Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-07

Today is the one hundredth anniver-
sary of the birth Of Charles Dickens.
1.-The last. and perhaps the greatest, OF
the mythologists." The day is being
celebrated in every nation that speaks
the language in which he wrought, and
in scores of others who see their Dick
ems but darkly through the glass of
translations.
The elimination of this centennial
celebration will be the presentation to
the heirs of the great author OF a fund
collected by means Of selling Dickens
centennial stamps. This movement had
its genesis in England and was taken
up in the United States and other coun-
tries. Its sponsors were such men as
Lord Alverstone, lord chief justice OF
England; Lord Rosebery, ex-prime min
lister; Andrew Lang, Hall Game and H.
Rider Haggard. 1t was presented to the
world by such publicity agents as Gilbert
X. Chesterton and william De Morgan.
Every lover Of Dickens was asked to
buy a penny stamp. meaning the Eng
lish penny or 2 cents, to be affixed to
the fly leaf Of each volume of Dickens
in his possession. The fund thus raised
was to be presented to the Dickens heirs
to serve as some compensation for the
fact that millions of volumes of his
novels were printed in countries other
than England. some even In England
itself. from which the author received
no return on account Of the absence
Of international copyright laws and
the lax enforcement of the law In Eng
Hand. The movement probably arose
from the fact that some Of the heirs of
Dickens had been granted old-age pen
sions because Of their poverty. How
many stamps were sold and how much
money was realized does not yet appear.
While it is undoubtedly true that the
absence Of an international copyright law
deprived Dickens during
His Losses his lifetime. and his
a4 heirs after his death, of
ana Fronts. a great amount of
money. for no authors books have had
wider sale. it is also true that few writers
have realized as much money as did
Dickens from his writings and public
readings.
When he died he left a. fortune OF more
than half million of dollars. and in his
last American tour, in 1867 and 1888. he
made a net profit of more than a hundred
thousand dollars. Book piracy was not
an exclusive American crime. Washing
ton Irving, Bret Harte and Mark Twain
were pirated in England just as Dickens
was pirated in the United States, and
there have been some genuine admirers
of Dickens who have not warmed up to
the stamp collection.
The lecture tour of Alfred Tennyson
Dickens, son of the novelist, in this
country unhappily ended by his sudden
death in New York. showed conclusiveiy
that Americans were not tnsensible TO
their great obligation to the novelist
One cannot help wondering how a similar
movement originating in this country,
based on the centennial of Bret Harte III
1880, would be received in England.
English people assume superior virtue
in declaring that they have been more
appreciative Of Bret Harte's high literary
ability than have his compatriots. but 1t
is none the less true that British pub
fishers pirated his books, and it is also
true that Bret Harte did not lampoon and
bitterly caricature the English as Dickens
did the Americans.