THE LITTLE DICKENSES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 294, 3 April 1877, Page 4

THE LITTLE DICKENSES.

A paragraph is going tho rounds of the papers fast new about t* little nephew and niece vt the late Charles Dickciv, who are

only kept front the workhouse at Auvboy, - trfd- couple who have fovmd the children a home smco their mother di«d. Nearly everybody who reads this paragraph gushes over it, and says, '* what ft pity ! what a shame f .that the children et such an uncle should be allowed to> be fed, lodged, and clothe! i>y the charity ©f strangers." Yet the same paragraph goes otv to s!iafce that their Lite father was a drunken, unprincipled scoundrel, who> deserted lit* wife tn England when she lo»t hj« r eyesight, ami eloped with a school girt fc< »• America. As h»r wa« * brother of the great tu however. infc«r«Bt was brought to bear. anil a good billet was found him in the Land D. pu'tment of the Illinois Central liailtoad. Bat he tpent fits- money as fast as he got it, sponged on his brother and everylo ly else within rowsh, got discharged front his billet for misconduct, ami at length *t.:•ertod his second wife ami tn« twoehtbtrvft above referred to. He sponged his w,»y through the States,, and to Australia, here his brother's great reputation being h 3 only capital; but it was sufficient r it procured hn» free qjtiarti rs in every to.vn a id township he visited ; pound-notes, haltsovereigns, halt'- crowns, and unlimited drinks at bush public -fc oust* for the poorest bush man had known and appreciates- Charles Dickens. Tuts Augustus Dickens was at lirisbnrie here: for a few days twelve or thirteen years ago, f remember, a bloated, shabby, dirty loafer, lie died a pauper and an outcast—as he was bound to be. in spite of fate and alt the help of all the people in the world. The poor victim whom tie seduced and took tt> America with him, lived in utter misery for a number of ytars. and at last poisoned herself, and her two children have been with this old couple at Ambny, Illinois, ever since. The "pity" and the "shame" of the whole matter is that such ft man should find people foolish enough to show him kindness of which- lie was unworthy—simply because his brother was a great genius. It. is the best thing that could happen to' the two children at Amfeoy, Illinois, thivt they are no tougtr under the blighting influence of such a father, and it will be the worst thing that c >uld happen if they ace deluded into the it-tea that because their uncle was a great and gifted man, therefore they have a claim en the reading public of the whole world, and ought not to be compelled to kuu their bread by hard, honest work. Tue sooner we learn to call tilings by their ritfht names the bet er. E.\c lange.