THE CRICKET IN THE HEARTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1466, 3 January 1880, Page 26

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.' "