CHARLES DICKENS'S SWEETHEART.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 5

CHARLES DICKENS'S SWEETHEART.

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; Mrs. Mary< AiuvCooper; who is. hearing: her •. nihety-sevehtn year,; and ■;. who •is'..; stiU.coiiiparatively hale . arid hearty, Strangelyyanks', the . nineteenth '} and twentieth centuries ; (says;va\writer/: in ■''M.A.P.'').'. vWho, looking: at this yenerable old lady,,would .tEinkj'pf.Viiriagining that she,and Charles Dickens'had once: heen': sweethearts ?,Vj)fot;it;.ia.perfectly true,

As a little girl' she livedwith:' her. larents -in -. Johnson .Street, Clarendon itruarej / Online opposite side dwelt : the )iokens ; family,'.and between the future io'velist .'and little' Miss .Milton,-as. she vas' then -..called,': there grew-up a great riehdship. : which lasted'iaany:years, ind been cemented jy ; marriage hadthe: Fates so willed. - -.'Certainly they were sweethearts, and is such- gairied. the'- approval' of: .Miss Vlilton's Drother Tom, who . went, to school with- Dickens,, ancj who showed iris appreciation of his junior: by. overliaulihgliis, first/literary .endeavours. Dickens,'; as'ateriri;''of, : endearment,: callediher, "Dorrit,".'..arid, .when his pathetic story- ; df tlio; Marshalsea- came to be .written, the.- little friend of : his youth: was,'.utilised: as thu. heroine. -Mrs. Cooper,' despite her. failing hearing' arid, her; spells -ofrheumatism, ■ enjoys excellent .memory, and, can recall many-interesting incidents in which .the. great She re-; members the : frequent visit's of Dickens to her father's!farm.at Sunbury, and, at- her Southgate home,, she still retains the bedstead on which-he used to sleep. Once Dickens, for -a joke, dressed himself in corduroys arid approached her father; for work, which;-: however,' was ■ not forthcoming. ■'.-_•_'-.■■ 4_ ...'■'■'." ..'. :

-V'-.i'My'Charles'Vis how Mrs.'Coopor alwaysl sneaks of tho- master- of'character,' and sho tells how once she accompanied him' to St.- fancr'as Church; .whero a hugb.and imposing -beadle, who might have been- the protptypo of: Bumble, ruled with a rod of iron.'. '': "■;..' ; .' ':

Bridgowhist—"What is the subject of Mrs. : Suffragette's lecture this afternoon?" Mrs. . Clubwoman—"The disasters'of married life." : Mrs.;Bridgewhist—T sup-, pose sho will have her husband on tno. platform as an exhibit." ' < . : '