The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-18
Walt Mason In the Pittsburg Sun. NYHAyE been reading the works

Walt Mason In the Pittsburg sun.
 ( <HYHAvE been reading the works of
 of Charles Dickens again," re-
 x marked the fat boarder, with en- thusiasm, "and 1 can't tell you how much enjoyment I am getting from them.'
 Don't try to tell us,'' said the star boarder, considerably. "A man of your apoplectic habit should avoid all violent exertion. People who read Dickens in their dotage always become painfully garrulous. I confess that l am tired of nearing Dickens praised. l am the only man in the United States with sufficient courage to tell the truth about Dickens. Truth crushed to earth Mrs. Jiggers, will rise again. and the truth has had some hard knocks from the Dickens fans.
 "Dickens always has a queer effect upon me- l always hate his heroes and admire his villains. There is something wrong with the man who can admire a Dickens hero Take Nicholas Nickleby, for instance. Was there ever such a hopeless sissy boy? If I had to live in the same house with a couple of skates ~- begule them into the garden, behead them with hatchet and conceal their bodies in the cistern. ~ f5
 "Every hero of Dickens is hopeless prig, an alecl, sycophant, false alarm bearded lady in disguise. There isn't a wholesome, manly, human sort of chump in the whole string. When Dickens does invent pleasing character he always makes him a villain or a freak. Eugene Wrayburn is the best character Dickens ever produced and he wore sidewhiskers.
 "Take the characters in Martin Chuz- zlewit,' for instance The hero Is the upsual Dickens prig. It would be impos- sible to meet such a man in real life without yielding to the temptation to sandbag him and put him out of his mis- cry. Then there's Mark Tapley, the or iginal dance and sing idiot. His speciality was being jolly, and, like all professional time He bored everybody, and yet Dickens would have us believe that he was a lovely character. If man like Mark Tapley ever came into the board ing house I would induce Mrs. Jiggers to put knockout drops in his coffee.
 "If Tapley is an affliction, what shall we say of Tom Pinch, the spiritless, pipe dreaming galoot who let everybody kick him and pretended that he liked it? l insist, my dear Mrs. Jiggers, that when we meet such a youth in real life we put him in a crate and send him to the bat foundry; yet this man Dickens fairly slops over every time he refers to Tom Pinch. Through chapter after chapter l he gurgles away, until the reader hates Tom Pinch with hatred that can be seen | rather than felt.
 '"rhere is but one admirable character in that book, and that character is held up to public scorn and derision. I refer | to MT. Pecksniff, a man after my own heart. He had his faults. but he was at least entertaining and interesting. When | ever Pecksniff looms up in that narrative the reader quits signing and weeping and begins to enjoy himself. You may say | that he was a fraud and hypocrite, Mrs. Jiggers and, knowing your uncompromis- ing moral principles. I shall not argue | the question with you; but I hold that 1 it is better to be a fraud than to be a | bore MT. Pecksniff is man would be | proud to introduce to my family, if had | a family; but if I saw such men as | Tapley and Pinch and Chuzzlewit on my premises I'd fill them with buckshot. A man of family has to draw the line some | where.
 "ln Oliver Twist there is fine fellow
 named Fagip, man of initiative, whose
 ambition way to educate boys to useful and lucratiye careers. always admired