European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Carol k. Mulligan press Chorley Dickens n Christmas morning 1843, in a rundown factory District of London a window suddenly hew up in the second door Flat of a drab Brick building otherwise occupied Only by a Lew craggy Ollices and Nant s cellar. 3day?" cried the Lone tenant to a Small boy below. Why Christmas Day exulted the wan cheeked Needle an at the window. I Haven t missed it after Scrooge fiction s most famous if Aln had come to terms Wilh Christmas missed it after All. The same hour on that very same morning ipe table Section of London known ask an upstairs window flew open in the a dwelling that stood at no. 1 Devonshire air smiling Young Man. His eyes agleam i and mystery twinkle leaned out to Greet 0as Charles Dickens and he had not Mas either. Tag Mill brought the jubilant news that a not the Ever delightful chronicle of Osy conversion had sold out All 6,000a Jerst Day of publication and a second and 48lready were on the presses. F of these glad tidings was rewarded within Liteky and a cheery kit rewarded himself by celebrating the the Christmas season in a bubbling on that would have once again set to amazingly agile toes of old or fuzz Ilij. 9 reborn. Dickens fell Light As a Feather in Angel merry As a Schoolboy Giddy As a i at 31, with Little formal schooling but of papers Oliver to St Nicholas Nicks by. Shop and Barnaby Rudge Alread behind a the height of his creative Powers. And although he did t realize it then this versatile writer who yearned All his life to be a Greal actor had just penned a masterpiece in miniature. The Carol As Dickens always referred to it was written in less than a month to satisfy his creditors. He was deeply in debt. To get Back on his feet. Dickens published the Carol As a private venture on a commission basis risking All the losses in Hopes of pocketing most of the profits. The idea for a ghost Story about Christmas first occurred to him in a railway Carriage in route to Manchester for a speech in mid october. The plot fascinated him but the writing did not come easily. The numerous strikeouts crossovers and margin jottings in the original manuscript which is put on display every Christmas season in new York s Pierpont Morgan Library indicate that he worked harder on this slender volume than any other previous work. The cozy Little study overlooking the pleasant Brick walled Garden at Regent s Park became a dreary Dungeon. Day after Day. He paced the worn pile carpet banging his hand nervously against his forehead acting out each part aloud grimacing before the ornate Gilt Mirror to capture tha right expression. Night after night when All sober folks had gone to bed he walked 15 to 20 Miles through the dark streets of the old City then As now London s financial District picking his characters out of the chilling fog. He searched for just the right gloomy building Tor Scrooge s lonely digs the melancholy tavern where he took his melancholy dinner tracing tiny Tim s Crutch Marks in the soft new Snow capturing the slight but splendid detail about the thawed Blotch of wet on the Street above the Baker s oven where the pavement smoked As if the stones were cooking by the soil flickering Light of his Hearth fire Dickens played Host to his own ghosts of christmases past present and yet to come instantly watching the shadows of his own career March Over the Walls and across the Selling in gaunt procession. Haunted by his impoverished past terrified by his problematic present but optimistic As Micawber about his own future Dickens profusely poured into the Carol the humor the humiliations the cravings. The deep hurts and sudden Joys and triumphs of his lifetime. In years to come when he finally realized his acting ambitions and embarked on his fantastically successful Public readings. Dickens was fond of mimicking nil the voices sounding All the nuances Savouring All the delights and absurdities of every character in his Little Christmas parable. That at least must have come easily. Critics have been willing to admit for a Long Lime that Dickens himself was the embodiment of almost every character in the Carol. Most of All and some readers May Shudde to hear this Dickens was Ebenezer Scrooge a squeezing wrenching grasping clutching covetous old he drove a hard bargain with his publishers quibble Over every cent of royalties ran out on several contracts fired two artists without warning and was practically responsible for the suicide of another. But a Christmas Caro was and still is an immensely popular classic Dickens masterpiece among Many of those rare Happy Evergreen books that seem destined to pass from generation to generation of enchanted readers while successive Waves of critics attempt unsuccessfully to pick it apart. Who can listen to objections regarding such As Book As this asked William Makepeace Thackeray almost As soon As it appeared. To seems to me a National Benefit. And to every Man and woman who reads it a personal and from the opening line Marley was dead to begin who can resist Reading on to the final line of Scrooge s Christmas conversion. It was always said of him that he knew How to keep Christmas Well if any Man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us. And All of us. And so As tiny Tim observed god bless us every this is a it print of a popular article Lor ii Christmas Mason. To 24, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 15
