The Cairo bulletin., 1912-02-08

| iSIl hon NdS, lCluTluiis. when MT.
Childs. relieved of his gambling
gains, had retired smilingly. Dickens
lasked. "Is, it possible? Have hean
dreaming! And yet ne is greaf
man! He has done wonderfel
thires'''
NQae Of the portraits published
lrescmbled Dickens at the prime of
life and the height 81 his fame He
looked like d retired sea captain,
aad had an alertness and vigor that
suggested IIeaye ahead, my heart
les!' This suggestion vas height
cred BY his ruddy, weather-beaten
lface. his grizzled, foam-iecked hair
loud beard, and his keen, calm serious
eyes that seemed to reflect the Won
| ders OF the deep. He had brother,
Frederick Dickens, who looked so
like him that | had ofen thought
sAey were .tyins--the same sailor
| Ike face and manner, the same tai
i puf aSts sAlS euiHaNuui 1StNh' VIZ VIII
no literary ability. 1t was curious
to study the two brothers, exactly
alike. but one lacking the inspira-
ton of genius, as If Nature had Gre
ated duplicates and then decided to
| endow Charles, instead Of Frederick.
| The world knows Dickens as a
writer. but as an oral story-teller he
Twas even more marvellous. He told
stories almost as constantly as Lin
coin or Schcherezade. but they had a
mysterious popularity. Remember
then repeat them word for word
and they had lost their magic. For
example, when VIC were a small FAM
Qy. party at Gad's llill, we would
| coay Dickens to tell us the story of
the Woman with the Rcd Shawl"
Tie, had dreamed OF woman who
wore red shawl, and at night, go
| ing home after his lecture, he had
mct the identical woman, wearing
the same red shawl as in his dream.
tIhere was nothing very remarkable
in such an Incident, but, as Dickens
told it, the story interested, amused
md thrilled US though we had
heard " over and over again.
| He talked with such quaint pre-
cisiQn, such an undertone Of fun, wit
and satire. that it seemed as If he
might have saved himself many
weary hours by debating his novels
to a. stenographer,
| Across the road, but within the
manor Of Gads Hill and under the
Jurisdiction OF Mr.. Dickens as land
lord and justice of the peace. was Il
country tavern. originally called
The Jolly Pillow Boy" but rechrist-
| sned sir John Falstaff's Inn" One
night there was a disturbance in the
itayern and we went over In body,
Dickens lgadiag. to Investigate 1t.
Among a party of rough fellows was
a man with blood streaming down
his face. and he said that the land
lord had struck him with a pewter
lpot. ~ ''
did you strike this MANI" asked
dickens slerDly.
"Yell sir" replied the landlord,
,'yether III 1T that mon on the ed
With pewter pot bit his not for the
likes of me to say, sir: but the him
preston on my mind his that HI did
/ not
well, sir" retorted Dickens jul
Ideally, whether you hit that man
On the head with a pewter pot is not
for me to say, but the impression on
his head is that you did,"
| Dickens left no memoranda, from
which the plot of his unfinished
novel, The Mystery of Edwin
| brood" could be discovered. But,
| before writing this novel, he told
me Of plot which he was consider
ing, Pointing. to a building on the
bank Of the Thames, he said: "That
Is our poor house. A swell-to-do
Boverseer put his father into that
house, under an assumed name. The
old man revealed his identity to the
Board Of Managers, and they sent
him back to his son, whom they
threatened to prosecute for fraud.
Angry mean and alarmed. the over
seer put the father into buggy and
| drove into the, river here at this spot.
| His intention evidently was to drown
| his father and pretend there had
| been an accident. But the father
| chung to, him and both were drowned.
4 The oyerseer had taken, out 'insur-
ance policies upon HIS own lite and
that Of his father and distant rela-
| tivea applied for. the money. The in
|surapce company refused 70 pay.
Litigation ensued. and the court de-
leided that the policy upon the father
was void, because, be had been de-
| Hberately murdered, but the policy
Y IL