Speeches. Literary and Social by Charles Dickens

[At the fourth anniversary dinner of the Warehousemen and Clerks Schools, which took place on Thursday evening, Nov. 5th, 1857, at the London Tavern, and was very numerously attended, Mr. Charles Dickens occupied the chair. On the subject which had brought the company together Mr. Dickens spoke as follows: -]

I MUST now solicit your attention for a few minutes to the cause of your assembling together-the main and real object of this evening's gathering; for I suppose we are all agreed that the motto of these tables is not "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die; " but, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we live. " It is because a great and good work is to live to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to live a greater and better life with every succeeding to-morrow, that we eat and drink here at all. Conspicuous on the card of admission to this dinner is the word "Schools. " This set me thinking this morning what are the sorts of schools that I don't like. I found them on consideration, to be rather numerous.