Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-05-09
Do NOT READ DICKENS
FEW YOUNG PEOPLE KNOW HIS
FAMOUS CHARACTERS.
Expensive Illustrated Editions of His
Novels Are Still frequently Called
For, but Cheap Editions, Which Be
token Popularity, Drug on Market.

For, but Cheap Editions, Which Be
token Popularity, Drug on Market.
.'The sale of the works of Dickens
has been gradually but surely dimin-
ishing during the last ten or fifteen
years." said book dealer. 'The fine
ly bound editions are, of course, still
in fair demand by persons engaged In
assembling libraries of their own, but
the cheap. popular editions have for
some years been more or less of drug
on the market. The young people,
even those who are omnivorous readers
of fiction, scarcely ever ask for book
Of Dickens.
Il re-read two or three of Dickens
! books every year for the fun Of the
| thing, and know of plenty old fogies
of my age who do the same. The
| young people who fail to familiarize
themselves with Dickens deprive them
selves of lot of diversion. The Dick
ems characters are around us every
| where. There are very few odd or
quaint eccentricities of human beings
that Dickens didn't touch upon, and
one who has these characters in the
works of Dickens stored away In his
mind scarcely ever gets through day
that he doesn't meet up with some
body or other in the flesh who recalls
Dickens. Who, for instance, doesn't
know any number of Micawbers, who,
like the original of the species. are al
ways waiting for something to turn
up? Haven't we all been thrown into
contact with numerous Dick Swivel
lers? Hasn't every one of us with any
experience in the game Of life met and
loathed at least one Pecksniff? Haven't
We all been imposed upon and bored
by Chadband?
"And yet. If you mention the name
of one Of these wonderfully portrayed
characters of Dickens in the presence
Of roomful Of young people Of to-day
it is to 1 that they will stare at you
and wonder what you are driving at.
Just try it on and see If 1 am not
right. I'll just mention an example
of this. My sister-in-law, quiet, ell
derly woman, was humorously describ-
ing at dinner a few evenings ago the
garrulousness of trained nurse whom
she had employed short time before.
There were eight young men and wom
en-, their ages ranging from Is to 22.
and all of them considered pretty well
educated for their years, at the table.
THAT nurse must have been Sairey
Camp reincarnated,' said my sister-in-
law, in concluding her narration.
"Well, the middle-aged and elderly
folk at the table all chuckled at the
comparison, of course, but every one Of
those eight young people looked blank
ly at my sister-in-law. plainly wonder
ing what in the world she meant.
WHO was Sarah Gamp?' finally
asked one Of the young women.
My sister-in-law, realizing the utter
hopelessness of endeavoring to draw a
proper portrayal of Sarah Camp for
the benefit of persons who had never
become acquainted with that amiable
character, was forced to recommend
the young woman to read Martin
Chuzzlewit.' The young woman sol
cmnly made note of it, and she got
the book from me the next day. con-
Tossing that she had never read soli-
tary work of Dickens from cover to
cover. She found Dickens so dull, she
said. And | have heard many young
people of the present generation say
the same thing that Dickens seemed
stupid and prosy to them. How they
can say such a thing, much less expe-
rience the feeling, is quite beyond me-
''Thackeray. too, perhaps keener,
if less mellow, writer of fiction than
Dickens, is sadly neglected these days.
There is little or no call for his books.
The uprising generation seem to have
no interest whatever in Thackeray.
They all know about Becky Sharpe be-
cause play written about that demi-
rep has been produced in recent years,
but they appear to know no more
about Arthur Pendennis, or Capt Cos
tigan or Barry Lyndon, or even Henry
Esmond, than they do about the char
acters in the mystery plays of the mid
die ages.
IF the young people were to devote
themselves as assiduously to Dickens
and Thackeray as they do to the bal
derdash which seems to form their
mental staple" concluded the book
dealer, according to the Washington
Star, they would develop into better
men and women for it."