Reminiscences of Dickens.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 92, 7 March 1885, Page 5

Reminiscences of Dickens.

o His punctuality was a remarkable eharac- * teristic, and visitors used to wonder how it was that everything waB done to the very 0 minute, writes Miss Mamie Dickens, in the 8 "Youth's Companion." It is a common 3 saying now in the family of some dear friends, , where punctuality is not quite so well ob1 served, " What would Mr Dickens have f said to this?" or, " Ah, my dear child, 1 1 wish you could have been at Gad's Hill to 3 learn what punctuality means !" He was ' very fond of music, but not of u classical " I music only. He loved national airs, old i tunes, songs and ballads. He was easily * moved by anything pathetic in a song or tuno, and was never tired of hearing his [ particular favourites sung or played. He , liked to have music of an evening, and duets . used to be played very often for hours to gother, while he would read, or walk up and down the room. There was a large meadow at the back of the garden, in which, during the summer time, many cricket matches were held. Although never playing himself, Charles Dickons delighted in the game, and would sit in his tent, keeping score for one side, the wholo day long. He never took to croquet, but had lawn- tennis been played in the Gad's Hill days, he would certainly . have enjoyed this game. He liked '. " American ttowls," at which he used conJ stantly to play with his male guests. For , one of his " improvements," he had turned ] a waste piece of land into a croquetp ground and bowling-green. In the meadow , he used also to practise many of his " readings " ; and any stranger passing ( down the lane and seeing him gesticu- ( lating and hearing him talking, laughj ing, and sometimes, it may be, weeping, most surely would have thought : out of his mind ! The getting-up of . those "readings" gave him an immense amount of labour and fatigue, and sorrowful ! parts tired him greatly. For instance, in the reading of " Little Dombey," it was hard for him to eteel his heart so as to be able to read the death without breaking down, or displaying too much emotion. He often told how much he suffered over this story, and how it would havo been impossible for him to have gone through with it had he not kept constantly before his eyes the picture of his own "Plorn," alive and strong and well. His great neatness and tidiness have already been alluded to, as also his wonderful sense of order. The first thing he did every morning:, before going to work, was to make a circuit of the garden, and then go over the whole house, to see that everything was in its place, neat and orderly. This was also the first thing he did upon his return home after any absence. A more thoroughly orderly nature never existed. It must have been through this gitt of order that he was enabled to make time, notwithstanding any amount of work, to give to the minutest household details. Before a din-ner-party, the menu was always submitted to him for approval, and he always made a neat little plan of the table with the names of guests marked in their respective places and a list of who was to take who in to dinner. He had constantly some "bright idea " or other as to the arrangement of the table or rooms. He had a strange aversion to saying goodbye, and would do anything he possibly could to avoid going through the ordeal. In a letter to a friend Charles Dickens writes : "Another generation begins to peep above the table. I once used to think what a horrible thing it was to be a grandfather. Finding that the calamity falls upon me without perceiving any other change in myself, I bear it like a man." But as he so disliked the name of grandfather, applied to himself, these grandchildren were taught by him to call him " Venerables." And to this day some of them still speak of him by his self-invented name. Now there is another and younger family who never knew " Venerables," but who are taught to know his likeness, and taught to know his books through the pictures in them, as soon as they can be taught anything, and whose baby hands lay bright flowers upon the stone in Westminster Abbey overy 9th of June and every Christmas Eve. For, in remembrance of his love for all that is gay in colour, none but the brightest flowers— and also some of the gorgeous American leaves— are laid, upon the stone, making that one spot, in the vast and solemn building, bright and beautiful. In a letter to " Plorn," before his departure for Australia, Chailes Dickens writes : "I hope you will always be able to say in after life that you had a kind father." And to this hope, each one of his children can answer with a loving, grateful heart, Amen.