Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-05
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FOUR

ASou " tYc iJeln5OnicO Fanny OF TeStdu-
rateuSs. and the TACT that one of the sons
OF Charles Dickens is now making tour
OF the United States, were a pair of facts
that hapYened tei see the other day In the
same issue of newspaper. and they
aroused infmy memory the recollection of
little dinner for four that was given in
1868 at the old Delmonico place in 14th
street. New York., said one of the veterans
among Washington clubmen. II was not
participant in that dinner, being not
much more than lad at the time, but with
three other young chaps of my own age
watched and overheard the fun from a
nearby table
.Charles Dickens was the central figure
In this feed for four. 1t was after he
mad made his second lecturing tour of the
United states. You will recall how he
ripped this country up the back in his
american Notes. published after he had
maze US his first visit in 1912, and how
cheap ne felt over that book for the re-
naainder OF his life. He felt particularly
cheap when he came back to US In '6S and
we poured Goals Of fire upon his head by
eiVng MIN splendid reception. He de-
CARED privately at that time that his
american Notes and the digs at the
Onlteo states contained in Martin ChuZ-
zleWit had been the merest very youthful
IRONING at the mouth to employ his own
words, ana at a big dinner given to him by
the newspaper men on his return to New
iork from his last lecturing tour he gal
iantiy and, believe, sincerely, took back
everything he had ever written about this
country, and made an especial arrange
nent With his publishers that the speech
OF apology which he made on this occa-
SION should forever be included as an ap-
peIulX 10 the American Notes and Martin
Chuzzlewit.' He found things very differ
emit here in '6S from what he had found
them In AZ, of course, but, for all that
mere can be no doubt that Dickens was
tEAlfelneiy sore upon himself for ever hav-
ing neid this country up to ridicule in the
lncisive, mastery, but unjust manner with
Wnlch he performed that Job
wen, this little dinner for four that l
Started Started TO tell you about was a purely in
formal affair, and it was given to Dickens
py tnree famous New York wits-Lawrcnce
Jerome, more affectionately known to his
lrienus as Larry the brilliant Charley
Csporne' and the finest wit of generation
that Is gone, William Travers the racon-
leuT. Dickens knew these three men we'll
ana ne was very fond of them ALL He re-
Veied In a little dinner like this He was
d neaVy eater and much heavier drinker
ana he loved to sit around the right kind
OF table surrounded by bright men until
all hours.
after that dinner had been going on for
d couple OF hours the talk that was shutt,ed
PACK and forth by those four was wcrth
listening to, as you may imagine. ana I've
oIten wished since that I'd been short
naIu reporter to catch some of that table
iaR; we young chaps sitting at the ad-
SO that we could rubber as the boy saws
on the talk of that famous quartet.
Jerome, Iravers and Osborne uLizzed
ana chaffed Dickens numerically from the
moment that they sat down, and when the
dinner was well under way they got to-
getner and hurled broadsides of good-na-
tureu guying at the great novelist. Dickens
LOOK 1t all like little major He could
stand guying better than any Eng Ish:narl,
great or little, that 1 ever met-H.ost of
them are liable to get sore and surly under
sucn circumstances. Dickens, fguratively
speaking, placed both hands I'D and took it
all in good part. and roared over their sal
lies with obvious enjoyment.
Ihey were attacking him about his
American Notes. This dinner took place
not long after his apology for that book to
the press folks, and so the three knew that
they had him-that he had to take 1t as
they gave it to him.
For instance Dickens started to tell
them what "a, delightful place he had found
a certain western city to be. The stutter-
ing Travers suddenly pulled a copy of
American Notes out of his pocket. ruffled
over the leaves aad found the page, and be-
gan to readein his halting, sing-song fash
ion the awful lambasting that Dickens had
given that self-same city in his book about
the United States Dickens hid his face
with his napkin and then ducked his head
under the table like school boy
After awhile, when Dickens probably
thought the roasting was all over. he
started in to tell them what superb place
Washington pronised@to be in the course of
the next fifty years. He was becoming
quite eloquent on this topic when Larry
Jerome pulled out of his pocket his own
copy of American Notes, brought along
for the occasion. and began to read, with
an indescribably humorous drawl the ex-
traordinary stuff that Dickens mad written
about the capital in 1912. Dickens shook
his head sadly and made deprecatory ges-
lures with his hands. but it was no use
Nxynr rfcyht nm linz oto @1.n
part in which Dickens declared Washington
to be a sort Of morass-a city Of Magnificent
Intentions instead Of a City Of Magn,iiceE.
Distances and so on, until the novelist
bowed his head in his hand with pretended
grief.
The, three chaffers all of sudden be-
came serious, and Dickens. VIII, had "a
tendency to become grandiloquent as the
wine went round fell in with this mood of
theirs, glad, probably, to believe that he
was to be guyed no more. He drfted into
some rather fine topic-I forget what it was
and in something less than no. time he was
discoursing like any Cicero or Demosthenes,
while the three wits pretended to hang Upon
his utterances with open mouths. Then,
when Dickens had reached sonorous Pc
riod, Charley Osborne suddenly reached
into his coat pocket, pulled out his own
private copy Of American Notes turned
to a page where the leaf was turned down,
solemnly rose in his place and ,not:oned for
silence and began to read with splendid
mimicry of the voice and gestures Of a tra-
gedian from Dickens description of the
Falls of Niagara. You will remember that,
while that's pretty good piece Of writing.
It's considerably overdone, as Dickens him
self confessed afterward: it's hish-falutln'-
what you'd call dem'd fine writin'.'
well, the effect was very funny Osborne
and Travers and Jerome rumpiej Up their
hair and pretended to be in ecstasies over
the beauties of the description as poured
forth in Osborne's deep, resonant bass, and
they scowled horribly at Dickens when the
novelist leaned back In his seat and howled
with mirth-he was purple from laughter.
1.-THE four were still having a deuce of a
time when Dickens manager-the poor fell
low recently died! of drunkenness ard old
age an outcast, in London-appeared anG
literally dragged the novelist to fulfill his
lecturing engagement that evening""
An English Minister of Today.
From the Spectator.
Everybody has an opinion about every
thing the number of the well informed has
enormously increased, and the house Of
commons, though it knows quite well that
there must be in most cases half a dozen