The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-01

lead the way toward a national commemo-
ration of the most English of British au-
thors. Charles Dickens loved the little
kentish watering-place. He spent some Of
the happiest days of his life and did some
OF his best work within its liberty" Ris-
ing abruptly on the east cliff, overlooking
the sheltered bay in which Broadstairs
nestles, with its older houses crouching
close against each other for common sup
port against the sweep of the Channel
storms, stands gaunt sturdy building Of
warm red brick with coSey, sheltered bal
conies-looking in the distance like green
blinkers over astonished eyes-braving the
sunshine and the storm with unrufied
'front.' Its foundations are laid upon a
rock, and its name is known wherever
over our worldwide empire the English
tongue is spoken. For this building is none
other than BLEAK House." wherein the
master wrote the story of David Copper
field Many old inhabitants of Broad
stairs can remember the time when WillIie
Collins and many other men of letters
foregathered under the hospitable roof of
the master who wrote the tale of Little
Nell"
Lying midway between the giddiness of
Margate and the gentility of Ramsgate-
for was it not to Ramsgate that after
their apotheosis Boz sent the Tuggses to
blossom into fuller gentility?-the old
world air of Broadstairs must have at
tracted the great novelist as quiet coigne
of Vanta ge whence he could study men
and things Broadstairs itself furnished
him with more than one character. Quilp
or, rather his prototype-is believed to
have been Broadstairs born and bred.
Charles Dickens, the younger, writing last
year in the pages of the Pail Mall maya
zine claims Miss Betsy TrOtwood as q
denizen of Broadstairs. The Trotwood
Donkey Fights'-he is demOlishing one of
the Photographic accuracy persons
Ibid not take place al Dover at all, but
at BrOadstairs, where a certain Miss
Strong lived in a little double-fram-
ed cottage in the middle of Nuckells
place, on the sea front (now known as
Dickens House,, firmly convinced of her
right TO sop the passage of donkeys
along the road in front of her door.
The purpose of the present festivities,
organized by Mr.. Mills, the energetic and
patriotic rector, and Mr.. Alfred Harms
worth, who himself dwells within the
liberty of Dover" and than whom there
is no more devout admirer of Charles
Dickens, is ito raise the wind" for the
erection of a clubhouse for the fsherfolk
and artisans of Broadstairs-a memorial
which the heart of the great novelist,
hrimful with the milk of human kindness,
would be the first to appreciate. Hence
Breads airs although on pleasure bent,
preserves its frugal mind in that its youth
ana beauty nave combined 10 WHeeule the
necessary funds out of the unsuspecting
pilgrim. But the wheeling is pleasantly
and skilfully done, and is hallowed by
the genus loci and its associations with
the name of the master. The fancy fair
is a Dickens village, inhabited by charac-
ters who have stepped straight out of the
pages of Martin Chuzzlewit' or "Barna-
by Ridge" Cheek by jowl with Dolly
Warden house stands the wine shop in
the faubourg of St. Antoine" where Nine.
Defarge renouncing for the nonce her
knitting and her usual chair" presides
blandly over fancy" wares. Jostling
against the pasteboard White Hart inn IS
Peggotty's flimsy boathouse surmounted
by real oar and a counterfeit string of
fish, where you can taste that celebrated
milk punch, compounded in accordance
with the original recipe, which worked
such dire disaster on the strong head of
Mr. Pickwick. Therefore taste it only in
thimblcfuls for it is a most nsdious and
subtle liquor and no provision has been
made for an adequate supply of wheel
barrows Imagine the village peopled by
Dolly Warden dainty in dimity), Oliver
Twist, the lord chancellor resplendent in
purple gown and black satin knee-breech
esq, Uriah Heep (biack and oleaginous),
Fagin, Fanny Squeers and many another
celebrity all clad in costumes true to the
illustrations of "Phiz," and you will have
some faint idea of the gayety and origi-
nality of the spectacle-a good idea, eX-
cellently well carried out, on which the
organizing committee can shake hands
with itself. In the grounds behind the
fair the children of St. Mary's orphanage,
picturesque little mites in bright-hued
dresses, dance and revel round the may
pole
To the devout pilgrim visit to BLEAK
House" is, perhaps, the most memorable
incidental of the day. Strolling through
the empty rooms you come at length to
the study with it's bow windows overlook
ing the sea. where the artist painted the
crowded canvas of David Copperfield.
At your Feet are the white cliffs leading
down to the yellow sands, dotted with
loungers and tiny figures with tucked-up
garments, like moving bulbs surmounted
by sun bonnets, padding on the shore
Losing itself on the haze of the horizon
lies the dimplng sea, opalescent and ever
varying as the shifting clouds try wond-
rous effects of light and shade. Close be-
hind is the little whitewashed coastguard
cottage ablaze with nasturtiums. A thor
oughly English view befitting the memory
of the man who portrayed the life of Eng
land in It's humor and its suffering peo-
pie as none other has ever done. on the
story above little wicket gate guards the
steep descent of the staircase. Was it
placed there to prevent an eminent
queens counsel from breaking his youth
| full neck? On one of the panels Of the
nursery door is daubed a garish sprawl
ing spray of apple blossom. Above it Is
inscribed by sacrlegiOus pencil: Fila
de Carolus Dickens hoe fect." The house
Is haunted; ghosts of the past fit before
you up the creaking staircase. You can
not but think Of the empty chair in the
study at Gadshill There must always be
a tlnge of 1.-The sadness Of farewell in
commemoration of one so human and so
] kindly as Charles Dickens
In time, we doubt not, the celebration
which Broadstairs has naugurated. will
| become less local, broader and more ma
tonaL There will be more Of Charles
Dickens and less OF Broadstairs and its
ambitions about Il. But the fete to-day
| has shown the way In the mean time.
stand by and make a note Of IT,"
SENDS JEWS TO PAIESTINE