Show B fin n 0 fy ty w 0 vr 9 r A I fm I T r I y- y J ira 4 4 t. t t I L 1 r r J t rN r H rA 9 II b y l 7 y I f f. f I At f I h 4 r V By B LOUISE M M. M COMSTOCK 1 l r i A A Christmas Carol Charles Ics s 's S Dickens gave aire e 1 t tile the ha world a i r- r a tw 1 f favorite Christmas star stor story It ft s h has been read und and reread at mat 1 this time each year ear until old P f A Scrooge and TilH Tiny Tury Tim l are k i thor than cheris cherished himself led friends and the au HIl author DIC GF 1 I 5 i Is so closely Id Identified ed with ith the tic sp spirit sett lU it of ot o Boo Con Clu Christmas that we quite gaffe sympathize with the litt lit lit- t tle tie boy who It is said asked when lIen told toll of hl his death If Mr liar i. i h Dickens is dea dead d then Is Santa Claus go going goin ing to die too Dickens' Dickens place ploce as a literary artist a Is I. s seldom om h disputed But on Charles Dickens the man ratan the modern has lias recently turned his bis husband lore Here n pen pene according to Mr Mi Ir Ro Ho tr at Ing spotlight with astonishing n re results Two T erts is her final r ju judgment rl meat n of f hi him him i i I 1 am rut m weary u-eary new books on the fhe life of y the Charles famous n author of hearing ou of j you prate cant and hum Charles Dickens a Biography From New u bun bug and h hypocrisy Is there n meaner cant I than Iran Sources by Ralph Straus published by hy the tho t J your our empty c catchwords a t Cos os os l o r is Youre You're the a h o c 1 t e Book corporation a un and nd This c you on who boast hnas' Side Idol Idol- y your your contempt cont e nt f p t t for mane money Y and atry a otry-a a Novel Noel Based on Oil time the Life Ufe of or t Charles ih Dick kiosk break faith with I k I el e every publisher I J Yo a who the ens en by C C. E. E published pi I p I fished h by 1 trench preach charity y and pillory P your 1 parents and nn BUbbs Merrill company reseal rexeal re enl disconcerting it friends in your bool books You Yon who rant II duty dillY uni I smudges es on the the whitewashed w h Idol faithfulness the Dickens arid and desert esert for me a t painted 4 l' l metres metre's s 1 I legend e g ell d has gl given reo us ti liS s Of this punted painted actress Mr Ir Straus has illS little tittle The Christmas Carol It II for all Its h y i J t. t to sty h beyond C d I that hot her lIa name III 0 was Ellen en Terrain sermon against selfish greed and Tin Tiny limy Tim's Tims I Ini lna i ly 1 i that s she he was somewhat t well known and the mortal God bless us er e every one olle vas s n written u first named beneficiary In Dickens Dickens' will kill n tich i I because the author needed money e y im hn 1 left her lOUO 1000 pounds She Is undoubtedly the mediately and bully badly Martin bused J young our Ind lady for whom I nave great ro regard ard Dick Dick- Dickens on his first trip Iril to 0 America bad had enjoyed so som m im ens mentions in rn rh the inn impetuous and ridiculous de ley leyon a n sale rule compared to earlier hunks books 1 it fens ease of f the th n a as s to 10 grin hrin to separation which he later rot t h ha n o bead Inn long pending wit with Ii Chapman iu K cj o fj 1 appease his wondering public Mr Il fera fer Hull hall Important union the ninny many has much to of publishing say her Dickens had lupus houses s wit with II whom I Dickens had bad first tilSt dealings r ui t fil first li t seen her in Atalanta a dismal 1101 little per nr person then Under this Jis cloud clond the author i sun son on whose those yoke voice did not a curry carry to the ho ee to Manchester ter to assist c There c had Jad been nt fi a I dica i a n trip behind scenes an un tion He fl returned in Improved spirits loud nub nub- encounter a u t tearful confession that It was lie lic applause till still ringing In hIs Ills ears ears' ear and hi hl his the shame sha III of appearing n in III tights g that Iha was spoil spoil- head full of a 0 new story In ing her dehut debut performance appropriate word of Its Inspiration he told his wife unite Kate V was the till I consolation and an all Immediate ja te Infatuation Ie People Peo POO cl crippled d son of his bis sister Fann Fanny whom w he be faO pie had talked tal Kate had hall complained nod mill the just visited It ft was to he sort of lon long Inns contemplated separation was a J fairy tale thereby P rec P contrasting t raU n I the he selfish ranting canons tl n II hl hypocritical pori lien I r rich I rh Hated w who ho don dont don't t. t understand the fp spirit lit of Christmas Ka Kate te how however Ie r was ns n apparently lIan U I n alone I e in III her with the humble happy P poor nor who do flo It was cysts rf doubt of Dickens Dickens' sincerity Others accepted A A to contain all all his philosophy and hE be such sueh a n Christmas Carol as fiS he lie Intended they should a and smack in the eye eJe for cant and humbug r Its sales mounted But Dickens needed money tIP lIe set dot to work with that and in that respect the Carol disappointed him nil A t 1 fuch hair had ho 1 hoon been spent nn on hin ni n u u n lit III ten days das he read the hulf half finished story stor storto to ute Rate and arid Hogarth ingarth her sister rod and n a member member mem- mem ber tier of the Dickens Dicken household Its thrilling the a adoring oring Georgina exclaimed reports Mr Bechhofer Bechhofer It tIlt will do more good to the world than oil nil the sermons ever preached And Charl Charles modestly answered just what 1 i think What's Whitt's more mOle It'll 1111 do the Inimitable more mare good than all nil the sermons preached It'll sell like hot cakes Sell like hot cakes It did dl i. i The first edition ap- ap pea pear pear-ed red ed a n few days days' s before Christmas IS 13 and f copies were sold at It five the shilling each within a few hou hours rs of or publication harles Charles Mr I r. r SI Straus ra UR- UR tells us was towns overjoyed ed kept uproar uproar- Later editions sold over oer copies copis giving Dickens fiekens In his own words a mo most f pro- pro success the greatest I 1 think I have ever ver achieved elJ The little lout book Straus continues endeared him him to thousands of new renders readers md und put him hint on n new now sort of ot pedestal The alT ec Ik nute re regard ard in which he be bud bad heen been held heir changed ed to something even en warmer Thackeray was wu expressing ex ex- pressing the Hie general opinion when he wrote Who ho can listen to objections re regarding such a n hunk hook as this It seems seem to tn me a n national benefit and to every ulna man r r woman who ho rends reads It It a n personal personal personal per- per I kindness Th The Th ThIn In lust last t two persons I heard beard speak I of It were women neither her knew the other or the author and both hoth said by h hway way of criticism cism Gad bless him him 1 I Us its success was natural II Like the good d show show- tan an he lie was Dickens had quite outdone himself I 1 in Riving giving his public what It wanted scanted an nn extra good goad smack In the eye ee for cant and humbug With what satisfaction be Iw mu must t have tUI sot set Its kaleidoscopic scenes that vivacious procession of ot guests arriving at nt the hall hull the tableau of the Spirit of Christmas Christians resent Present the brief drama of the Christmas dinner Here Hert was seas the successful author In his greatest role hiving giving ln I his readers gorgeous entertainment piny piny- In Ing upon ullon their heartstrings heartstrings and and and hoping halting for large lurJe profits roots There Is probably more of ot Dickens own child lI e hood than of Fanny's sick son on In Tiny Tim He lie had been a bright sensitive little chap subject to frequent spasms of sickness that confined him to hooks books anc and dreams for tor amusement amuse amuse- e- e ment ment- His father furher afterwards so accurately portrayed portrayed por nor tru ed In Mr seems to have ha been heEn u a charming scoundrel sn so utterly unable to rope fOpP with the practical nl business of If living that he of often I en disappeared when hills bills were overdue leaving Mrs Dickens as nR futile as aE Mrs Int NIch and her numerous children to face ue the fhe music When n all ull went well there was US proper schooling endless fascinating theatricals Gals In the rhe Dickens louse rind and PlIt petty triumphs when hin hl his father rather lifted him unto the dining dining room to perform for admiring guests ue-rs ue When Wilen all nil slid did not nut go n well the Flopped Cropped there was rus constant terror of ot poverty po and the shame of f seeing his fat father In dehl debtors debtors' Irs Irs' prison and there was a h brief experience ex ex- when he be cent lont contributed el lo to the family in come h by labels on blacking bottles In a n cousins cousin's factory a n period so painful to him that John Juhn I Forster his faithful friend advisor and 1 biographer was vas the only person not excepting 1 his bis wife to whom he ever mentioned it Later Luter there was a dull period H as fiS clerk in a n I law office a more lively period pel as ts newspaper re reporter reporter re- re j porter when the young oun man chased news b by couch conch from one end of England to the other ann t took tonk down n parliamentary speeches writing on his 1 knee knet then the fatuous famous sl sketches ethes h by Boz Wen then Pickwick and fame when he tie was not yet et I tY-I tY ty live c e ye years uc old Fl m self self centered entel d ambitious j young manhood Dickens slipped easily into the therole i role rule of public Idol He set Iel up an nn a extravagant ant 1 hou household entertained lavishly nYa always s 's with that J Joy In rollicking rol middle class s good cheer so i marked In III the Carol arol He fie directed and acted I In the most talked of amateur theatricals of elf the flay 1113 and edited papers mm made le speeches traveled i arid and wl produced hooks books with unbelievable uhle enel energy enemy The role of public Idol Is always a u tr trying III one tine 1 HoWever Ho much mone money Dickens Dickens' minks hooks brought I he hp a always I a needed more mOle fJ Ills His Is i Improvident fn father t her i and brothers brothelS constantly Imposed f on his Ills gener gener- I Ills His Jj own children en he spoke of as the larg larg- largest est pst fatally family known Imo with the least eli disposition to do du anything for them themselves es el He lie Ie was ryas seldom free tree from the malady of his childhood and success sue suc cess brought him only Increasing restlessness and dissatisfaction At length there was a much tn of talked separation sc tion ion from Kate Sh She had lived with him hint twentythree twenty twenty- three ee y years ars had lurd borne him glut ten children hat but she was now dismissed left only her eldest son sun flOO pounds Income and the gracIouS privilege e of seeIng see seer In Ing her children when and where she 1 wished The household passed into the more snore welcome care of it was lichens Dickens plea plen that they had lived unhappily together for many ninny ye years that their differences were temperamental Kate wn was Mr Ir Straus Straps lIs tells us a complacently rood good natured d woman whom constant motherhood had rendered III ill and unlovely Certainly she fhe was wax no Ideal nl mate for the energetic energetic- and clever pr Dickens But she had put up with Ills his ravings over o the death of her sister Mary who died In his arms and hO whose H loss S he mourned publicly mind and privately private private- ly Iy all out of proportion to the relationship of sister in She had hud even n borne horne with him when hen already n middle age he hn had tried to revive re a youthful romance with Maria Marla Beadnell herself forty and und not so 80 fair Though h he hind had not lint seen Maria since his early tion h he wrote her Indiscreet letters lettel's imaged arranged u a meeting mt In his 0 min o n home found what damage e time hail had dune done her and retreated with no par oar grace Kate ute had Imd endured the trip to A America at his hlf wish visit had watched him him line conversation at nt dinner parties knew hi hie Irresponsibility Ir responsibility In hn business dealings s how bon public approval nl went scent to his head and criticism made him a n re restless t tyrant apt to caricature Its author mpr mercilessly sl In hl his books Moreover f r. r and perhaps herein In lay Kates Kate's fault she made no Idol 1101 of her hert t I on color plates and woodcuts and five shillings s was a notably low price Ills His profits all told fell short of 1500 What a n wonderful thin thing It Is he wrote Forster that such a It success should hould occasion one such Intolerable anxiety und and disappointment disappointment dis- dis appointment i In his chagrin Dickens made now his first and und last attempt to protect himself against the time common common com cone mon piracies of ot his b books No o sooner had the Carol appeared than a n childrens children's weekly called callet Parleys Parley's s Illuminated Library carried carr almost the entire book reprinted with a n short Introduction In January 1844 ISH Dickens applied for an un injunction tion to restrain Its sales The ph pirates ates s. s he was able to write wrote soon utter after mu are e beaten n tint UaL They are bruised bloody haltered battered 1 smashed squelched and utterly undone But Hut his triumph was WIS shirt shirt- t lived The pirates were let off HIT with frith ith a mere re re- bake buke they Immediately pleaded bankruptcy E EO ea that Dickens had to 0 pay court COUlt costs n i they thC I thereafter calmly resumed resented their ti practice Dick Dickens ens ellS did not Interfere n again ln l It hit is letter helter he I wrote to suffer suITer a n great gent wrong than to have recourse to the lie greater wron wrong of the law But Dut A Christmas Christians Carol was yet ret to make p mone money for its author It served sPI as headliner headline for fell his public readings of which he hp gave e allt dur ing the last 1 15 years sealS of his bis life Dickens first hist I experienced what Straus calls the rather tan Man I gerow berous deli delight ht of nf appearing alone on nn a 11 platform at Christmas 3 when he read rend lUh iC the the- Carol at nt t vo benefit performances When In hi S S S he he commenced his public readings he tiP N dd- dd il I ed ert to hi his program selections from Time Tile Cricket Pickwick Dombey y and Son fI Martin wit and later Inter h and David leJ Copper Copper- field ills His success was unprecedented Here Jerp at nt lust last he seemed to have found himself Here he was the author living for his public the Jives ive he he Ire had created he was the actor alone tin on n. n the stage acting parts of his bis own creation Every ery town fawn tn In n En land clamored for tor him Ho tin lie 0 triumphant tours of Ireland and Scotland Sot He Hp traveled once more to America H ln gi giving his r readIngs rend read nd- nd In Ings s before perfectly astounding audiences and often making over O 1000 a U week It Is la probable that the lie strain of nf constant traveling tray trav clin cling eling of emotional delivery er to together with re recurrences re- re of his old malady 1 caused his lentil death ath There Is IR no doubt that hat he was a n nery very ery sick man I throughout his American I tour that that HoVe tive months list cost him his health even while It earned him nearly OOOO pounds There was some Improvement Im lam 1 provement on his to England limit hut when the time fatal readings recommence Dickens he became seriously threatened with paralysis and was forced to accept a 11 doctors doctor's verdict of complete rest test On March I Iii ii 1870 rn he lie gave e his last reading at nt old St St. t. t lames hall l. London Loudon The lime occasion was I his crowning crowning triumph He lie read the arid |