Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1912-02-12
NOVELIST AND HUMANITARIAN
Rev. r. w. Coleman Speaks Upon
These Two Sides in Character of
Dickens.

At the evening service at Trinity
Methodist Episcopal church Sunday
the pastor, Rev. F. W. Coleman, spoke
upon Charles Dickens. Novelist and
| Humanitarian" delivering an appre-
! citation of the great writer which came
! from an intimate acquaintance with
| his works, and holding the close at
| tentiOn of his congregational through
| out the discourse.
In opening his remarks Rive. Mr..
| Coleman said:
| We Protestants have no particular
| method whereby We may canonize,
that is hold up or commend for per-
| petual generation, men and women
who have been conspicuous for their
virtuous lives and deeds. Yet we
| might say We have 3, way Of our own,
| which is not mechanical and perfume
! tory but spontaneous, of celebrating
! the birth and life of certain individ-
| uals who have exercised a blessed ana
beneficent influence upon their fell
! lows.
TO lover of Dickens the present
| outburst Of enthusiasm on both sides
of the Atlantic is very gratifying. The
| hold that Dickens still has upon the
! lives and hearts of the men and wom-
| en- of the world shows little sign OF
| abatement And it only needed the
| centenary of his birth to bring out the
great love and reverence which the
reading world still holds for him
| AT his death it was said by a con-
| temporary: IF ever man left the world
| better for having lived in it, that man
was Charles Dickens Thackeray
spoke of him in reverent tone as the
! Jesus Christ of literature. Such econi-
ums are not the exaggerated express
sions of the few, but they express the
| general feeling of al those who know
! him and his work. 1t is not, there
| fore. at all uniting that Charles Dick
ems should be the subject Of pulpit
| address upon the centenary of his
! BIRTH
| The speaker mentioned his boyh0od
recollection of first acquaintance with
| Dickens and the great impression made
upon him when he first finished read
| ing Pickwick Papers, and then passed
| on 10 sketch briefly the early life Of
| Dickens, passed in poverty which gave
opportunity for the genius to obtain
only an insufficient education.
But at "a Dickens wrote Pickwick
Papers and reached the height of his
popularity. He never did anything
better. Ilen IOilONGu MS nov els.
Dickens as a writer laid a great hold
upon his contemporaries and was the
object of wonderful tributes from the
literary men of his age.
Dickens power as a writer, said the
speaker, was not as q story teller, hut
real creator Of characters, lifellhe
beings who entered into the everyday
life. The power of his genius lay in
his sensibiIity TO human feeling. his
power Of observation and his power Of
Inauguration What made his works
powerful was his broad human sy.I-
patty. He was endeared to our hearts
and lives much as Abraham Lincoln
was by the same quality.
lie knew the poor and interpr5-ed
their lives as no other writer ever has
done. lie knew their hearts, and when
we think of Charles Dickens for his
broad sympathies we cannot help
CHASING him as a Christian worker.
lie was knight. and nearly every
novel he wrote attacked some abuse
His very popularity helped in the work
of reform. 50 that he eXerted more in
fluence than all the clergymen to-
gether.
Rev Mr. Coleman closed his address
by reading the poem Of William Wat
son written and read for he Dickens
centenary celebration in New York
last Wednesday