Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-04
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staring at the house out of the window
with all his might.
Il was rather amazed to be told this
by the very queer small boy; for that
house happens to be my house. and
I have reason to believe that what he
said was true
No doubt the other attractions and
advantages of the house were supple
mented in Dickens mind, when he
purchased it, by sort of poetic JUS
tice to his own poverty stricken
youth.
The domestic life of Dickens was
tinged with strange infelicity and ro-
mantle sadness. He married daugh-
Scott's friend. After twenty-one years
she left him. never to return. There
does not appear to have been any real
attachment between them at any time;
1T was the younger sister, Georgina ma.
that Dickens should have married. for
she was his constant adviser and the
guardian angel of his home. Maclise
has left beautiful sketch of the three,
but it's elusive delicacy gives no hint
of the fatal differences that separated
man and wife. There was an elder
sister. to whom also Dickens was
deeply attached. and who died soon
after his marriage. Her memory was
with him constantly up to his death
las inSeparable from my existence as
the beating of my heart" Georgina
was the best and truest friend ever
man had" But never a word of ro
mantle affection or domestic attach
ment for Katherine his wife, and the
mother Of his children. Only two let
tiers written before their marriage are
extant, and they are conventional mis-
siveS. The letters written during their
married life are dreary and cold-per-
functory performances of a duty that
a husband travelling may not neglect
What the secret was of this misunder-
standing no one. has fathomed. There
was no quarrel. no scandal, no Ill will
Dickens continued to send his absent
wife handsome checks for her support
as long as he lived. But it was her sis
ters-the memory of the departed one.
the practical helpfulness of the living one
who entered into the move lists life far
more than the woman he had married
Why he had married her under these
circumstances the biographers have not
revealed, because they have not discoV-
cred.
1t may be that the story of Dora and
Agnes in David Copperfield' will give
the reader who knows the book $ auto
biographical value some hint; otherwise
We are almost as much in ignorance
about the heart life of Dickens as We are
about the dark lady of Shakespeare
SonnetS.
His writings and his readings made
Dickens a very wealthy man, or should
have made him so. The fortunes earned
by the pen of Scott. and swallowed UP
by financial misfortune, We're duplicated
by Dickens. and with little better result.
He received also an enormous income
from his public appearances, at some OF
which the people paid f5 to get into the
hall. On the occasion of his second Amer
lean visit, in 1867, SPECTATORS STOOD an
night before the ticket Office to get choice
seats when it opened in the morning. In
New York at ) am. there were two lines
of 500 people each waiting for the open
ing of the box Office, and as much as Slo
was paid to exchange places with some
one farther UP the line America went
Dickens-mad. He made $22o,VoO in two
years from his readings.
n =
With all his genius for coming his
brain into gold, he was continually
in hot water financially, and there was
hardly ever a time when Charles
Dickens was not working away at
fever heat to accumulate some fund or
pay off some obligation. 1t wore HIM
out, and he died prematurely at
pathetic. He came home to dinner
from little chalet which was his
workshop. He looked i'll and Miss Ho-
garth asked him to lie down and rest:
slipped to the floor Those were his
last words. He died the next day, the
9th of June, 1870.
London is different city today from
the London of Dickens. The twenty
five or more inns of Pickwick are
nearly all gone, like the coffee houses
of Johnson. Fagin's Thieves Kitchen
and Warren's Backing Factory have
fallen before the march of municipal
progress. The Old Curiosity Shop. in
deed, remains, but that has BEEN
proved to be a fake, to capture the
nimble shilling of the American tour
list. One Dickens building" to under
go demolition recently was the old In
solvent Debtors Court in Portugal
street, back OF the law courts. 1t was
in this building that many of Dickens
characters stood in the dock" and
some old witness boxes from this
court were sold at auction. They
brought good prices owing to their
association with the great author.
1t is new London that is today
the capital OF the world. But the real
London that will go down to future
ages as the London Of all times is the