New-York tribune. [volume], February 04, 1912, Image 15

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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PART II.
EIGHT PAGES.
tibtme.
MISC^LANY,
BOOKS AND ART.
NEW-YORK. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1. 15)12.
Visit of Dickens in '67 as Viewed by Himself and His Devotees
Great Novelist, the Centenary of Whose Birth Will
Be Celebrated This Week, Suffered from Flood,
Gout and Rapacity, but Found the Heart
and Purse of the American Public.
ON Novvmbei IS, 1M7, ih?> ?unard
ftcamcr Cu!>a dropped anchor in
BoetOll Harl.or after a somewhat
??-.- iran? AJnong the paaaengere
n > aahora ivns ;1 hfnn'.fd man with
ptroncl? marked -feature? find lilpli brow,
-ho??- hair, Il ?ans noted ?hen bo removed
) i- ? >.s less thick on lop lhan the
bu??-?- ? litftert bnialM- directly back from
himself had < onr? lark with his poet's
heart milling sadly through his poet's ??>?<???.''
And bo it went.
On the platform ?as the apparatus, to
the designing of which the painstaking
l>ick?-iis had piven as much care as he did
to the studv of a gMturf <?i fa'lal exin?
tdon of on.- of his i li.iiartir.-. It consisted
of a peculiar reading ?iesk and the *a?? ap
A FRENCH CARICATURE OF DICK?
ENS.
It was drawn by Gill and appeared in
"L'Eclipss." being suggested by "A
Tale of Two Cities."
r.
th?- i? mp ? s.iL-cf!-' He en
CharH - i ? ? writ? r the
njversary o? whoa? birth will be
brated on February ?- He was then
?.nly flfty-flve years old, :?r<l after un In
? of ? <|iiait?r of :. century bad re
, visit t?. the country
he ba.i ??, aueceeefully Irrit?t?***! by
-
The f.Ui feeling, however, ha<l been mol
He was greeted with an enthuaiaem
i, ma.l?- t; ? lie r? ?"in ga
from ??is works, the giving of which wm the
i of his coming, perhapa, the nmi-i re?
markable thing ?.f its k;n?i ever undertaken
Caruso hae seldom reeeivedeuch a sum for
evenlng*a slnglns a- frequently flowed
Into Ike pockets of the novelist following
? f hi? reading* The groes receipts <>ti
above ?.000, and the
?:. tor the whole i ouree of aeveuty-als
re;ii;:- . ipproxtmat? ? i nlghl
Th< Ural reading was k?\?:. In Boston <>n
ay evening, Docemb? r -'. IM7. The lead?
ing New York paperseenl repreaentativee to
that city just a*, if it wen the Brsl
tatlon of an unusual op<era In which all
rorld **.?*? Intseueted. The representa?
of The Tribun?- telegraphed t" hla
paper an account nearly two columna i<>ni;.
lie i.< can it in thin rather facetious fashion:
BOSTON FEVEROUSLY EXCITED.
"Ever Mire it was announced thai Mr.
K?ckens would give hla Ural reading on
this si?]?* of the Atlantic in BoatOD, the in?
habitants of our quaint, old-faehloned sis?
ter dty have been in a state of (ererouo
? ment No sooner was the news
flashed ?Ioiik the ?abi< thai he was earning
than everything was immediately put in |
apple-pie order. Th.- ?traste were all ew?ept
from sae end of the dty t? the <?ther for
the sseeud time In the twenty-four hours;
the Mate House and th?- ?-id South (.'lurch
wen painted off-hand, ? ? ? pWt?j
?a pea - of Bdward Everett was put
up in the PabtJc anadea, in the attitude!
of throwing up hla hat and shouting Hur-j
rahv. every baokseUer's window was
sta.ke.l up with coplee of Tickiim <<?
F;?!ds's new edition of 'Dickens', to the
temporary ilanlarenuinl of LOBgfallowi
'Dante' and Dr. lloltnan's 'Guardian Angel';
the cigar Bhape cam?* OUI as one man with
their brands all iiew-chrlsten?d, and noth?
ing Is smoked, ?hewed, or taken Ifl SBUff
to-day but 'Utile N<11 Cigars', 'Mr.
?queers'e \':vc Cut', the 'Mantilinl Plug'
ani the 'Genuine Pickwick Snuff'; while at
every turn, in th?* Illustrated newspapers,
in the hotel office and in all the shop win?
dow* the new portrait of Dickens is to b?
??en. showing him as a man somewhat past
middle Ufe. with thin, gray hair, a scanty
beard and eyes downcast, reading on a
book-a striking contrast to the boyish
face of twenty-five years ago, with Its
large eyes full of wonder and sensitive
'??ling, its delicate, aimost girlish con?
tour, and Its lon?f lock? 0<f dark, abundant
heir. The younger portrait was, perhaps, a
Ittle flattered, but the older one Is as good
*>? a ?luiet. Impassive picture of a face full
of life and expression, and rarely at rest,
can b? ... It shows us all what time,
and labor, and care, have done to batter
down the beautiful nous*, of youth and
haunting fancy, but It gives no ?fleam of
the radla.it spirit that still lights up the
?ii'hanter'e face."
It was a great crowd that tried to hear
the Dnglish novelist on that first nlgnt.
"Although the tickets for the readings
carry twice repeated on their face the re
Quert that "the audience would all be seat
?1 punctually at 8 o'clock." it was nearly
115 o'clock before the vast crowd had slm
n.-red down to a state of comparative Qui
?sseaas.*1 according to the correspondent.
"Few cltiea, anywhere," he asserted.
'could ahow an audience of auch characfr.
Hardly a notable Inan In Boston, or h?ty
miles about, but was there, and we doubt
If In London Ua*lf Mr. Dickens ever read
safes? such an assemblage. There sat Dong
fellow, looking like the very spirit of Christ
roas. with his ruddy cheeks and bright, aoit
*yee looking qut from the vest of ?now
white hair and snow whit?? beard. Tnere
was Holmes, looking crisp and Ane, like a
tight little grapeakln full of wit latead
?t wine. There was ItfHMft *? **> Sydaey
DICKENS AS HE APPEARED WHEN
READING.
This sketch, drawn for "Harper's Week?
ly" in 1867, illustrates the great pains
Dickens took in regard to everything
he did.
patat?s ?..i Illuminating the reader, which'
te M familiar to the thousands upon
thousands who h.-ard him that winter.
? Seldom hav.- I Men a more finished piece
Of work than thin whole nadlng," the cor?
r? ?pondent reported. "Ho careful Is he of
every point, thai no thing shall go amis?,
that be has brought with him from Eng?
land all the appointments by which he is
?surrounded. When h? read- at home. At
the back <?f the platform Is stret? tied a
long ?creen, covered with dark red gl?>th?
red -it leael it looked by gaslight, though
Fields told me it was purple?and in fr'.nt
of it stands a tal.I?- with H?|uare lens, 104
? red with tin- mme banging over the edge
and bordered with a heavy fringe. At one
side of this table projects a little shelf, also
???.vend with velvet, on which are a water
bottle and glass, and at the left hand cor
ner is a square block, about tight inches
hlgh-that also is covered, top and ?Ides,
With velvet like the rest. On this Mock the
reader rests his book, and uses it bestdm
as an eeeesoory In Ml hy-play- Now It Is
Bob Crntehit's ?I'-sk la icroofe's office.
now it i? Mr. Pom-wig's geek, from which
he looks benignant!** down on his appren?
tices. Now It Is the desk on which rest?
?, ist mas j-oose of the ?Yatchit fami?
ly A very useful little velvet box Mr.
Dickens makes It, I aasure you. and the
audience gets to look upon It as quite a
delightful Piece of furniture.
With quick, springing step, the quiet gen?
tleman, book in hand, mounted the plat?
form and took his place at his little velvet
desk The greeting astonished the corre?
spondent. Could this be a Boston audience? ,
-Seldom ?000 the polish? d ice of this,
proper community crack a? loudly and a? |
che.rlly Bunder the thawing beams of any
Intellectual sun." he rc-ord?-*.. -as It did to
nlKht when Dickens stood before them, and
while cheer after ?I.t broke forth, and
,-ries of welcome and clapping of innumer- l
alle kids rose and fell and rose again In a
friendly roar. Wed to -petti and was de- |
'?ted and returned gallantly to the charge
again.' but had scarcely got as far as
??1 adle* " Who? he wa" oMiged t0 """."?___
and made another dash at -Gentlemen.' and
rmve it UP. ?nd at last saw that one M*
ilshman was nothing to so many hundred
Yankees, and waited, smiling and bowing,
until they had had their will, and were
rea.iy to let him have his.
At last hi? opportunity came.
-Marlev waa dead to begin with! Th_t
wa. certain:" It was the "Caror with
which he began. The manner In whIch the
words were uttered nettled the questlon of
success. The ability with which he read
or rather acted the stories, waa to be the
basis of hi? claim to American money.
Everybody settled back. Not only was a
tribute being pa.d to genius, but there was
a quid pro quo In the form of deeper inter?
pretations of the Dickens characters.
A few days later Mr. Dickens came to
New York. On the evening of ??>"? 9 h*
waa greeted by a great crowd in Btelnway
Hall a crowd that represented the cream
of New York society. "At flrst." according
{ to The Tribune's account, describing the
size of (he crowd. "It did not seem improb?
able that every person pressai would be as
Itlcawber aomewhers remarks, '.rushed
out of his original form by the aeriimula
tive force ?if a combination of cli. uin
etancea '
in Brooklyn, where '?mr readings were
gia'en. wiih receipta ?>f more than $11.000,
?r>r avant "f a si.fli?-iently large auditor t:m
of any other character Plymouth Church
was chosen. The fed of appearing in a.
let th?- s'-ats, pew hy pew! The. pulpit Is.
taken down for my screen and gas. and 1
appear out of the vestry in canonl? al form!
Tin s?- ecd-stastlcal entertainments . ome
off on the evenings of the 16th. 17th. "Oth
ami _lst of the pr?-sec,t m?.nth. Kac. even
ins an enormous ferry! oat ?as compared
with a Thames River boat, perhaps? will
convey me ami my stale carriage, not to
mention hall a dozen wagons and any
er of people and i acore of horses.
across th? river to Urooklyn and ba.jk
Qi/mSHJU, THE nOnt OFDrCKEMS,. H? DIED h?-9_. OTi
TVJ1E9*. /S70.UT THE ?QE Of ?S YEA??S.
SOME OF DICKENS'S CHARACTERS.
Drawn by "Phiz," the famous illustrator of Dickens's works.
church amu^d Dickens, and the manner of
reaching Mr oklyn. the Kast River b?ing
then unbridged. interested him greatly.
The worshippers of the memory of Henry
Ward BeaOhar will also be Interested in
his view of that great American preacher
and his Nonconformist "chapel."
"\t Brooklyn," he informed his friends
at home, "I am going to read In Mr. Ward
Beecher's chapel: the only building there
available for the purpose. You must un?
derstand that Hroi.klyn Is a kind of sleep
ing place for New York, and is supposed j
to be a great place In the money way. Wo '
< again."
it is generally recognised that Henry
Ward Beecher made something of a stir In
?;r?-at Britain when he went ov??r In the
course of the Civil War to stimulate pop?
ular feeling favorable to the Northern
cause, but one would hardly guess It from
Mr. Dlckenss comment regarding him In a
letter written on the evening of his last
reading In Plymouth Church.
"I finished at my church to-night." be
wrote. 'It H Mrs. St?.v<-'s brother's and
a most wonderful place t?> speak In. We
' bad it enormously full last night, but it
CHARLES DICKENS AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS.
From the painting by his friend D. Maclise.
I scarcely required an effort. Mr Ward
Dsschnr bring pr??sent in his p?'va. I aent
j to invite him to come round before he left
I found him to he an unostentatious, evi?
dently Shle, Straightforward and agreeable
man. extremely avell informed and with a
! good knowledge of art."
Those baseball enthusiasts who swore at
th.- management of the pennant winning
ball teams last fall because the speculators
got so many tickets may be sui prised to
learn that speculators were just as annoy?
ing and aggressive in their meth.xls In
Plcketis's day an.l lncit.-d J?"st as violent
objurgations. Uke baseball to-day, in the
' winter of 1S67-?. DtckSM was "all the
rag?'.'' The newspapers published eilitorlals
regarding the rapacity of the speculators,
and poor Dolby, the somewhat tactless
! British business manager whom Dickens
? brought with him, was cursed on every
' hand. One speculator took rooms in the
?same hotel at which Dickens registered in
' order to follow his every move. He would
? follow from city to city and in each place
; would gather up half a hundre.l persons to
j get into the lines and buy tickets for him.
' Limiting the number of tickets which could
be sold to any one person did not prevent
the best seats from getting into the hands
of the speculators.
"At the New York barriers.' as Dickens
put it. "where the tickets are on sale and
the people ranged as at the Paris theatres.
?peculators went up and down offering TJO
far anybody'a place.' One man sold two
tickets for the second, third and fourth
night for one ticket for the first, $50 and
a brandy cocktail'!"
The speculators made a mess of the
readings proposed for Providence and K*W
ilaven, charges of fraud In the sales of the
ti.kets being made at indignation meetings
?i he difficulty was not settled In Providence
I until Dickens had gone there himself and
' made a speech, and in New Haven until lie
j had issued an ultimatum that the money
I should be refunded for all the tickets and
?the readtog postponed until such time as
I a Mjnm distribution satisfactory to the city
j waH ms?le. This caused a fresh dlsturb
hi,, e. but he stood by his decision. The op
I portuniti.s for speculation in tickets are in?
dicate! l'v Ont fai't that at oae "f Iks -N'ew
i York sales the people began to gather at
I 2 o'clock In the cold of a January morning
and two.thousand persons were in line w he
the s.ile began at !? ?.'? lock. The oil vane
oala tor Iba course la Plymouth ?'hurch wai
attended by an amazing scene, whJd
showed how far ihe spo-ulator? were will
Ing to go in onler to accomplish their ends
"The noMe army of speculators are no*
fuinish'-d itiiis is literally true, and I an
quite serious),'1 Dickons wrote home, "eoeb
man with a straw mattress, a little bag ol
i breail and meat, two blankets, and a bottle
of whiskey With this outfit they He down
In Une on the pavement the whole of th?
nlght before the tickets are sold; generally
taking up their position at about 10 o'clock.
It being severely cold at Brooklyn, they
made an Immense bonfire In the street?a
narrow street of wooden houses?which the
police turned out to extinguish. A general
fight then took place; from which the
.people ftirth"8t off in the line rushed bleed?
ing when the> saw any chance of oustlnj;
others nearer the door, put their mattresses
in the spots M gained, and h?-ld on by the
Iron rails. At 8 o'clock In the morning
Dolby appeared with the tickets In a port?
manteau. He was immediately saluted with
a roar of Helloa! Dolby! So Charlie has
let you have the carriage, has he, Dolby?
How la he, Dolby? Don't drop the tickets,
Dolby! Look alive, Dolby,' etc., etc., etc.,
in the midst of which he proceeded to busi?
ness, and concluded ?as usual) by giving
universal dissatisfaction."
One thing that Dolby waa quite likely to
have with him was paper money, which
was so great in quantity on some occasions
as to he compared by Dickens with a sofa
cushion, a dirty wash, and even, on one
occasion, to a sofa.
Dickens did not find railroad travel ?n
Joyable. for the cars, with their small win?
dows and stoves, were stuffy, hot and
crowded, and his British feeling for more
air led him sometimes to alt on the ?brake,"
as he styled the platform, although the
Viator was an unusually cold one, In order
t.? megpe the stifling uir.
The Journey between Boston and New
York, apparently. Judging by the descrip?
tion, made over the Shore Line, waa full of
excitement. "The railways are truly alarm?
ing,'' salii he. "Mu.'li worse (because more
worn. 1 suppose) than when 1 was hure
before. We were beaten about yesterday
as if we bad been aboard the Cuba. Two
CHARLES DICKENS AS HE AP
PEARED IN THE WINTER 01
1867-'68.
Photograph, taken vvh.le he wag in thi
country, ahowinq the peculisr quiltti
overcoat which he wore.
A
rivers have to he crossed, and each Hi
, the whole train is banged aboard a f
steamer. The steamer ris. s and falls wi
th?? river, whla-h the railroad don't do. ai
the iriiin is eith.-r hange?: uphill or bang'
downhill In ?omlng off the steam? r at <?;
of th?s.? crossings yesterday we we
? ged up such a height that the M
broke, and on?* ?-arrlage rushed V ack with
run ?lownhlll into the boat again I whisk?
nut in a moment, and two or three othe
after me; hut nobody else seemed to c_J
about It."
HELD UP BY FLOODS.
I'roFsing New York State from Nlagat
Kails later in the winter, on his way I
All any. where he was to rea?l. he encoui
tered floods, the descilption of which su,
gests that It was a worse flood than ih<
i which afflicted Exmoor on one occasion,
one may believe the words ?>f anoth?
Knglish novelist. There were no such spee
nn?l comfort as the elghteen-hour Chicag
tialns now provide as the latter swee
a? rom the plateau of Central New Yorl
' Said Hicka-ns :n a letter:
"Ther. ??.is .? great thaw, and the melt*
sna.w i?a? -w.lling the rivers; the whul
country for three hundred mil-- was flool
fed. on th.- Taesd-.y afternoon the trail
?? ir. a< under cir? umstan<es utt.-rl:
hopeless, ami stopped at a place talle.
UtlCS, the great?-r part of which was u>ide
water, while the high and dry part coul?
produce nothing psrttculsi to ?-at. Her?
some of the wretched passengers passe?
? the night In the train, while others 8toim?*<
I the hotel. I was fortunate enough to get I
, bedroom and garnished it with an enor
1 mous jug of gin punch, over which I and
the ntanager Played a double-dummy rub?
ber. At ? In the morning we were knocked
up to como aboard and try it.' At Ml we
were kno? k?-<i up again with th?? tiding?
that it was n?> use coming aboard ?>r try?
j Ing It.' At 8 all the bella In the town were
set a-golng to summon us to 'come atioard'
Instantly. And M we started, through th*
: wat'-r. a! four or ti?e nul-s an iioui, seeing
, nothing but drowned farms, barns adrift
like Noah's arks, deserted villages, bra.ken
brldgi-s and all manner ..f ruin I was to
r.-ad in Albany that night, and all th.? tick
. is amra sol.l. A very active sup.rintend
i ent of works assured me that If l could be
; got along' he was the man to get m*
along: and if I couldn't be got along I
might c-.nclude that it couldn't pQOO-My be
j fixed. He th? n turned ?m a hundred men
!n seven-league DOOtS, who went ahead of
the train, each arm???! with a long pole,
1 and pushing the blocks of Ice away. Kol
lowlng this ?avaha?: -. we got to land at
last, and arrived in time for me to read
th?- ?Carol' and Trial' triumphantly. If we
had not come aa we did I should have lost
i ?300, and Albany would have gone distract?
j ed. You may conceive what the flood was
i when 1 hint at the two most notable Inct
I dents ?if our Journey?first, we took the paa
! sengera out of two train?, who had been :s
! the water, immovable, all night and all Ihe
? previous day; second, we released a large
? nanti' ?. of sheep and cattle from trucks
i that had been In the water 1 don't know
i how long, but so long that the creatures la
! them had begun to eat each other.'
"PUDDING HEAD DOLBY."
Dolby used to be "knocked" by the papers
and the public now and then because he
could not crowd four thousand persons into
an auditorium that would not hold two
thousand. "Surely it is time that the pud
ding-head Dolby retired into the native
gloom from which he has emerged," one
paper growled. From that time forth he
was styled by Dickens and his party play?
fully. "P. H. Dolby." Dolby waa not the
only fixture attached to the "troupe" that
was roughly treated. Despite th? excellent
s?, stem of checking baggage, to w hich Dick?
ens paid tribute, the baggage smasher got
in his work. On one occasion Scott, on* of
his men. waa observed leaning his hea?_
a?-, inn the side of the car -nd weeping bit?
terly. Dickens asked him what was the
matter.
- - ?i ?
Cern?aos? m gftk aaaja.