Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-03-28
Charles Dickens at Home
By Stephen Fiske, Editor and Critic, Sole Survivor of the
Dickens Coterie.

Note,February : marks the centennial
of Dickens birth, and the beginning of
me memorial celebration i'm his honor in
the United States and England.
Dickens was very happy at Gad's
HIM. When a boy. tramping with his
had stopped before the pretty house
and exclaimed. There l shall live when
l get to be a mani" The fulfilment of
thls prophesy seemed to Dickens like
the happy ending to one of his wv
fairy tales. Besides, the place was holy
ground to him. for it had been trod-
den by the feet of Shakespeare and
was a resort of Falstaff. Poins, Peto.
Pistol and Bardolph. In the hall a
painted panel read. This is Gadshill,
OF which Sir John Falstaff said-''
INC the quotation from Henry the
Fourth" follows.
There was only one other residence
In all England that Dickens preferred
to Gad's Hill. His favorite walk was
to Rochester. and he would stand for:
hours. viewing the ruined castle: re-
building and repairing it: repeopling it
with the kings and queens. lords and
ladies who had lived within it's massive
wallis. One day he said
"lf ! could only ave his old castle
w v ~ i NOolN 1ClIC DdIt vi IL IL my
own expense n keep it open to the
public on certain days or hours. 1t
would not cost so very much. j have
made the calculations. But this is one
of my dreams that will never come
true"
While Dickens was lecturing in
America 1 obtained ar interview With
another great novelist Disrauh. then
premier of Great Britain, and told him
this story. He replied promptly and
emphatically, There is nothing in the
kil.gdom that Mr.. Dickens cannot have
ii he wants 1t. Tell him to forward a
formal request to be appointed GUS
todian of Rochester castle. and he shall
receive his commission from her gra-
cious majesty. who will be as pleased
as l ann to accede to his Wishes
Thus. within q year, the dream of
Rochester castle would have been re-
allied had not Dickens died untimely.
Gad's Hill.
Gad's Hill is a small. stone parson-
age. sweet with flowers. To the left
of the central ~hall-which was hung
with scenes painted by Stanstield for
amateur performances-were the recep-
ton and dining rooms. On the right
We're the library and billiard room. ON
a side door was the notice, This leads
to the Kitchen; please keep closed"
Placalds. labels and signs We're pecu-
liarities CT the house. In the sleeping
rooms We're benches lettered i'm black.
For trunks" For portmanteau."
Dickens laughed as he explained, Yes.
everything that can be labeled is la
beled. i used to be the most careless
of men, and had to cure myself as
my work increased. Now j ann a mar
tinet. breakfast at 8 sharp; dinner at
Z sharp. Otherwise this is Liberty
hall,"
The room best known to the public is
the library. because of the picture by
Luke lfldes, called The Vacant
Chair" which has brought tears to
many eyes. But. so far as Dickens was
concerned. that chair had always been
vacant. 1T was for the accommodation
OF guests. He never used it, except to
Write the most casual notes. ''How
could l write works in a library he
exclaimed with all those volumes
glaring at me and muttering. What.
The books on the lowest shell of the
library We're dummies, with titles Sc
lected by such London humorists as
Albert Smith, Mark Lemon, Edmund
Yates and Andrew Halliday. Lives
OF the Poets was so thin that there
was scarcely room for the title on the
Englishman." was in five portly vol
umes. Eggs on Bacon c%aricatured
Coke on L%ittleton." Dickens recalled
the authors of all the dummies and
would roll On the fioor with glee as he
told about them.
His important writing was done in a
large bedroom upstairs or in Il chalet
on the opposite side of the road, con-
nected with Gad's Hill by a tunnel
cut through the chalk soil, so that
Dickens might pass to and fro with
out ellcOuntering the scores of admirers
who stopped before his house daily to
catch a glimpse of their idol.
The chalet was presented to him by
Charles Fechter. the famous French
actor. who saw it at the Paris exposi-
TONS, carefully numbered and boxed.
Dickens had the boxes strewn care
lessly owe the lawn, and, when F'ech-
ter arrived, asked him anXiously. why
have you sent me this umber?" "Ciel!'
cried Fechter, but l have been swim
died! They old me they would send
you a Swiss chalet to write in
l never knew my visitor to be adj
mitted to his chalet. In it Dickens
was as secluded as at a hospice on the
Alps. There was 10 special view to
district his attention from his work
only the meadows, the woods of Darn
ley park and the changing sky. He
had -four regular working hours, and no
day laborcr was more punctual. His
vacation we're his lecturing tours.
As Reporter.
In the centenary notices too little has
been said of the fact that Dickens was
always a journalist: first as Il reporter
on the True Sun and the Morning