New-York tribune., 1912-03-09

would have been a great success. AS II 10;
il had better go into the next No. Dut .,i, vi,
not DO much, and VIII lIhh IsIll ~. nattii n.an nd
the child who tumbled downstairs. @ @WlSn
to Heaven her people would keep a lttle
hrmer on their legs. .,..., Gw,rIa Tisn
Hannay would not lmltdte al ",
| could not think of making so important
an alteration in Mrs GaskelIs story WltI-
ont her co1sent You must tell her.
in 80 many words. when you must nave the
proof back, or so TO press without It.
Elsewhere Dickens declares an article
by George Augustus Sala to be very
poor. one of the noblest subjects that
can be written on. with really nothing
in its treatment. Quite above MN vi"
another occasion he wants great
paper" done on new peerages' anu
what they were given for-how much
intellect they represent, how much
science. how much of discovery. Of ma
terial improvements in the life OF the
nation how much of contribution ID the
welfare of mankind.
The letters contain much information
about Dckens's public readings in Eng
land. as we'll as about his second VISIT 10
this country. Boston, he wrote to Wills
he found enormously changed since MS
first stay there, far more mercantile
not yet specially changed in manners
and customs. hut there is moro of New
York in this fine city than of yore.' lie
eXults over his success here, the more 50
as he had been warned repeatedly IN
the eve of his departure from Eng
land against danger, anti-English feel
ing, anti-Dickens feeling, New York
rowdyism. and I don't know what else.
In one respect this city has not changed
much since that day. for on December
II. 1867. he wrote that the Westminster
Hotel. where he stayed. had been on
fire-"a matter scarcely worth mention
ing in New York" He calculated that
he was making "A clear profit OF fl,3oD
week, then, in the same breath al
most, added. Nos. Of All the Year
Round all good. BE extremely chary OF
using those 'Mugby Junction stories.
In January of the year of his death ne
gave reading from "Oliver Twist
Blll SlheS anu Nanny -u'iOio 'I' ""Ni
ence of actors:
/ set myself to carrying out of them
selves and their observation those who
were bent on watching how the effects were
got, and | believe | succeeded. Coming
back TO II again, however, ! feel II was
madness ever to do it continuously. Ny
ordinary pulse is u. and 1t runs ny under
this effort to IL. Besides which 1t takes takes
me ten or twelve minutes to get my wind
back at ALL ! being in the meantime ike
the man who lost the fight. so J
hope you may he able to come TO hear II
before it is silent forever.
Dickens's last note 10 Wills was an in
vitation to dinner, dated February %,
1870.
Mr.. Chesterton is always amusing, and
often suggestive. Intoxicated with the
exuberance of his own verbOsity, he
rarely stops to reduce his joyous over
statements TO their modicum Of truth:
His introductions 10 the Dickens re-
prints in Everyman's Library, collected
| in a well-made volume. are stimulating
reading, full of a hearty appreciation
much sound Interpretation and sim
cere sympathy with the wide human
sympathy that was Dickenss. II is the
! introduction which he prefxes to these
introductions that requires reading with
a mental reservation. 1t is not Dickens
who is getting TO be out Of date, Mr..
: Chesterton begins in his largest manner
but the Victorian era. Thackeray was
of that era; with its passing he has be-
come classic. Not so Dickens. He did
not understand that world OF gentility
which has ceased TO understand itself
and now
The interesting part is this: That Dick
ems, whom so many considered at the best
a vulgar enthusiast saw the comnl
change in our society much more soberly
and scientifically than did his better edu-
Gated and more pretentiouS contemporaries
| . There Is no trace In Thackeray oi
the slightest consciousness that progress
could ever change its direction. There u
In Dickens. The whole Of Hard Times IL
| the expression Of just such a realization
He felt society changing; Thackeray die
| not.
There is food for thought in Mr.. Ches-
| tertons Interpretation Of "Our Mutual
Friend" ostensibly an apology for
Fagin, as a sustained work Of subtle
irony. From his paper on the Sketches
| by Boz" one picks the observation that
| 'it is indeed the chief tragedy Of pub
fishers that they may easily refuse IL
the same moment the wrong manuscript
and the right man" Ingenious, to say
the least, Is the explanation Of the
! american Notes and Martin Chuz-
zlewit' as the expression Of Dickenss
| fear for the future Of democracy, whose
| champion he considered this country to
| be, and no less clever is the contrast
drawn between his attitude toward us
and his detachment among the italians.
! The analysis of Mr. Toots's character is
| delightful-in short. these introductions
are no mere mechanical hack work, as
have been many others TO previous edi-
J tions Of Dickens. They are profitable
reading, done c0n dmOrC; an interesting
addition to the little volumes in which
| they first appeared, and worth the
Dickensonian's while in their present
more elaborate collected form.
ANIMATED PHOTOGRAPHY
Moving Pictures, Their Invention