The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-05-21

LNrn. she NlDLt Nun VI itti 4dtltt4 y
death. He answered with sincerity
and kindness. and for the last
time referred TO the past years
that had meant 50 much to them
both. II must have been some
thing Of a shock 70 Mrs Winter
10 learn that the erstwhile beau
tiful visions Of his youth now
reacted upon him in the shape Of
ghosts.
Paris. Rue du Faubourg
Monday, Seventeenth
November. 1862
Ny Dear Maria.
had read in Galignani that
your poor father was dead. before
I received your touching account
Of his last moments. OF course /
could not be surprised. knowing
his great age, by the wearing out
Of his vitality. but-almost equal
lv Ct course-it was a shock too,
for all the old past comes out Of
its grave when I think Of him, and
the ghosts Of good many years
stand about his memory.
He died among his children, and
could have died with no better
words and no better hopes God
be thanked for IL. and may such
mercy and comfort be in store
for us
Always yours affectiOnately
CHARLES DICKENS.
Pray give my kind regard to
Margaret and your brother.
A ND thus the romance ended.
N Maria Winter having no real
malice or vindictiveness in her ma
ture perhaps never realized that
she held in her possession the most
flagelatOry weapon that any
woman ever held over Dickens
head
Not that there was anything
discreditable IN his intentions, or
indeed in the letters themselves;
but the fact that the world-famed
Dora" in human form, had
emerged from obsCurity and had
finally found her "Doady,' and
that DOady, being very unhappy
with his wife. responded with his
whole heart" to Dora S call-wrote
her fond love letters and had clan
destine meetings with her, would
have caused great excitement in
that quiet Victorian age.
While the term "Doady' may
have sounded very cunning and
when it issued from the
lips of Davids child-wife Dora, it
is likely that much Of its tender
would have been per-
verified by the tongues and pens of
and unromantic critics in
heir efforts to adapt it to DOra's
forty four-year- old sweetheart.
Dickens hated his fatherin-law,
George Hogarth, and his querulOus
aggravated by family dis
cord-had eStranged him from
many of his dearest friends. A
distorted construction. could, and
would. have been placed on nearly
he had said in the sec
ond and third letters to Mrs.
Winter. and all the explanations
he could have c0njured up would
not have set him right with the
public at large. and certainly nct
with his antagonists.
IF Dickens was aWare-as he
4 must have been - of this
overshadowing menace. his fears
were carefully masked in all his
letters. We know he set very
high value on his reputation, and
while his inherent kindhearted-
ness would no doubt have prompt
ed him to be charitable toward
the one great love of his life, it is
reasonable to suppose that in TAX
ing the tolerant attitude he did
toward her persistent and annoy
ing opportunities he was not I'M
mindful of the fact that she held
his destiny in her hands
When he finally separated from
his wife there was So much hostile
gossip that he decided to make a
public statement in his own de-
.cnse. Which-cCntary to the adj
vice of his friends-he printed in
Household Words. June u. 1858.
1t reads much like some of the
boyiSh illusions he sent to Maria
Beadneu, and shows how sensitive
he was to the breath of scandal.
He might better have needed BY
ron'S answer to a friend who asked
why he didn't defend himself DO
YOU think accuSers like one the
better for being confuted?' Here
is what Dickens published:
Three and twenty years have
passed since I entered on my pres
ent relations with the public. They
began when I was so young that
l find them to have existed for
nearly quarter of a century.
My conspicuous position has
often made me the subject of
fabulous stories and nacCOunt-
able statements Occasionally such
things have chafed me, or even
wounded me; but I have always
accepted them as the shadows
inseparable from the light of my
nOtoriety and success. l have
never Obtruded any such uneaSl-
ness Of mine upon the generous
aggregate of my audience.
For the first time III my life,
and I believe for the last, l now
deviate from the principle l have
so long observed by presenting
myself in my own journal in my
own private character. and en-
treating all my brethren las they
deem that they have reason to
think we'll OF me, and to know
that I am a man who has ever
been unafTectedly true to our
common calhng). to lend their
aid TO the dissemination OF my
present words.
Some domestic trouble of mine
Of long standing. on which l Will
make no further remark than
that it claims to be respected. as
being OF a Sacredly private nature.
has lately been brought to an ar