Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-07
MANY LAUD DICKENS
Recent Attacks on the Great
Novelist Resented.
PRAISE ART OF THE WRITER
Banquet Of Men and Women Known
in the Literary World.
CRITICS IN TURN ARE ASSAILED
Seth Low Tells Of Hearing Dickens
Read, and Kate Douglas Wiggin
Describes a Meeting.
CRITICS IN TURN ARE ASsAILED

NEW YORK, February Love for
DICKENS. who peopled the dreams of man.
hlhd, ana defense of his literary crafts
manship against carping clever devils
or this present age marked the banquet
last night in Delmonico's in honor of the
centenary of his birth
Nearly 400 men and women we'll known
in the social and literary world were
present. OF them three were at the din
ner given in 1868 at Delmonico's for
Dickens. They were George Haven Put
nam, the publisher; Roswell D. Hatch,
the banker. and Henry H. Benedict.
1t was function given by the Manhat-
tan branch of the Dickens Fellowship. in
cooperation with the Dickens centenary
committee. to refer to it in formal terms
Names and titles were forgotten in the
weep for Little Nell, mourn for Paul
Dombey, laugh with Mark Tapley and
are not ashamed. AS Mrs. Micawber
Der, SO none who was there at Delmon-
ico's will ever desert the pages Of Boz.
Assails the Critics.
F. Hopkinson Smith, the American nov
speakers to arrive, for he had wandered
in from that Mugsby Junction Of Amer
lea known as Jersey City. entered the
lists boldly against the professedly clever
builders of fiction of this generation, such
as Arnold Bennett, who criticiSe the tech
nique OF the sage of Gadshill.
1T is an age Of defamation in which We
live" said Mr.. Smith, land we had to
Kill our Presidents to make martyrs of
them. One is indeed bold in these days
who crfticises the technique of Dickens
By what standard may we Judge? Ought
any man to say, who has not reached the
standard himself. unless years enough
have gone by to justify his opinion?
"a work of art may be judged by the
fact that it has pleased the greatest num-
Der of persons for the greatest period of
time. The style of MISSIONER may return
to supplant that Of Sorolla in the whi.l-
ing disk of time for all we know. Mr.
Dickens was reafst in every sense, a
Meissonier in literature
Mr.. Smith delighted his auditors with a
reading of the encounter of the Mess-s.
Weller and the Rev. Mr.. Stiggins of
EbeneZer Lodge.
A Jealous Proselyte.
Charles Ram Kennedy, the playwright
and author of 1.-The Servant in the
House." who confessed that he had only
recently become a reader CT Dickens,
| proved to, be the most jealous of prose
| lytes. He declared, despite what the
"clever devils of this modern age may
say, women still weep for the death OF
| children. there are real persons with
hearts and there are many who wis /
| to get back to that age when men
should have hearts once more and the
high brows" should cease from trouble
| and the 'clever devils be at rest.
One of the interesting features of the
night was the reading of "Peggotty Hears
News that Emilys Run Away" by Sidney
Valentine, and there was many a re-
Spouse to the story of pulsing human
interest which Miss Kate Douglas Wiggin
Mrs. Riggs of her meeting as a child
with the great English novelist. The re-
cital affected her deeply and there was
a tremor in her voice as she brought the
| recital to it's close.
| The fellowship realized additional sums
| from the sale of medals and stamps for
the fund which is to be used for the aid
| of the grandchildren of ..lr. Dickens, who
are In straitened circumstances. The ban
Quet was one which revealed at every
point that the power Of Dickens to elicit
sentiment and love of the present genera
ton still abides.