Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-03-28

being much too long. as the writer had
no time 10 condense it.
Not Il line. not Il word. must be
cut be replied; II will give the Hen
cletta plenty of sea room" He gave
the story eight out of l6 pages OF All
the Year. Round, and told me that 1t
mad sold thousands of extra copies.
He published serials by other popu-
lar novelists-Wilkie Collins, Charles
Reade, Edmun Yates. Anthony Troll
lope-and paid for them most literally.
The Dickens manuscripts We're writ
ten i'm blue ink, and this became a fad
of what used to be called the Dickens
school of writer's" Though he never
mentioned his immoral characters. and
tAncd the conversation immediately II
Pecksniff or Sam Weller or Mr. Dom,
hey happened to be quoted. l vehtured
to ask him if he enjoyed his creations
as much as his readers did. CERTAIN
ly," he said: II always have the first
laugh and the first cry"
Having thus preached IL forbidden
subject. Dickens was induced to show
me the original manuscripts of some OF
his novels and to explain his method OF
composition. There We're no Interim
cations, afterthoughts, changes OF X
preston, as i'm Balzac's manuscripts. III
a word or phrase We're altered the
change was made after. not above. the
I1FSt text, nor On Clle ldISil. IC saw
that, when ne had selected and named
a hero, he would jot down memoranda
about him-"Sllall he be rich? "lhe
property in c~hancery?" AN old aunt
or uncle?' In this. as in everything
else, he was very methodical. But his
imagination.
Gad's Hill was only an appanage OF
the large. adjoining estate of the Earl
of Darnley. but it carried with 1T the
title of Lord of the Manor. of which
Dickens was secretly proud. and the
office of justice of the peace. But ne
refused repeated invitations to sub
merge himself. like Disraeli, in the
peerage. The title of which he was
most proud was Chief" as abbrevia-
ton of "Editor in Chief and he was
thus addressed, by all his intlmates.
He would not talk OF ms own crea-
tions, but he frequently referred 10
those of other authors. ON a visit 10
Darnley hall we noticed among the
I family portraits, dating from the Cru-
saders, that of a golden-ha1red boy
dressed i'm black velvet, ana 10: d
ness reproduced after generations.
walked into the picture gallery to wei,
come us. What a story that would
make for Charles Reade.' eNclalmea
Dickens enthusiastically; II shall ten
him about it,
Elaborate Dinners.
Upon a miniature scale. but with
ample means, Dickens maintained at
Gad's Hill the estate of an old English
country house. Miss Georgina Ho-
garth. his sisterinlaw. was his house
Keeper. He had an excellent chef. The
dinners were very elaborate, with seven
courses and a different wine with each
course. Almost every day there We're
distinguished guests, coming from ali
parts of the world, and often the en-
tire conversation vas i'm French. when
Dickens spoke as f1uently as his friend
Fecllter. Choosing the wines for the
dinner was an afternoon festival. seat
ed astrlde a barrel. in the cool cellar
carved from the chalk rock, DICKENS
told a good story with every polole
selected and fairly rcvelled in boylsh
humor. The intense Vitality OF ms
novels glowed through his personality;
After dinner the guests were invited
to taste the bow of cold punch that
Miss Hogarth had prepared IN the cen
ter hall. Then there was WHIST OF
billiards, which Dickens turned into a
comedy by a constantly comic com
mentary upon the play and PLAYERS:
He grumbled to himself. We'll. Bad
players always win.' or. 1T is very
easy to play when one hoids all 'he
trumps.'
ON my first visit he remarked airily.
81 s,1ppose that the ariStOcratic custom
of leaving all the winnings on the
table for the servants has been adopted
in America!
"Don't mind him. Miss Hogarth in
terposed; "he is always like that
The housekeeping at Gad's HUI was
managed so perfectly that. except at
dinner. I never saw a servant there.
Miss Hogarth. as m~ethodical as Dick
ems himself. seemed to do everything.
In London, one morning. ! received
the following note.
.Shipmate. ahoy. How am / to
terrain an American who neither eats,
drinks. smokes. chews nor swears?
at once. ~
Entertains Childs.
Arriving at Gad's Hill. | found Mr..
George Washington Childs. of Philadel-
pliia. beaming with contentmen and
recurring no other amusement than inc
pleasure of being with Dickens. AT dim
ner Mr.. Childs ate little and drank
nothing but water. and Dickens slylN
pretended to shudder With horror every
time his own glass was filled. Persist
ing that MIR. Childs must be amused.
Mr.. Dickens asked hin to play Il game
of billiards. Mr.. Childs did not play
billiards.. and Dickens proposed "a
grand international pool
his son Charles representing England.
With much argument-'custom of the
country" and so on-and much per-
suasion, Mr.. Child's was induced to
back me as the American champion
for half a crown GO cents). and was
appointed umpire as soon as he de-
clared that he knew nothing about the
game. Dickens was marker, n shout
ed after every break. two for the
American eagle! Fluke Three for the
-. y;n.V TInO,.n y