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Tackleton visits the Toy-makers
Harold Copping
1924
Line drawing
6 ⅝ high by 2 ¾ inches wide (17 x 8 cm), vignetted
Second illustration for "The Blind Toy-Maker" from Children's Stories from Dickens, p. 72.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Caleb began to sing a rollicking song.
"What, you are singing, are you?" growled a gruff voice, as Mr. Tackleton put his head in at the door. "I can't afford to sing, I hope you can afford to work too. Hardly time for both, I should say."
"You don't see how the master is winking at me," whispered Caleb in his daughter's ear — "such a joke, pretending to scold, you know."
The blind girl laughed and nodded, and taking Mr. Tackleton's reluctant hand, kissed it gently. "What is the idiot doing?" grumbled the Toy Merchant, pulling his hand roughly away.
"I am thanking you for the beautiful little tree," replied Bertha, bringing forward a tiny rose-tree in blossom, which Caleb had made her believe was her master's gift, though he himself had gone without a meal or two to buy it.
"Here's Bedlam broke loose. What does the idiot mean?" snarled Mr. Tackleton; and giving Caleb some rough orders, he departed without the politeness of a farewell.
"If you could only have seen him winking at me all the time, pretending to be so rough to escape thanking," exclaimed Caleb, when the door was shut.
Now a very sad and curious thing had happened. Caleb, in his love for Bertha, had so successfully deceived her as to the real character of Mr. Tackleton . . . . ["The Blind Toy-Maker," Character Sketches from Dickens, 73]
The villain marring the domestic felicity, "Gruff and Tackleton," completes the melodramatic plot, perhaps a fusion of the worst characteristics of such figures as Ebeneezer Scrooge and Alderman Cute from the previous Christmas Books, A Christmas Carol (1843) and The Chimes (1844). However, in the third seasonal offering, The Cricket on the Hearth (1845). the villain relishes spoiling whatever hearthside happiness his working-class neighbours enjoy. As Copping's illustration implies, the merchant is both intrusive and judgmental; the text supports Dickens's original characterization of him as mean-spirited, arrogant, and sarcastic.
Two illustrations of the toy-makers and their employer: Left: Harry Furniss's Tackleton's Wedding Day! (1912). Right: Fred Barnard's Household Edition title-page plate for the novella, Caleb, Bertha, and Tackleton (1878).
Two further late illustrations of Gruff and Tackleton, the toy-merchant: Left: Luigi Rossi's's Tackleton the Toy merchant was a man whose vocation had been quite misunderstood by his Parents and Guardians (1912). Right: E. A. Abbey's American Household Edition plate for The Christmas Books: "Listen to me!" he said. "And take care you hear me right." (John Peerybingle wrestles with Tackleton, 1876).
Dickens, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield, and Daniel Maclise. London: Chapman & Hall, 1845.
Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.
Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris New, York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1924.
Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Created 28 September 2023