We only have to think of Dickens, everywhere from ‘A Christmas Carol’ to ‘The Pickwick Papers’ to think of vivid, bitter descriptions of the cold. Here ‘The Ladies’ Treasury’ magazine of 1858 reflects on the impact of the bitter cold of the winter as a call to arms for ladies to act to help those poor and in need – a plea Dickens would no doubt have supported.
Cold weather, cold heart is certainly the case in ‘The Poor Relation’s Story’ written by Dickens in 1852. The narrator tells us of his hopes to marry as a young man while he lived in the house of his uncle Chill (the clue is there in the name. The coldness of his uncle’s heart freezes the household.
The last word today though belongs to Sam Weller, Mr Pickwick’s wonderful servant whose wisdom runs through that extraordinary novel.
The Solitary Reader 