The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-02
Lyndon Orr in Munsey's Magazine.


 A s is well known, Dickens married
 A Miss Catherine Hogarth when he \ was only 24. He had just pub lished his Sketches by Boz" the copy right of which he sold for $500, and was beginning the "PiclSwick Papers"
 When Dickens came to know George Hogarth, who was one of his colleagues on the staff of the Morning Chronicle, he met Hogarth's daughters-Catherlne Georgina and Mary-and at once fell ar dently in love with Catherine, the eldest and prettiest of the three. He himself was almost girlish, with his fair com plexfon and light, wavy hair. so that the famous sketch by Maclise has re- markable charm; yet nobody could real ly say with truth that any one Of the three girls was beautiful. Georgina Ho- garth, however, was sweet tempered and of a motherly disposition. It may be that in a fashion she loved Dickens all her life, as she remained with him after he parted from her sister, taking the utmost care of his children, and looking out with unselfish fidelity for his many needs
 It was believed for a long time-in fact, until their separation-that Dickens and his wife were extremely happy in their home life His writings glorified all that was domestic. and paid many tender tributes to the joys of family af- fection When the separation came the whole world was shocked. And yet rather early in Dickens's married life there was more or less infelicity In his Re trospections of an Active Life,' MT. John Bigelow writes a few sentences which are interesting for their frankness, and which give us certain hints:
 Mrs. Dickens was not a handsome woman, though stout. hearty and ma doubtful about her eye, and I thought her endowed with temper that might be very violent when reused, though not easily rousable. Mrs. Caulfield told me that Miss Teman-I think that is the name-was the source of the difficulty between Mrs. Dickens and her husband. She played in private theatricals with Dickens, and he sent her a. portrait in a brooch, which met with an accident, re- ouiring it to be sent to the jewellers to be mended. The jeweler, noticing Mir. Dickens's initials. sent it to his house. Mrs. Dickens's sister, who had always been in love with him and was jealous of Miss Teman. told Mrs. Dickens of the brooch, and she mounted her husband with comb and brush. This, no doubt, was Mrs Dickenss version, in the main.
 "A few evenings later I saw Miss Teman at the Haymarket theatre, play ing with Blackstone and MT. and Mrs. Charles Mathews. She seemed rather small cause for such a serious result passably pretty. and not much of an actress"
 Some years before this time, however. there had been growing in the mind of Dickens certain formess discontent- something to which he could not give name, yet which cast over him the shadow of disappointment. He expressed the same feeling in David Copperfield," when he spoke of David's life with Dora. It seemed to come from the fact that he had grown to be a man, while his wife had still remained child.
 As early as 1856, he showed a curious and restless activity, as of one who was trying to rid himself of unpleasant thoughts. He began to long for soli- tude A letter draws the veil and shows plainly what he means:
 Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no help for it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy. but that l make her so. too-and much more so. We are strange Fly ill assorted for the bond that exists l between us.'
 1 He speaks of ''incompatibility.' and a difference of temperamepts. In fact