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Show A DICKENS TESTIMONIAL. Dickens died at fifty-eight. Had he lived to seventy, as Thomas Hardy has done, he would have died possessed possess-ed of tenfold the wealth he left In 1870. Had he ilved to eighty, as Meredith did, he would have seen American copyrighted, for which he strove so eloquently, less for himself than for his fellow-authors, an established estab-lished fact.- He did not live to sec it; he died prematurely aged, leaving eight children and earnings that often oft-en accrue to a respectable solicitor. Today there survive three children and seventeen grandchildren of Chos. Dickens. Some of these faring hl3 name, are. through no fault of their own, in circumstances which must deeply concern, not to say pain, lovers lov-ers of Dickons. Three are in receipt re-ceipt of dining Civil List pensions. It Is not that any of these complain of their lot. Far from It. The fact that they are obliged to earn a precarious livelihood each accepts with cheerful ness. No. it is not that The question ques-tion Is rather, what would dickens himself say were he alive today-were today-were he to behold hundreds of thousands thou-sands of his works teeming foin the press, millions turning to hlrn for comfort and entertainment and spiritual spirit-ual refreshment laughing at his fun and weeping over his pathos, enjoying to the full all that feast he so bounteously bounte-ously spread before them, while those grand-children whom he loved are driven to accept a Goernment pension pen-sion of one hundred and twenty-five dollars per annum? But here the Idea of charity must not be entertained. It Is not charity to present the collateral descendants of Lord Nelson with an annual pension pen-sion or $25 000 A Dickens celebration there must he. Why should It not take the form of an International Dickens Testimonial? It is not charity char-ity to present a friend or a benefactor with a purse of $5,00n. Why should not those who are grateful to Dickens' Dick-ens' memory, anfl wish to pay their tribute, contribute to such a testimonial? testi-monial? It could be doue without making any demands of a charitable nature, without soliciting, without receiving re-ceiving an subscriptions, without acknowledging ac-knowledging any subscriptions; a-' simple expedient in wh'ch the poor and the well-to-do might share together. togeth-er. Tt Is estimated that there are 21.-000.00.) 21.-000.00.) copies of Dickens' work extant, ex-tant, allowing for loss through wear and tear. Were it conceivable that every possessor of one of these volumes vol-umes were to pay two cents in super-rovalty super-rovalty It needs little knowledge of arithmetic to arrhe at the sum of fne hundred thousand dollars. But this is Inconceivable Many mifcLt have copies of Dickens' works on their shelves and yet feel no sense of personal gratitude towards the author. au-thor. Were a quarter of the numher to consent that each volume should bear a Dickens stamp certifying that a "deferred royalty" of two cents had been paid a very large sum might be realized, without trouble, without expense, ex-pense, and without prejudice. This is the scheme which we propose, pro-pose, and which, unless some unforeseen unfore-seen obstacle arises, will he duly carried car-ried Into effect. In itself this tflck-ens tflck-ens stamp will be a work of art yet nnobstrusive, small, simple, and of a tint to suit Ihe character of the volume vol-ume Strand. |