The first of May! There is a merry freshness in the sound, calling to our minds a thousand thoughts of all that is pleasant in nature and beautiful in her most delightful form. What man is there, over whose mind a bright spring morning does not exercise a magic influence--carrying him back to the days of his childish sports, and conjuring up before him the old green field with its gently- waving trees, where the birds sang as he has never heard them since--where the butterfly fluttered far more gaily than he ever sees him now, in all his ramblings--where the sky seemed bluer, and the sun shone more brightly--where the air blew more freshly over greener grass, and sweeter-smelling flowers--where everything wore a richer and more brilliant hue than it is ever dressed in now! Such are the deep feelings of childhood . . .
Well; many years ago we began to be a steady and matter-of-fact sort of people, and dancing in spring being beneath our dignity, we gave it up . . .
Charles John Huffam Dickens, the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era was born February 7, 1812 and died at the age of 58 on June 9, 1870.
His novels and short stories are still popular today, so much so that they've never gone out of print.
This is a portrait of Dickens from 1842. He and his wife first visited the United States this same year, even though he found slavery to be an abomination.
"A Christmas Carol," perhaps his most well known novel was written in 1843. It has been reported that he wrote it in just a few weeks in order to cover the expenses of his wife's fifth pregnancy.
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