0. Rust and Dust. 11. Simple
Arithmetic. 12. A Matter of Calculation. 13. A Mere Question of Figures.
14. The Gradgrind Philosophy.[180] The three selected by me were 2, 6,
and 11; the three that were his own favourites were 6, 13, and 14; and
as 6 had been chosen by both, that title was taken.

It was the first story written by him for _Household Words_; and in the
course of it the old troubles of the _Clock_ came back, with the
difference that the greater brevity of the weekly portions made it
easier to write them up to time, but much more difficult to get
sufficient interest into each. "The difficulty of the space," he wrote
after a few weeks' trial, "is CRUSHING. Nobody can have an idea of it
who has not had an experience of patient fiction-writing with some
elbow-room always, and open places in perspective. In this form, with
any kind of regard to the current number, there is absolutely no such
thing." He went on, however; and, of the two designs he started with,
accomplished one very perfectly and the other at least partially. He
more than doubled the circulation of his journal; and he wrote a story
which, though not among his best, contains things as characteristic as
any he has written. I may not go as far as Mr. Ruskin in giving it a
high place; but to anything falling from that writer, however one may
differ from it, great respect is due, and every word here said of
Dickens's intention is in the most strict sense just.[181] "The
essential value and truth of Dickens's writings," he says, "have been
unwisely lost sight of by many thoughtful persons, merely because he
presents his truth with some colour of caricature. Unwisely, because
Dickens's caricature, though often gross, is never mistaken. Allowing
for his manner of telling them, the things he tells us are always true.
I wish that he could think it right to limit his brilliant exaggeration
to works written only for public amusement; and when he takes up a
subject of high national importance, such as that which he handled in
_Hard Times_, that he would use severer and more accurate analysis. The
usefulness of that work (to my mind, in several respects, the greatest
he has written) is with many persons seriously diminished, because Mr.
Bounderby is a dramatic monster, instead of a characteristic example of
a worldly master; and Stephen Blackpool a dramatic perfection, instead
of a characteristic example of an honest workman. But let us not lose
the use of Dic