum," swings over a sign Of Dick
ens' Mr.. Pickwick standing on chair
with his hands under his coattails, is, as
matter Of fact. made Of cast iron and a
weighs 40 less than 40 pounds, the real
bottle being kept on the top Of the clock
in the bar parlor guarded by an uncer-
tain looking monkey and dog. 1t ia
shaped like Il barrel, with u combined
stopper and handle on one side, and has
Il large hole cut out just below the han
die. the reason Of this being that when
it was dug out of a field hard by il
weighed 50 heavy hat the finder hacked
hole TO see what was in it. He was re-
warded by finding money, which was
probably exactly what he wanted to find.
The inn claims 10 be as old "a the
chaDcel of the church opposite, which
would make ii fourteenth century. Even
the aspect of the much repaired exterior
does not make this impossible, and the
rough, worm eaten, dark oak beams in
the low ceiling Of the Dickens room
certainly look old enough.
The Dickens room is the pride Of mine
host and brings Gotham visits from a
host Of theatrical people, who certainly
would never visit it for the sake of its
lords, ancient OF modern, and their hall
and church and college. In the visitors
book read such names as ". 5. Penley
and j. l.. Toole, the latter accompanied
by Mr.. Clement Scott, and over the
mantelpiece hung IL pretty theatrical
portrait OK Miss Mary Anderson, with
her hands tied together III some charac-
ter which did not recognize-her me-
mento of visit here.
The walls are hung with prints OF
various characters and scenes in Dickens
books, Dickens programmes, sketches,
and what not, among them being The
Graphic's picture of the Empty
Chair, which made Luke Fildes' name,
and Dickens last letter Gin autograph),
dated June s, 1870, III reply to a Nom
conformist minister named Matcham,
letter about Edwin Brood, " and with
pathetic and particular interest, be-
cause Dickens in this last letter of his
life avows that he had always cherished
Christianity--oven written q book to
bring ii home to his children, though he
had not proclaimed his belief from the
house top. Jingle, Sidney Carton, the
devoted, and Pecksniff are among the
more prominent characters Oh the walls
All around the room there are rows of
old fashioned chairs, the place Of honor
being occupied by the Dickens chair-a
fiat topped article Of the variety known
to old furniture dealers as 1.-The Wind.
scr. "
Whatever the claims of the Leather
Bottel' to fourteenth century honors,
there is no doubt of the antiquity of the
church. though the age of the exterior,
except the towers, is obliterated with
Facing Of flints. Two gigantic fiints, one
Of them at least feet by 2, lie on the
grass below. The interior of the church,
cDce ruined with plaster and whitewash,
IS now carefully restored and highly
interesting. First in importance, of
course, come its monumental brasses,
some 80 of them, not erected, but laid
down on the chancel floor to the honor
Of the lords and ladies Of Gotham and
me masters of their college. These
orasses have no superiors in England,
and 90 as far back as the beginning Of
The fourteenth century. Not line is
oblilerated i'll these craven images of the
knights and danes - the one in full
armor, the other in the height Of fashion.
Tradition says that in Cromwell's time
they were saved from the heavy hand Of
the spoiler by being first whitewashed
TO escape notice, and then covered with
deem litter for tho stablin0 of nv lord