Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-04

and Will help to conquer many countries
now unsubdued by that world conQuering
tongue. 1t is an army that wins it's bat
ties by the spell of sympathy and over
comes nations by the might Of wisdom
and smiles.
x +
Dickens understood the common people
so we'll and loved them so warmly be-
cause he was sprung from them. 'Da-
vid Copperfield" is known to be largely
photographed, and the original of the
impecunious and impractical wilkins Mi
cawber was the nOyelfsts own father.
Perhaps his early trials must be account
ed for by the fact that he was born on a
Friday. 1t was the eth of February,
1872; the scene of his mundane debut
the full name with which his parents
endowed him was Charles John Huffam
Dickens.
No school except that of experience. no
university but that Of life. can claim
credit for his genius. He may be said
to have educated himself in the words
of Micawber. Fortunately his father had
fair library Of we'll selected works.
Among the books read by the boy were
1.-THE Arabian Nights don Quixote,"
'Gil Bias" the works Of Smollett, Field
ing and Goldsmith, the essays in the
Spectator and the Taller. Fed upon such
food, his imagination expanded into rich
sympathy, and an innate power of OBJ
servation completed his equipment as
great artist. He might have become a
vagabOnd and a derelict Of society; but
somehow he was rescued from the mael-
strom OF destiny, and drifted from an
attorneys office to the desk Of a short
hand reporter, and from that into the
purlieus of Grub street, to wind up in
the Poets Corner OF Westminster Abbey,
among the remnants of royalty and
genius.
Dickens earliest literary effort was
tragedy-"The Sultan of India''-written
during his intermittent school days 1.-The
Dinner at Poplar Walk" printed in the
Monthly Magazine in 1888, was the i'm
mediate precursor Of the Sketches by
Boz" which appeared in the same publ
cation, and were collected in book form
in 1886. How he came to adopt the pseu-
donym Of Boz is a story that has been
often told-a younger brother was nick
named Moses, after a character in the
Vicar Of Wakefield; pronounced
through the nose this became "Bosse."
which was shortened to Boz.
1t was the publication of 'Pickwick'
in 1897 that first established the fame of
Dickens upon secure ground. London
read and laughed. and the authors for
tune was made. The publishers at first
suggested the Nimrod Club as a title. but
Dickens got the name of Pickwich from
that of coach proprietor at Bath. as lie
virtually admits in chapter 35. Seymour.
the artist had first sketcher PickWick
with a lean and hungry look, like Cassius,
but Chapman, the publisher, suggested the
portra ture of "a fat old beau, ana u
friend of his by the name of John Foster
is the bodily prototype of the greatest
comic figure since Falstan.
From "OIiver Twist" to 1.-THE Mystery
of Edwin Brood" Dickens poured forth
series of novels that are TO-DAY the
Perhaps no greater tribute to the gen us
of their author has ever been pehneo
than that of his disciple and literary Ioi,
lower, Brete Harte-the poem entltied
Dickens in Camp
The roaring campfire with rude humor painted
TIE ruddy Iints Of health ., nm,
On haggard face and form that dropped ana
In the fierce race for wealth.
Till one arose. and from his packs scant treasure
A boarded volume drew, ,.,
To hear the tale anew:
Aud then. while round them shadows gathered
faster
And as the freight fell.
He read aloud wherein the book the Master
Had told OF Little Nell"
And in mountain solitudes-Oertaken
AS by some spell divine,
Their dropped from them like the needles
shaken
From out the gusty pine.
Thus Bret Harte describes the pro-
found impression made on a camp gath
ering of rude western miners by the
touching tales of the London novelist. and
he closes with the fine tribute:
And on that grave where English oak ard holly
And laurel wreaths eutwine
Deem 1T not all presumptuous folly
This spray of western pine!
Even Walter Bagehot's striking title
conferred upon Dickens-"a special cor
respondent for posterity',-does not ex.
hale subtler praise than this poem by
an American author who owed his style
and his philosophy of life both to
Dickens.
Dickens drew most OF his characters
from life. and drew them so well that
they were often identified without any
trouble. Sometimes the identification
caused trouble. when Harold SKIM
pole in BLEAK House was recognized
az Leigh Hunt and the boisterous Boy