The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-02-07
CHARLES DICKENS CENTENARY


One hundred years ago today in the
town Of Portsmouth, England, a babe
was born, and it is more than proba-
BILE that the loving mother as she held
her treasure to her breast was weav-
ing a bright and glorious future for
her new born son, but her widest
hopes and dreams never comprised the
realization. for every civilized nation
of the earth Is today concentrating
In some form the birth of her child.
Charles Dickens was born in Eng
land, he did his work in England. he
died and was buried in England, and
yet he was only English as are the
waves that beat on her shores, or the
winds that blT from of the same
His work was"for no one land or no
continent but for all the world. The
nature of his work was the good OF
mankind and the results are immortal.
Dickens was a reformer Of reformers.
His monument is not merely marble
slab in Westminster Abbey. but in the
hearts of the people for whom he
worked and for whose welfare he la
bored, those whom misfortune had cast
into debtors prison, have him to
bless for the amelioration Of their
their prisons The hideous. horrible
institution called Yorkshire schools.
where atrocities almost unbelievable
in the present age were perpetrated
were put out of existence by the pen
of Charles Dickens.
Changes for the better in the rules
of the court of chancery. more hui
man treatment accorded to sailors, and
a better condition of things for those
who work in the mines are few OF
the reforms for which he labored and
1abored with success.
AS a general thing a majority of
readers place more value on the hui
NOR of Dickens than on any other por-
ton of his work, but all who look be-
low the surface must note with wonder
the pathos of his writings, for while
all must smile at the dry humor OF
Sam Weller, the effervescence OF
Jing1es, the grotesque wit Of Newman
Noggs. to say nothing OF Dick Swi-
weller. Job Trotter and a score Of
others, when they read for the first
time "a Tale of Two Cities" they will
find one Of the most pathetic stories
ever written. Also in the many death
bed scenes, a person who can read any
Of them without finding his eyes SUI
fused with tears, must be callous to
the emotions of the human heart. The
deathbed Of the child, Paul Dombey.
with the vision before his eyes of the
mother who died to give him birth.
The old, old father DEATH" but thanks
to God for the older father. immor-
tality.
The death of Little Nell Dear Little
Nell spending her life to save her
grandfather from destruction. "She
was dead. No sleep so beautiful and
calm; she seemed a creature fresh
from the hand Of God, and waiting for
the breath of life" Her last words.
when I die put near me something
that loved the light. and had the sky
above it all the time" Even the old
grandfather always looking and ex-
pecting Little Nell, at last found death
on her grave.
cruelty. with his visions of Eden with
many children there. with light on
their faces; and so he died"
The death of Joe in Bleak House, a
crossing sweeper, ignorant almost be-
yond belief, bounded to his grave by
the rigors of the law. never allowed
to halt or rest. but always compelled
to move on" and when In his last
moments he has found a friend 1t is
only to learn the Lords prayer. "The
end is near for it is already very dark
for poor joe"
zoe. can you say. Our Father"
''Our Father, Yes. that's very good.
SIR
(Which art In heaven"
"Art in heaven" Is the light COM
ing. sir?"
Its close at hand, Joe: hallowed be
they name"
"Hallowed be-thy-"
The light had come upon the dark
benighted way-the boy was dead.
The death in the debtors prison of
the poor wretch incarcerated for
twenty years for debt he never owed
and with the last breath calling on
God a merciful Judge to bear in
mind the fearful punishment be had
endured on earth, twenty years in
this hideous grave" but his discharge
came at last; the man was dead.
Stephen Blackpool. the factory hand
brought up from an abandoned shaft
down which he had fallen. and while
helpless and crippled at the bottom he
had constantly watched beautiful
star as 1t shown in the heavens above
the mine. The star had shown him
where to find the God Of the poor; and
through humility and sorrow and for
giveness, he had gone to his redeemer's
rest"
The death scene of old Barkis the
carrier, whose courtship was done by
getting young Copperfield to tell Peg
gotty that 'Barkis was willin'" and
when life's end came "Barkis went out
with the tide"
The storm on the coast so vivid that
one almost feels the rush of the wind
and the sting OF the spray. the ship
wreck and the desperate struggles of
the last man to cling to the broken
mast; the capsized lifeboat sent from
shore to try to get him of: final
effort of one man to breast the waves
and carry line to the wreck; OF his
life crushed out by the waves. and his
body hauled ashore with the line
bringing with Ii the hody of the man