Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
OLD FAvoRlTES NEGLECTED

1.-THE sale Of the works Of Dickens has
been gradually but surely diminishing DUR
ing the past ten or fifteen years." said a
book dealer. ''The finely bound editions
are, Of course, still in fair demand by ger
sons enaged 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 omnlverous readers of fic-
ton, scarcely ever ask for book Of Dick
ems.
81 reread two or three Of Dickens books
every year for the fun Of the thing, and
know Of plenty Of old fogies of my age who
do the same The young people who fail
to familiarize themselves with Dickens de-
prive themselves Of lot of diversion. The
Dickens 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
a day that he doesn't meet UP with some
body or other in the flesh who recalls some
corresponding or similar type in Dickens
Who, for instance, doesn't know any num-
Der of Micawbers, who, like the original OF
the species. are always waiting for some
thing to turn up? Haven't we all Deeh
thrown into contact with numerous Dick
Swivellers? 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 Chad
band?
And yet, IL you mention the name Of one
OF these wonderfully portrayed characters
Of Dickens in the presence Of roomfui or
young people of today, 1t is FIVE to one that
they will stare at you and wonder what
you are driving at. Just try it ON and see
if am not right. I'll just mention an exam
pie of this. My sister-in-law. quite elderly
woman. was humorously describing at dinner
a few evenings ago the garrulousness of
trained nurse whom she had employed
short time before. There were eight young
men and women. their ages ranging from
eighteen to twenty-five. and all Of them
considered pretty well educated for their
years. at the table.
That nurse must have been Sairey
Camp reincarnated' said nay sister-in-law,
In concluding her narration.
''Well, the middle-aged and elderly folks
at the table all chuckled at the comparison,
of course but every one of those eight
young people looked blankly at my sister
in-law, plainly wondering what in the
world she meant.
Who was Sarah Camp finally asked
one of the young women.
MY sister-in-law, realizing the utter
hopelessness of endeavoring to draw
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 Wo-
man TO Feau MaFtih CHuZLleWiN 1Ns YOUNG
woman solemnly made a note Of it, and she
got the book from me the next day, con-
Tossing that she had never read a solitary
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 Dick
ems seemed stupid and prosy to them. How
they can say such a thing, much less eX-
perence the feeling, is quite beyond me.
'Thackeray, too, perhaps a keener, if less
mellow writer Of fiction than Dickens, Is
sadly neglected these days. There is lit
tie or call for his books. The upris-
ing generation seem to have no interest
whatever in Thackeray. They all know
about Becky Sharp because a play writ
ten about that demrep has been produced
in recent years, but they appear to know
no more about Arthur Pendennis, or Cap
tain Costigan or Barry Lyndon, or even
Henry Esmond. than they do about the
characters in the mystery plays Of the
middle ages.
IF the young people were to devote
themselves as assiduously to Dickens and
Thackeray as they do to the balderdash
which seems to form their mental staple
they would develop into better men and
women for it,