The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-11-02

weekly parts. As he worked up the
idea, however. its possibilities grew
upon him and he straightway turned 1t
into a full sized novel. the necessity for
supplying regular installments of which
proved uncommonly irksome. He Gravel
the stimulus of the wonderful air for
which this region is famous and wished
to take over Fort House. (the present
| "Bleak House") at once, but this proved
impossible. So, pro tenn, he took lease
of Dawn Cottage" and spent weeks on
end there, first in June and later In Oc-
tober, 1910. Writing to his friend and
biographer. Forster, at this time, he
said: II have effected reform by viz
tue of which we breakfast at 7:45, so
that | get to work at $3.50, and am COM
monty free by 1 o'clock or so, which is
great happiness" In the middle of
October, 1910, he returned to town. and
by the end of the month he had SO we'll
advanced that the close of the story was
not far distant
Essentially quaint itself. this pied de
terre of the famous novelist Is the CEN
ter of a truly old world neighborhood
AT the corner which one rounds In APP
preaching it there is. appropriately
enough, a real "Old Curiosity Shop"
carried on. as its sign announces, by
one John Wiits, who himself might have
stepped straight out of a Dickens novel;
Outside 1t are two ancient figureheads Of
ships, each in the shape of woman,
and both cracked and blistered by many
head-on sea gale.
On the brass door plate of the nearby
little two-storied structure, one reads,
Dickens Cottage but what first meets
the eye is the injunction in striking let
ters on the wall of what is obviously
the same building, Seek Ye First the
Kingdom of God" This inscription has
proved a sad thorn in the sides OF the
Ameses, as 1t causes somewhat irrever-
ent comments from passersby, and they
have tried to get 1t removed, but with
out success. AS a fact, the Dickens
COTTAGE" as it now stands Is only half
of the building occupied by the novelist,
the remainder being in the possession OF
a religious organization of the dissent
ing order which believes, in "blood and
FREE methods, hence the capital letters.
As the result of correspondence which
has passed between Ames and its head,
regarding the inscription, he and the rev.
erend gentleman do not now speak as
| thew pass by.
| Within, one finds the cottage tiny
| box of a place, of low-ceilinged, oak
panelled rooms, grouped around a curl
GUS winding staircase, with openings at
| the sides, so that when member of the
company quits the dining room to mount
| to one Of the bedrooms on the upper
| floors, one unexpectedly beholds him or
| her midway in the ascent. What was
Dickens and Is now Mrs. Ames work.
room-likewise at present the dining
room of the i1ouse--is bright room with
an ancient grandfathers clock In one
corner and many Toby Jugs upon its
| shelves. Here 1t was. and the thought
| Is magical one. that the master wrote
IF Nell and her grandfather, Of Dick
| Swivel1er and the Warehouses and all
| the rest of the crew whose doings crowd
| the pages Of perhaps the best loved of
his many novels.
Through the tiny paned windows OF
| this room one looks, and through its
doors one steps, into the narrow garden
| at the back which to their surprise and
| delight, as well as to their mystifcation
| (since no explanation ever has been
forthcoming), the Ameses discovered had
| been nomed California by some pre-
vious occupier. When the Anglo-Amer-
| lean couple acquired the property, they
| say this garden. owing to long years of
neglect, was little better than wilder
ness, but 1t Is now a miracle of neat
ness and color. In diminutive shack
at the end is Hugo Ames' workroom.
a typical authors den, with many VAN
| ity Fair" cartoons, small, but well
chosen reference library, the inevitable
golf clubs, and a pile of uncommoniy
neat manuscript on the writing table.
The Ameses return to California, they
! tell me, for the exhibition year. At
present both are up to their eyes in
work, Mrs. Ames, among other things,
being occupied in writing her life, which
prominent London publisher, Evelegh
| Nash to wit, has arranged to bring out.
THE spirit of Dickens she says, SIS
| q good comrade for work."