TOO GOOD TO CUT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 4

TOO GOOD TO CUT.

' PEAT IN MNEMONICS, . "I recite 'A Midnight Carol' in its entirety,", the Rev. Charles Clark used to say. "It is so human that if: it Were''cut it would bleed.'' ' Mariy.\wil] remember, with pleasure the beautiful rendition which tTie Rev! Mr. Clark gave of this wonderful little Christmas fantasy, which so well breathes "the proper and. gracious spirit'of .the time;" • Mr. Lawrence. Campbell, who is "to give (the "Carol" to-morrow evening,' states that Mr. Clark must have cat it, as his recital was over at 9.45 p.m., while his ojvn..effort occupied over two hours. "I have cut'it as judiciously .as possible; I' 'patt«r'- as much of it-as possible, yet it is' well oh to two hours and a . quarter' before I get : through. Dickens himself used a very miich'out version for recital purposes, for he used to bracket the 'Carol' with the "Bardel] v. Pickwick' scene from 'The Pickwick Papers.' I do not cut anything I believe to be-essential," continued Sir. Campbell. "For instance, I .'do-.riot omit that genial, but vivid description of the shops at Christmas time in London. That I consider one of the most beautiful bits of descriptive writing in this wonderful poem in prose."'