The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-08-03
A DICKENS FETE.

Broadstairs is resolved to do honor to
the memory of the great novelist who
spent some of the pleaSantest hours OF
his life In these quaint, old-fashloned
streets. A series of fetes has been Or
ganized, the object of which Is to raise
such a memorial as would have ap-
pealed to the heart of the writer who
depicted the sorrows and struggles, the
thoughts and hunors Of the people. 1t
is to take the form Of clubhouse for
the artisans and the fisherfolk. Incl
denta1ly, however, the fetes have a pic
turesque and even a literary interest,
which, judging from the letters received
by the rector, Is not confined to these
islands, but has been manifest wher-
ever the English language is spoken.
This village on the Kentish coast,
where the queen passed many Of her
younger days, is no longer the quiet, Sc
l'cluded spot that Dickens sketched in
"Our English Watering Place" Its
old-world aspect is slowly disappear
ing; though It still retains much of the
charm Of quaintness and all that breezy
health which induced the novelist to
come here, in order that he might
dream and work. There still exist two
landmarks for all who delight in litera-
ry pilgrimages On the eastern cliff,
which from a distant view seems to
rise sheer out of the sea, stands Bleak
House. This is not, Of course, the man
sion where the proud and ambitious
Lady Dedlock hid her guilty secret and
beat out her passionate heart. The
Bleak House of fiction Is very differ
emit place from this narrow, gaunt pile
overlooking the sea and standing four
square to all the winds that blow. 1t
was here, none the less, that Dickens
lived through many a summer; here he
wrote David Copperfield,' and was Wis
tied by Wilkie Collins and many other
men Of letters. Since Dickens died
Bleak House has had only one tenant.
For years It has been empty and DESC
late; but to-day flags float from the
| roof-tree, its oriel windows have been
cleaned and polished, its lawns have
been swept, and its trees have been
hung with lamps. Within the deserted
rooms have been collected a few, relics
| the garden-chair from which Dickens
used to look upon the sea, several let
tiers and a window of the Marshalsea
| Unfortunately the collection Of memen-
tos Is not large; for it has been impossi-
bic to persuade possessors of Dickens
relics, many of whom are Americana, TIC
part with them even for time.
| The other landmark, which asserts it.
self under a wreath of bunting, also
faces the sea- It is double fronted cot
tage, painted dull red, in the center OF
NickelPs Place. Dickens House." as II
is called was the abode of that hard
| favored, eccentric yet withal kind
hearted dame, Miss Betsy Trotwood. Il
was here that she waged indignant wal
with the donkey boys. This distinction
has been claimed by Dover; but Mr.
Charles Dickens the younger effectually
disposed of that myth. and has restored
to Broadstairs its legitimate place ir
the history of David Copperfield. ''The
| Trotwood donkey fights" he says, "diC
not take place at Dover at all, but al
| Broadstairs, where a certain Miss
l'Strong-a charming old lady who was
always most kind to me as a small boy
and to whose cakes and tea still lool
| back with fond and unsatisfied regret
| lived in a little double-fronted cottage
in the middle of NickelPs Place on the
sea front, firmly convinced of her righr
I
the road in front of her door. Never
shall I forget being carried by a wilfu
donkey, who evidently enjoyed the fun
across this sacred ground, and seeing
my old friend making vigorously hos
tile demonstration at me with the
hearth broom. 1t was a long time be-
fore she could be brought to understand
that really had been an unwilling and
a perfectly innocent trespasser."
| But it is on the West Cliff that the
picturesque interest lies. Here, in the
pavilion-a rather restricted space-has
, been erected Dickens Village inhab
tied by many of his best-known charac.
| ters. The creations of the novelist's
brain would fill a fairly large village
| for they number no fewer than fifteer
hundred and fifty, according to the cen.
sus of a diligent calculator Out Of
these forty or fifty of the most familiar
have been selected and have been re-
produced from the drawings of Cruik.
shank and Phiz.-London Standard.
/ NIT JONIC on, JTJVvITT CnNEJv A G