Christopher Hitchens - Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

     What I have been dreading for months, has finally occurred.   The last article of  Christopher Hitchens appeared in print.   Actually, it was published a few weeks after his death.  The topic was not about himself.  He did not try to leave one last mark fortifying his fervent anti-theist beliefs.  Instead, he chose the topic of Charles Dickens.
     For fans of Hitchens and Dickens, this final article is a bit of a present in and of itself.  For me, it was an emotional read.  Partly because in reading it,  the realization seeped in that  Hitchens spent some of his last hours that he lived, writing the piece.     Maybe he was making a statement?  That the enjoyment he had gotten from reading Dickens was treasured?   Surely an author's last printed words would be something they held dear.   It  made reading  it bitter sweet.

Christopher Hitchens

Here is the  link to the article.  In true Hitchens style, he did not sugarcoat the author but described him as he honestly saw him.
     The book David Copperfield by Dickens is my favorite book.  It has been ever since I first read it many years ago.       
    The opening line of the book is:   
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."   

     What a nice line to think about.
     It is a semi-autobiographical story of a boy's personal struggle to become an individual he can be proud of--the hero of his own life. What could be more appealing, especially if it comes to pass?
    David Copperfield is one of the books of my life.  You know, one of the handful that leave their mark for all the rest of your years.  Dickens genius is in the details, in which he cleverly endears you to each character.  I am proud to be, as Hitchens states, "one of those who study Dickens, or who keep up the great cult of his admiration."     

  

Bustle and Sew

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I recently discovered a wonderfully kind blogger from the southern coast of England,  in Dorset.  Her name is Helen, and her charming and whimsical blog is named, Bustle and Sew.   Her blog offers many downloadable patterns; many of them are free.  In her latest post, she has gathered lots of ideas for improving sewing and embroidery skills  and has compiled them into a free book.  here to download as a pdf file or here to read online.
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   All that she asks is- - - - - - - - - - -

• One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats. Iris Murdoch
• All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor. Walt Whitman
• Night and Day, you are the one, only you beneath the moon and under the sun.  Cole Porter
• One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life.  That word is love.  Sophocles
• If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.  Emily Bronte
• Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.  Shakespeare
• A library is a diary of the human race.  Dawson
• There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.  Willa Cather
• I will always try to do and say the kindest things in the kindest way. 
• Be willing to change the way you play the game. Elaine St. James
• The human heart has hidden treasures, in secret kept, in silence sealed.  Charlotte Bronte
• I drather quilt than eat on the hungriest of days.
• Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult. George Eliot
• It takes only one person or one idea to change our life forever.
• On that best portion of a good man't life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.  William Wordsworth
• The secret of patience: do something else in the meantime.
• To hear with eyes belongs to love's rare wit.
• Obligation may be stretched till it is no better than a brand of slavery stamped on us when we were too young to know its meaning. George Eliot
• You must have it inside you that yor plan is right, and that plan you must follow.  George Eliot
• Let me be a blessing to somebody....when I die let it be said, "She was such a blessing to me."
• Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.  Willa Cather
• We are always saying farewell in this world, always standing at the edge of loss attempting to retrieve some memory, some human meaning from silence, something which was precious and is gone.  Adlai Stevenson
• Pity the laden one; this wandering woe may visit you and me.  George Eliot
• What do we live for if not to make life less difficult to each other?  George Eliot
• My grief lies onward and my joy behind.  Shakespeare
• It is wicked to let people think evil of any one falsely, when it can be hindered.  George Eliot
• The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us; we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.  George Eliot   
• There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others.  My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.  Jane Austen
• It takes years to build a reputation.  It takes minutes to ruin it.
• Any emotion, any interest, once vividly aroused, can wholly die.  E. M. Forster
•  Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.  Emily Dickinson
• The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.
• But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.  Thomas Jefferson
• I want death to find me planting my cabbages.  Montaigne 1533-1592
• The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of  past centuries.  Descartes
• The absolute yearning of one human body for another particular body and its indifference to substitutes is one of life's major mysteries.  Iris Murdoch
• Whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same.  Emily Bronte
• There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it.  It is like falling in love.  Christopher Marley
• I love you the more in that I believe you have liked me for my sake and for nothing else.  John Keats
• There is nothing like staying home for real comfort. Jane Austen
• No eye is on the sparrow.