DICKENS CHARACTERS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 9, 5 October 1927, Page 5

DICKENS CHARACTERS

ADDRESS AT ROTARY CLUB

Rotarians and their, guests were af-

forded an unusual and pleasing entertainment at their weekly luncheon yesterday, the guest of’ honour being Mr. Clement May, who gave a brief address on Charles Dickens and his characters. 1 In Mr. May’s opinion, there, was a. link between Rotarians and . Dickens, for lie knew of no other novelist who created so much brotherhood among men as did Charles Dickens. Nor was the popularity of Dickens confined only to the British Empire. , Tlfcre were more “Dickens’ Fellowships”! in America than in any other part * of the world. Dickens, during the period when he was writing novels, created no less than 3000. characters, each one being' drawn so vividly and. so true to life that their prototypes might be seen daily in the cities’ and villages of the world. . v ' It is said,' Continued Mr.- May, that Dickens lived in his characters', and that when he, read extracts from “The Old Curiosity Shop” lie was always deeply moved. While the story was being'published in serial form Dickens-re-ceived thousands of letters asking that Little Nell should not die at the end of the book. When the story was finished

the author was said to have told a friend that he had no alternative but to make Little Nell die, and. that he felt, in doing so, that he was parting with one of his own children.

To show how widely known were the great author’s works, Mr. May said

that he was once asked to give impersonations of various characters at a Mohammedan wedding in India. There were about two hundred and fifty men present, and, after the performance, he was surprised to hear them discussing the works of Dickens in the most perfect English. To his amazement he found that they were all “dons” from Oxford and Cambridge. In conclusion, Mr. May gave three much-appreciated studies of characters selected from the author’s works.