THE CRICKET IN THE HEARTH.
Mr J. H. Liddons, who knew Charles Dickens from boyhood, says that he found himself very late one night at the railway station near Northwich. " Scarcely had I set foot on the platform," he writes, "when I was accosted by a tall young man of the yeoman type, who had come to fetch the letter bag. •Do you wish for a bed, sir ?' asked he, 'or are you going on?' I told him I was bound for Northwfch, two miles off. ' You cannot get there, »ir, till later in the morning. I will drive you there, as I go with the mail bag at 8 o'clock.' Acoordingly, I concluded to accept a bed, and a supper if possible, at the hostelry close at hand. I entered the kitchen, where a bright fire was burning, and set myself before it. There was a kettle on the hob singing a duet with a chirping cricket,. A larg?, wiry terrier came and crouched at my fee&. There was nothing strange in this. But presently I heard ' clook, clock,' behind me, and turning round I beheld Tilly Slowboy in a pair of wooden clogs ! The idea dawned upon me that I was among some of the dramatis persona of the ' Cricket on the^ Hearth.' Supposition soon grew into conviction, for in a few minutes a pretty little round woman came in and informed me that my supper was ready in an adjoining parlour. " ' Dot, by Jove ! ' I more than muttered. I ate my supper and went to bed. My host roußed me at half-past 7, gave me a cup of coffee, and bore me off in his little chaise to Northwicb. On the way we pasßed a fine old-fashioned house. " ' Who lives there t" I asked. " 'That, air,' was John Peerybingle's reply, ' belongs to Mr Hogarth, a fcmusioal geutleman. ' " ' Hogarth I Why, he must be Mr Dickena' father-in-law.' " 'He is, sir, and Mr Dickens do ofton come down here ; and he has been and took off me snd all my family and put us into a Christmas story, which ho do call the ' Cricket on the Fawlh " ; bub it ain't all true, for there's no bliad toy-maker in these parts, and Dot and me never had a d'spato about her brother.' "
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1466, 3 January 1880, Page 26
Word Count
382THE CRICKET IN THE HEARTH. Otago Witness, Issue 1466, 3 January 1880, Page 26
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