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Show CONDENSED t CLASSICS i I & ' OLIVER TWIST 2 'i & By CHARLES DICKENS .j. 'j Condensation by J- Rev. Howard LaField, Professor X of English Literature : 2 (7. V v - ""1 . . , Charles Dickens did luOHt of his writing In the morning?. He usually us-ually nils content vrtth the hsurn between nine nnd one. He rarely Tvrote in the afternoon. af-ternoon. In his youthful dnys he often composed nt night, but Oils habit Tras abandoned aban-doned later. He could turn off page after pnjee at great speed and oftentimes often-times the custom of printing his novels in parts made this necessary. neces-sary. He Tras seldom sel-dom fur ahead of the printer. But ordinarily he con-s con-s i d e r c d tlire pages a good day's -work. If he did four and they satlslled him he thought It an unusually unusual-ly good day. He liked to Trrlte: He described himself as one "who writes and grins, as if he thought he were very funny Indeed." This was when he wns well Into his story. In starting a novel he was extremely slow. He could not hit npon names that satisfied him. His most loved hero was Trotfleld, Trothury, Copperboy nnd Copperstone before he finally became Copperfleld. But once In his stride he seldom rewrote, and be plunged ahead joyously. For every hour given to writing he set aside another for exercise. He describes de-scribes how he "walked about the black streets of London 15 and 20 miles many n night when nil the sober folks bad gone to bed." As he walked, whether In London or Paris streets or along the Kentish cllfTs, he was planning his story. But he wns not so absorbed as to be oblivious to the people he passed. Quaint nnd commonplace men and women In city streets and country lanes Unshed for n moment before his eye nnd the next day were made Immortal Im-mortal in his tales. OLIVER TWIST was born about 75 miles from London, in the lying-in room of rhe almshouse. His mother, worn and exhausted from a long and painful journey on foot, had been found unconscious in the road, nnd had been carried to the only place of refuge for such as she seemed to be. His name he owed to the inventive in-ventive genius of the 'parish beadle, who remarked: "The last one was a 's' Swubble I named him; the next one as comes will be Unwin, and I've got names ready made to the end of the alphabet, and all the way through it again, when we come to 'z'." The wronged and unhappy mother died without revealing her name, and the only proofs of the boy's identity, a locket and ring, kept even at the price of starvation, were stolen from the corpse before it was cold by the old crone who had been in attendance. The orphan's childhood, passed in cruel neglect and semi-starvation, was brought to an abrupt close by his own unparalleled act. Desperate through hunger he and his companions determined deter-mined that some one of them shall secure se-cure for all an extra helping of the thin and watery gruel which is their principal diet. The lot falls upon Oliver. Ol-iver. Nine-year-old child though he was, he was "reckless with misery." He rose from the table, and advancing to the workhouse-master, basin and spoon in hand, he said, "Please, sir, I want some more !" Such unheard-of daring receive!" speedy treatment. The next morning a bill, posted upon the gate, offers five pounds to anyone who will take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. par-ish. Then there follows ,a brief stay as the apprentice of a coffinmaker and undertaker, who, with an eye to the effect, promptly makes of the sad-faced sad-faced little waif a chief mourner at the funerals of children and "many were the processions which ffttle Oliver Ol-iver headed, in a hat-band reaching down to his knees, to the admiration of all the mothers in the town." His master is, on the whole, well-disposed well-disposed toward him, but a fight with a bullying older apprentice brings him into unmerited disgrace and punishment punish-ment and he runs away. On the outskirts of London he chances upon the fascinatingly droll Artful Dodger, pickpocket and pupil of Fagin. The curious behavior of his new associates is only a game to the innocent boy, when Fagin places snuffboxes, snuff-boxes, jewelry, watches and handkerchiefs handker-chiefs his pockets, and then stands looking in imaginary store-windows while (in an unbelievably short time) every one of the things Is taken from him. The true meaning tf it all burstl upon the horrified Oliver, when he is taken on an expedition nnd sees the "game" in full operation. Dazed and confused, he Is the only one captured and taken before a magistrate. His innocence Is established, but he faints in the court room, and is taken homo by the remorseful Mr. Brownlow, the man whose pocket he was supposed to have picked. In his new friend's house Oliver is nursed through a serious illness, ill-ness, and better Cays seem to have dawned for him. when he acain fail? j into the hands of Fagin. This Is no chance happening, for th" old crooi. j dreading the information which the boy may give, has hid kidnaped, while on an errand for Mr. Brownlow, by Nancy, a wretched girl of the streets, pupil of Fagin, and mistress of Bill Sikes, the greatest ruffian of the whole gang. In order to close Oliver's mouth, by making him also a criminal, he is taken along on a housebreaking attempt. Protesting, he is put through a small window that he may open the door to his companions. He is firmly determined deter-mined to warn the people of the house, but the burglary is a failure, and Oliver, Ol-iver, wounded by a stray shot, is left in a ditch by the fleeing gangsters. The next morning he crawls, injured as he is, to the same house, where his story is believed and he finds new and lasting friends. Again the lad Is sought out by Fagin, aided by a mysterious man who has shown great emotion at a chance sight of Oliver in the street, and who now plots with Fagin not merely for the possession of the boy, but for his moral mor-al ruin, which seems to be desired especially es-pecially by this so-colled Monks. Their whispered plottings are overheard over-heard by Nancy, who atones for her former kidnaping of Oliver by risking her life to inform his new friends of his true parentage. The interview between this Scorned street-girl and the beautiful Rose May-lie, May-lie, adopted niece of Oliver's protectress, protect-ress, gives Dickens a splendid opportunity oppor-tunity to which he does not fail to do full justice. "Coldly and harshly treated by Mrs.- Maylie's self-righteous servants, the girl is in a defiant mood when finally admitted, and remarks, with a toss of the, head, 'It's a hard matter to get to see you, lady. If I had taken offense and gone away, as many would have done, you'd been sor-' y for it one day, and not without reason.' " L But "the kind tone of the answer she received, the sweet voice, the gentle manner, the absence of any accent of haughtiness or displeasure took the girl completely by surprise and she burst into tears. 'Oh, lady, lady,' she said, clasping her hands passionately before her face, 'if there was more like you, there would be fewer like tne, there would, there would !' " Then comes the startling account of what Nancy had overheard : Monks has secured, by clever inquiry and bribery, the locket and the ring; he recognized Oliver; he alludes to his father's will and speaks of the gratification gratifi-cation it will be to him (Monks) to make a common felon of his young brother Oliver. He also says with a laugh that there is some comfort in the fact that his identity has been kept from his latest friends, "since how many thousands and hundreds of thousands of pounds they would give to know who their two-legged spaniel is." Rejecting all Rose's efforts to place her in some safe refuge from her horrible hor-rible associates, and refusing all rewards, re-wards, the weeping girl returns to the only life she has ever known, arranging arrang-ing to repeat her evidence to some discreet dis-creet man whom Rose is to bring to London Bridge. Nancy keeps this appointment with Rose and Mr. Brownlow, but it costs her her life, as suspicious Fagin has had her followed and watched. Sikes, insane with rage, brutally disregards her protestations that she has shielded him and has remained faithful to him. Disbelieving her, he beats her to death with a club, then flees vainly from the terrors of his own memory of the deed, and dies by an accident as he is trying to escape arrest. The gang is broken up by evidence In Mr. Brownlow's hands. Fagin is tried and hanged. , As to Monks, whose real name is Leeford, Mr. Brownlow proves to be his father's intimate friend, to have had first-hand information of ail the facts the dissolute son had tried to conceal. Oliver is his half-brother, natural son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Ag-nes Fleming, to whom he had turned in passionate love from his unhappy and wretched home. His will left the bulk of his property to Agnes (in default de-fault of other atonement) and to their unborn child. ' If a boy, however, he was only to inherit if he kept his name unstained during his minority. Rose is the younger sister of the unhappy un-happy Agnes. Monks takes the share given him and leaves England. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow; Rose marries Mrs. Maylie's son, Harry, and the two households house-holds enter on well-merited blessings and happiness. Copyright, 1919, by the Post Publishing Co. (The Boston Post). Copyright In the United Kingdom, the Dominions, Its Colonies Col-onies and dependencies, under the copyright copy-right act. by the Post Publishing Co., Boston, Mass., U. S. A. All rights reserved. |