Dickens' popularity can hardly be over-estimated. There is a story that while _Dombey and Son_ was being published in monthly parts, a man who kept a snuff shop in London and had as well a number of lodgers, read aloud the month's instalment on the first Monday of every month at a tea. Only those who paid for the tea shared in it, but all the lodgers could listen to the story. The incident affords a striking picture of the power Dickens had over all kinds of people. Recent reminiscences {15} by one of Dickens' sons tell of how when he was walking once with his father along the broad walk at the Zoo in London, they met a little girl running ahead of her father and mother; when she saw who it was she ran back crying, "Oh, mummy! mummy! it is Charles Dickens." Dickens was greatly pleased. He made for everyone who lived with him a life of constant gaiety and variety. Well-known and celebrated people shared this entertainment. His heart was passionately attached to the cause of the poor and oppressed. He had unfailing belief in human nature, and was hopeful of everyone and everything. A well-known statesman who lived in Queen Victoria's youth once said at a private dinner at which Dickens was present, "Nothing is ever so good as it is thought." Dickens at once answered him, "And nothing so bad." We remember that few opportunities came to him. His great career was the result of his own exertions. There was no one at all to help him when he was young. We think with pride and admiration of his great achievements, and we love him for his affectionate nature and goodness of heart. No one can read Dickens' novels without learning what his character was, ardent, generous and loving. He was a great novelist and a great benefactor. {16} CHAPTER III WHAT DICKENS DID FOR HUMANITY Dickens from his childhood seems to have had a strong desire to leave the world a better place for other people than he had found it for himself. We can trace this feeling in his youth and through his manhood. It runs in his novels like a great tide of impulse and energy. "These things should not happen" he seems to cry to the world. "Come, let us unite against injustice and heartlessness in public and private dealing, against public and private wrong of every description. Let us banish bad customs from the earth, so that it may be a fairer, brighter, happier place."