A Christmas Carol by; Charles Dickens

VI.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
STAVE ONE.
marley's ghost.

[We

hardly

know

recommend

of anything better to

than the following exquisite masterpiece of Dickens, for
hearts that have grown dull to the real joy of Christmas
tide.]

Marley was dead, to begin with.
doubt whatever about
burial

The

that.

There

was signed by the clergyman, the

the undertaker, and the chief mourner.

signed

And

it.

Scrooge's

is

no

register of his
clerk,

Scrooge

name was good upon

'Change for anything he chose

to put his

hand

to.

Old Marley was as dead as
Mind!

my own

I

don't

mean

a door-nail.

to say that

knowledge, what there

dead about a door-nail.
inclined, myself,

I

is

I

know, of

particularly

might have been

to regard a coffin-nail as the

deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade.
the

wisdom

my

unhallowed hands

of our ancestors

country's done for.

is in

shall not disturb

You
8i

But

the simile; and
it,

will therefore

or the

permit

.

81

Christmas - Tide

me

to repeat, emphatically, that

Marley was as

dead as a door-nail.
Scrooge knew he was dead?
did.

How could

were partners

for

Of course he

be otherwise? Scrooge and he

it

don't

I

know how many

years.

Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee,

And

and sole mourner.

his sole friend,

even

Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad

man

event but that he was an excellent

of busi-

ness on the very day of the funeral, and solemnized

it

with an undoubted bargain.

The mention

of Marley's funeral brings

back to the point

I

doubt that Marley was dead.

come
were

or

understood,

tinctly

of the story

not

nothing wonderful

am

going to

I

convinced

perfectly

relate.

can

If

we

Hamlet's

that

father died before the play began, there

be nothing more remarkable
at night, in

me

There is no
This must be dis-

started from.

would

in his taking a stroll

an easterly wind, upon his own ram-

would be

parts, than there

in

any other middle-

aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark
a breezy spot
instance

—

— say Saint Paul's churchyard,

literally

to

astonish

his

son's

in

for

weak

mind.

Scrooge

name.

never

There

it

painted

out

old

Marley's

stood, years afterwards, above

A

Christmas Carol.

83

The
Some-

the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley.
firm

was known

as Scrooge

new

people

times

and Marley.
business

the

to

called

Scrooge, Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he

answered to both names.

It

was

all

same

the

to him.

Oh, but he was a
grindstone,

Scrooge!

hand

tight-fisted

a squeezing,

at

the

wrenching,

grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sin-

Hard and sharp as flint, from which no
had ever struck out generous fire; secret,
and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
The cold within him froze his old features,
ner!

steel

nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek,
stiffened his gait;

A

voice.

made

his eyes red,

and spoke out shrewdly

lips blue;

frosty rime

his eyebrows,

and

his

was on

his thin

in his grating

his head,

wiry chin.

and on

He carried

his

own low temperature always about with him; he
iced his office in the dog-days, and didn't
it

one degree

at

External heat and cold had
Scrooge.

weather

little

influence on

No warmth could warm, no wintry
chill him.
No wind that blew was bit-

terer than he,

upon

thaw

Christmas.

no

falling

snow was more

intent

its

purpose, no pelting rain less open to

entreaty.

Foul weather didn't know where to

have him.

The

heaviest rain,

and snow, and

,

Christmas-Tide.

84
hail,

over

and

could boast of the advantage

sleet,

him

one

only

in

respect

— they

often

"came down" handsomely, and Scrooge never
did.

Nobody ever stopped him
with gladsome looks,

"My

in the street to say,

how

dear Scrooge,

When will

you come to see me?" No
beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o'clock, no man or
are you?

woman

ever once in

to such

way
Even

his life inquired the

all

and such a place, of Scrooge.

the blind men's dogs appeared to

know him;

and when they saw him coming on, would tug
their

owners

then would

"No

into

wag

eye at

is

all

doorways and up courts; and
though they

their tails as

said,

better than an evil eye, dark

master!"

But what did Scrooge care!
thing he

To edge

It

was the very

way along the
warning all human sym-

liked.

his

crowded paths of life,
pathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing
ones call "nuts" to Scrooge.

Once upon

a time

— of

the year, on Christmas

busy

in his counting-house.

biting weather,

all

Eve

the good days in

—

old Scrooge sat

It

was

cold, bleak,

foggy withal, and he could hear

the people in the court outside go wheezing up

and down, beating

their

hands upon

their breasts,

—
A
and stamping
stones to
just
it

Christmas Carol.

them.

gone three, but

had not been

upon the pavement
city clocks had only-

feet

their

warm

it

85

The

was quite dark already
day and candles were

—

light all

windows of the neighboring offices,
like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.
The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although
the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms.
To see the dingy
flaring in the

cloud

come drooping down, obscuring

everything,

one might have thought that nature lived hard
by, and

was brewing on a

The door

large scale.

of Scrooge's counting-house

was

open that he might keep

his eye

who

beyond, a sort of tank,

in a dismal little cell

was copying
fire,

that

letters.

but the clerk's
it

fire

it,

for

own room; and

his clerk,

Scrooge had a very small

was so very much smaller

looked like one coal.

replenish

upon

But he couldn't

Scrooge kept the coal-box
so surely as the clerk

with the shovel, the master predicted that

be necessary for them to part.

in his

came
it

in

would

Wherefore the

clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to

warm

himself at the candle; in which effort, not

being a

"A

man

of a strong imagination, he failed.

merry Christmas,

you!" cried a cheerful

uncle!

voice.

It

God

save

was the voice

'

Christmas - Tide.

86

of Scrooge's nephew,

who came upon him

quickly that this was the

first

so

intimation he had

of his approach.

"Bah!"

He

"Humbug!"

said Scrooge,

had so heated himself with rapid walking

and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's,
was all in a glow; his face was ruddy
and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath
smoked again.
"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's

in the fog

that he

"You

nephew.

"I do,"

What

right

don't

mean

said Scrooge.

have you to be merry?

"Come, then," returned
right

What

have you

to

sure."

reason

the nephew, gayly.

be dismal.?

reason have you to be morose.?

enough.

am

You're poor enough."

have you to be merry.?

"What

that, I

"Merry Christmas!

What

You're

rich

'

Scrooge having no better answer ready on the
spur of the moment, said
followed

"Don't be

"What
"when

I

"Bah!"

again; and

up with "Humbug!"

it

cross, uncle!" said the

else

live

can

in

I

nephew.

be," returned the uncle,

such a world of fools as

this.?

Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas!
What's Christmas time to you but a time for
paying bills without money; a time for finding
yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a

A

Christmas Carol.

87

time for balancing your books and having every
item in 'em through a round dozen of months

presented dead against you?

my

will,"

Scrooge,

said

If

could work

I

"every

indignantly,

who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on
lips, should be boiled with his own pudding,

idiot

his

and buried with a stake of holly through

He

heart.

his

should!"

"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew,

"Nephew!"

returned

"keep Christmas
keep it in mine."

"Keep

the

"but you don't keep

"Let me leave it
"Much good may it

sternly,
let

me

nephew,

Scrooge's

repeated

it,"

uncle,

your own way, and

in

it."

alone, then," said Scrooge.

Much good

do you!

it

has

ever done you!"

"There

are

many

things from which

have derived good, by which
I

I

might

dare say," returned the nephew, "Christmas

among

But

the rest.

I

am

sure

I

thought of Christmas time, when

round

— apart

sacred
it

I

have not profited,

name and
forgiving,

only time
year,

I

has come

from the veneration due to
origin, if

can be apart from that

kind,

have always
it

— as

charitable,

know

of, in

its

anything belonging to
a good time; a

pleasant time;

the

the long calendar of the

when men and women seem by one con-

'

Christmas- Tide.
sent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to

think of people below

them

as

if

they really were

fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another
race of creatures bound on other journeys.
therefore, uncle, though
of gold or silver in

has done

me

my

it

pocket,

good, and will do

God bless it!"
The clerk in the

And

has never put a scrap
I

believe that

me

good; and

it

I

say,

tank involuntarily applauded.

Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the last
frail

spark forever.

"Let me hear another sound from you,'' said
Scrooge, "and you'll keep your Christmas by
losing your situation!

speaker,

'

sir,

You're quite a powerful

he added, turning to his nephew.

'

"I wonder you don't go into Parliament."
"Don't be angry, uncle. Come dine with
us to-morrow.

'

Scrooge said that he would see him

—

yes,

He

went the whole length of
the expression, and said that he would see him
indeed he did.

in that extremity first.

"But

why?"

cried

Scrooge's

nephew.

"Why?"

"Why

did you get married?" said Scrooge,
"Because I fell in love."
"Because you fell in love!" growled Scrooge,

A
as

were the only one thing

that

if

more

Christmas Carol.

ridiculous than a

world

in the
'

merry Christmas.

'

Good

afternoon!"

"Nay,

you never came

uncle, but

Why

before that happened.
for not

give

why cannot we be

I

ask nothing of

friends?"

"Good

afternoon," said Scrooge.

"I am

sorry, with all

We

so resolute.

which

the

my

me

afternoon," said Scrooge.

"I want nothing from you;

to

to see

as a reason

coming now.?"

"Good
you;

it

my

have been a party.

I

heart, to find

But

I

have made

homage to Christmas, and
Christmas humor to the last.
So,
in

trial

you

have never had any quarrel,

I'll

keep

merry

a

Christmas, uncle!"

"Good

"And

afternoon!" said Scrooge.
a

happy

His nephew
word,

New

left

the

Year!"
room without an angry

He

notwithstanding.

stopped

at

the

outer door to bestow the greetings of the season

on the

clerk,

who, cold as he was, was warmer

than Scrooge; for he returned them cordially.

"There's another fellow," muttered Scrooge,

who overheard him:
shillings a

"my

about a merry Christmas,

lam."

clerk,

with fifteen

week, and a wife and family, talking
I'll

retire to

Bed-

'

Christmas- Tide.

90

This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out,

had

let

two other people

They were
now

in.

gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and
with their hats

off, in

had books and papers

Scrooge's
in their

portly
stood,

They
bowed

office.

hands, and

to him.

"Scrooge andMarley's,

I

believe," said one

of the gentlemen, referring to his
I

list.

the pleasure of addressing Mr.

"Have

Scrooge, or

Mr. Marley.?"

"Mr.

Marley has been dead these seven

years," Scrooge replied.

"He died seven years

ago, this very night."

"We have no doubt his liberality is well
sented by his surviving partner,

man, presenting
It certainly

dred

spirits.

this

'

repre-

said the gentle-

his credentials.

was; for they had been two kin-

At

the ominous

word

Scrooge frowned, and shook
handed the credentials back.

"At

'

festive

'
'

liberality,

'

head,

and

season of the year,

Mr.

his

Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen,
"it is more than usually desirable that we should
make some provision for the poor and destitute,
who suffer greatly at the present time. Many

thousands are

in

want of common necessaries;

hundreds of thousands are
comforts, sir."

in

want of common

A
"Are

Christmas Carol.

there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons,"
laying

down

"And

gentleman,

the

Union workhouses?" demanded

"Are

"They

"The

said

the pen again.

the

they

are.

Still," returned the

Scrooge.

"I wish

91

I

still

in

operation?"

gentleman,

could say they were not."

Treadmill and the Poor

Law

,.

are in full

then?" said Scrooge.

vigor,

"Both very busy, sir."
"Oh! I was afraid, from what you
first,

in

that something

their

useful

had occurred

said at

to stop

course," said Scrooge.

them

"I'm

very glad to hear it."

"Under

the

impression that

furnish Christian cheer of

they scarcely

mind or body

multitude," returned the gentleman,

to the

"a few

of

us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the

poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.

We

choose this time, because

others,

when want

is

keenly

it

felt,

is

a time, of

all

and abundance

What shall I put you down for?"
"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.
"You wish to be anonymous?"
"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge.
"Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen,
that is my answer.
I don't make merry myself
at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle

rejoices.

'

Christmas - Tide.

92

people merry.

ments
those

I

I

help to support the establish-

who

are badly off

"Many
rather die.

— they

cost enough; and
must go there."
can't go there, and many would

have mentioned

'

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge,

"they had beter do
population.

Besides

it,

and decrease the surplus

— excuse me —

I

don't

know

that."

"But you might know

it,"

observed the

gentleman.
"It's not

my

business," Scrooge returned.

"It's enough for a

man

to understand his

own

business, and not to interfere with other people's.

Mine occupies me

constantly.

Good

afternoon,

gentlemen!"
Seeing clearly that
pursue

their

point,

Scrooge resumed

his

it

the

would be useless

to

gentlemen withdrew.

labors with an improved

opinion of himself, and in a

more

facetious tem-

per than was usual with him.

Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened
so that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages,

and conduct them on their way.

The

ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell

was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of
a gothic window in the wall, became invisible.

A

Christmas Carol.

and struck the hours and quarters
with tremulous vibrations
teeth were chattering in

The
at

cold

became

93

in the clouds,

afterwards as

its

if

frozen head up there.

its

In the main street,

intense.

the corner of the court,

some laborers were

repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great
fire in

a brazier, round which a party of ragged

men and boys were

gathered,

warming

their

hands and winking their eyes before the blaze
rapture.

The water-plug being

in

left in solitude,

its

overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned

to

misanthropic

The

ice.

brightness

the

of

shops where holly sprigs and berries crackled

in

windows made pale faces
ruddy as they passed.
Poulterers' and grocers'
trades became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossible to
the lamp heat of the

believe that such dull principles as bargain and
sale

had anything

to do.

The Lord Mayor,

in

the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House,

gave orders to his

fifty

cooks and butlers to keep

Christmas as a Lord Mayor's household should;

and even the
shillings

little tailor,

whom

he had fined

five

on the previous Monday for being drunk

and bloodthirsty

in

morrow's pudding

the streets, stirred up to-

in his garret, while his lean

wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef.

Foggier yet, and colder!

Piercing,

search-

Christmas- Tide.

94

If the

ing, biting cold.

but nipped the

such weather as

good Saint Dunstan had

spirit's

evil

nose with a touch of

that, instead of

using his familiar

weapons, then indeed he would have roared to
The owner of one scant young
lusty purpose.

gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold
gnawed by dogs, stooped down at
Scrooge's keyhole to regale him with a Christ-

nose,

as bones are

mas

carol;

but at the

first

sound of

"God bless you, merry gentleman!
May nothing you dismay!"
Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of
action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the

keyhole to the fog and even more congenial

At

With an

ing-house arrived.

mounted from
to

fact

frost.

length the hour of shutting up the count-

his stool,

and

ill

Scrooge

will

tacitly

the expectant clerk in the tank,

instantly snuffed his candle out,

dis-

admitted the

who

and put on

his

hat.

"You'll want

all

day t©-morrow,

I

suppose?"

said Scrooge.

"If quite convenient, sir."
"It's not convenient," said Scrooge, "and
it's
it,

not

fair.

If

I

was

you'd think yourself

The

to stop half-a-crown for
ill

used,

I'll

be bound?"

clerk smiled faintly.

"And

yet," said Scrooge, "you don't think

'

'

A
me

ill

work.

Christmas Carol.

used when

I

95

pay a day's wages for no

'

The

clerk observed that

was only once a

it

year.

"A

poor excuse for picking a man's pocket

every twenty-fifth of December!" said Scrooge,

"But I supBe here

buttoning his greatcoat to the chin.

pose you must have the whole day.
all

the earlier next morning.

The

clerk

promised

'

was closed

in a twinkling,

and

he would;

that

The

Scrooge walked out with a growl.

and the

office

clerk, with the

long ends of his white comforter dangling below
his waist (for

down

he boasted no greatcoat), went

a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of

boys, twenty times, in honor of

mas Eve, and then

ran

home

its

to

being Christ-

Camden Town

as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman'sbuff.

Scrooge took his melancholy dinner

in

his

all

the

usual melancholy tavern; and having read

newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening
with his banker' s-book, went

home

to bed.

He

chambers which had once belonged to
deceased partner.
They were a gloomy suite

lived in
his

of rooms, in a lowering pile of building

yard,

where

it

had so

little

up a

business to be that

one could scarcely help fancying

it

must have

Christmas - Tide.

96
run there when

it

was

young house, playing

a

at

hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten

way

the

out again.

It

was old enough now, and

dreary enough, for nobody lived in
the other rooms being

all let

it

but Scrooge,

The
who knew

out as offices.

yard was so dark that even Scrooge,
its

every stone, was fain to grope with his hands.

The

fog and frost so hung about the black old

gateway of the house that
Genius of the Weather

seemed

as

the

if

mournful medita-

on the threshold.

tion

Now,
all

it

sat in

was nothing

a fact that there

is

it

particular about the knocker on

except that

it

that Scrooge

was very

large.

had seen

it,

at

the door,
also a fact

It is

night and morning,

during his whole residence in that place; also
that Scrooge

had as

about him as any

even including

little

man

—which

of

what

in the
is

a bold

poration, aldermen, and livery.

borne

in

mind

that Scrooge

And
how

seven-years'

then

let

any

called fancy

word

London,

Let

—the
it

cor-

also

be

had not bestowed

one thought on Marley since his
his

is

city of

last

mention of

dead partner that

afternoon.

man

explain to me,

if

he can^

happened that Scrooge, having his key in
the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without
undergoing any intermediate process of
its
it

change

—not a knocker, but Marley'

s face.

A

Christmas Carol.

Marley's face.

shadow
but had

It

was not

in

97
impenetrable

as the other objects in the yard were,

it, like a bad lobster
was not angry or ferocious,
but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look,
with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly
forehead.
The hair was curiously stirred, as if
by breath or hot air; and though the eyes were
wide open, they were perfectly motionless. That,

a dismal light about

dark

in a

cellar.

It

and

seemed

made

its livid color,

ror
its

to

be

it

horrible; but its hor-

in spite of the face

control, rather than a part of its

As Scrooge
non,

it

To

was

and beyond

own expression.

looked fixedly at this phenome-

a knocker again.

say that he was not startled, or that his

blood was not conscious of a terrible sensation to

which

it

had been a stranger from infancy, would
But he put his hand upon the key

be untrue.

he had relinquished, turned
in,

it

sturdily,

walked

and lighted his candle.

He

did pause, with a moment's irresolution,

before he shut the door; and he did look cautiously behind at
terrified

first,

as

if

he half-expected to be

with the sight of Marley's pigtail stick-

But there was nothing on

ing out into the hall.
the back of

the door,

except the

screws and

nuts that held the knocker on, so he said, "Pooh,

pooh!" and closed

it

with a bang.

Christmas - Tide.

98

The sound resounded through

the house Hke
Every room above, and every cask in

thunder.

the wine-merchant's cellars below, appeared to

have a

separate

peal

Scrooge was not

He

echoes.

a

of

man

fastened

echoes of
to

the

its

own.

be frightened by
door

and walked

across the hall, and up the stairs, slowly too,

trimming

his candle as

You may

he went.

talk vaguely about driving a coach-

and-six up a good old flight of stairs, or through
a

bad young

act of Parliament; but

I

mean

say you might have got a hearse up that
case,

and taken

to

stair-

broadwise, with the splinter-

it

bar towards the wall and the door towards the
balustrades, and done

it

easy.

There was plenty

and room to spare; which

of width for that,

perhaps the reason

is

why Scrooge thought he saw

a locomotive hearse going on before him in the

Half-a-dozen gas-lamps out of the street

gloom.

wouldn't have lighted the entry too well, so you

may suppose

that

it

was

pretty

dark with

Scrooge's dip.

Up

Scrooge went, not caring a button for

Darkness

that.

is

cheap, and Scrooge liked

it.

But before he shut his heavy door, he walked
He
through his rooms to see that all was right.

had
to

just

do

enough recollection of the face

that.

to desire

A

Christmas Carol.
bedroom,

Sitting-room,
as they should

All

lum'ber-room.

Nobody under

be.

99

the table;

nobody under the sofa; a small fire in the grate;
spoon and basin ready; and the little sauce-pan
of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon
the hob.
Nobody under the bed; nobody in the
closet; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was
hanging up

in a

suspicious attitude against the

Lumber-room

wall.

as usual.

Old

fire-guard,

two fish-baskets, washing-stand on

old shoes,

three legs, and a poker.

Quite
himself

satisfied,

in;

Thus secured

not his custom.

he took

and

off his cravat;

slippers,

before the
It

and

was a very low

sensation of

of fuel.

The

which was

put on his dressing-gown
night-cap, and sat

fire

down

indeed; nothing on such

He was

and brood over

least

his

in,

against surprise,

take his gruel.

fire to

a bitter night.
it,

he closed his door, and locked

double-locked himself

it

obliged to

sit

close to

before he could extract the

warmth from such a handful
was an old one, built by

fireplace

some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all
round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illusThere were Cains and
trate the Scriptures.
Abels, Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of Sheba,
Angelic messengers descending through the

on clouds

like feather-beds,

air

Abrahams, Belshaz-

I

oo

Chrtstfnas - Tide.
Apostles putting

zars,

hundreds of figures

off to sea in butter-boats,

to attract his thoughts;

like the ancient

whole.

the

blank

on

Prophet's rod, and swallowed up

If

at first,

and

came

yet that face of Marley, seven years dead,

each

smooth

had been

tile

a

with power to shape some picture

surface from the disjointed fragments of

its

his thoughts, there

would have been a copy of

old Marley's head on every one.

"Humbug!"

said Scrooge,

and walked across

the room.

After several turns, he sat down again.

he threw his head back

happened

hung

to rest

in the

upon

As

in the chair, his glance

a bell, a disused bell that

room, and communicated, for some

purpose now forgotten, with a chamber
highest story of the building.

It

in

the

was with great

astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable
dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin
to swing.
it

scarcely

loudly,

It swung so softly in the
made a sound, but soon

and so did every

outset that
it

rang out

bell in the house.

This might have lasted half a minute, or a
minute,

but

it

seemed

an

The bells
They were
deep down below,

hour.

ceased as they had begun, together.

succeeded by a clanking noise,
as

if

some person were dragging

a

heavy chain

over the casks in the wine merchant's

cellar.

A

Christmas Carol.

Scrooge then remembered to have heard that
ghosts in haunted houses were described as drag-

ging chains.

The

cellar

door flew open with a booming

much

louder

on the floors below; then coming up the
then coming straight towards his door.

stairs;

sound, and then he heard the noise

humbug,

"It's

still!"

said

"I

Scrooge.

won't believe it."

His color changed though, when, without a
it came on through the heavy door, and

pause,

Upon

passed into the room before his eyes.

coming
it

in the

cried,

its

dying flame leaped up, as though

"I know him; Marley's Ghost!" and

again.

fell

The same
pigtail,

his

Marley

face; the very same.

usual waistcoat,

tights,

in

and boots;

the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail,

and the hair upon

and

his coat-skirts,

The

chain he drew was clasped about his mid-

dle.
tail

It
;

and

his head.

was long, and wound about him like a
it was made (for Scrooge observed it

closely) of cash-boxes, keys,

padlocks, ledgers,

deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.

body was transparent: so
ing him,

His

that Scrooge, observ-

and looking through

his

waistcoat,

could see the two buttons on his coat behind.

Scrooge had often heard

it

said that

Marley

"

1

02

Christmas- Tide.

had no bowels, but he had never beheved

until

it

now.

No, nor did he believe

it

even now.

Though

he looked the phantom through and through, and

saw

standing before him, though he

it

influence of

chilling

his

felt

death-cold eyes,

the

and

marked the very texture of the folded 'kerchief
bound about its head and chin, which wrapper
he had not observed before, he was still incredulous,

and fought against

"How

now!"

his senses.

said Scrooge, caustic and cold

"What do you want with me?"
"Much!" Marley's voice, no doubt

as ever.

—

about

it.

"Who

are

you?"

"Ask me who

I zvas.''^

"Who 7£'rr<ryou,
He was
tuted

this,

"In

then?" said Scrooge, raising

"You're

particular, for a shade."
going to say "/^ a shade," but substi-

his voice.

more appropriate.
was your partner, Jacob Marley.
you can you sit down?" asked
as

life I

—

"Can

Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him.

"I can."

"Do

it,

then."

Scrooge asked the question because he didn't

know whether

a ghost so transparent might find

himself in a condition to take a chair; and

felt

A

Christmas Carol.

that in the event of

its

103

being impossible,

it

might

involve the necessity of an embarrassing explanation.

But the Ghost

sat

side of the fireplace, as
to

down on
if

the opposite

he were quite used

it.

"You

don't believe in

me," observed

the

Ghost.

"I don't,"

"What

said Scrooge.

evidence would you have of

my

real-

beyond that of your senses?"
"I don't know," said Scrooge.
"Why do you doubt your senses?"
"Because," said Scrooge, "a little thing
A slight disorder of the stomach
affects them.

ity

makes them

cheats.

bit of beef, a blot of

You may be an

undigested

mustard, a crumb of cheese,

a fragment of an underdone potato.

There's

more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever
you are."
Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any
means waggish then. The truth is, that he tried
to be smart, as a means of distracting his own
attention and keeping down his terror; for the
Specter's voice disturbed the very marrow in his
bones.

To

sit

staring at those fixed, glazed eyes in

silence for a

moment would

play, Scrooge

felt.

'

1

Christmas - Tide.

04

the very deuce with him.

very awful, too,

in the

There was something

Specter's being provided

with an infernal atmosphere of

could not feel

it

its

own,

Scrooge

was

clearly the

himself, but this

case; for though the Ghost sat perfectly motion-

and skirts, and tassels were
by the hot vapor from an oven.

less, its hair,

agitated as

"You

see

this

toothpick.-"'

still

Scrooge,

said

returning quickly to the charge, for the reason
just assigned,

and wishing, though

were only

it

for a second, to divert the vision's stony gaze

from himself.

"I do,"

"You
"But
standing.

replied the Ghost.

are not looking at it," said Scrooge.
I

see it," said the

Ghost, "notwith-

'

"Well," returned Scrooge, "I have but
swallow

this,

and be for the

rest

persecuted by a legion of goblins,
creation.

At
shook

Humbug,

I tell

you!

all

Humbug!"

this the spirit raised a frightful cry,
its

to

my days
of my own

of

and

chain with such a dismal and appalling

noise that Scrooge held on tight to his chair to

save himself from falling in a swoon.

much

But how

was his horror when the phantom
taking off the bandage round its head, as if it
were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw
dropped down upon its breast!
greater

—
A
Scrooge

fell

Christmas Carol.
upon

hands before his

his knees,

105

and clasped

"Mercy!" he said. "Dreadful
why do you trouble me?"

"Man
Ghost,

of

worldly mind,"

the

"do you

his

face.

believe in

me

apparition,

replied

the

or not?"

"I do,"
do
to

spirits

said Scrooge.
"I must.
But why
walk the earth, and why do they come

me?"
"It

is

required of every

man,"

the Ghost
him should walk
fellowmen, and travel far and

returned, "that the spirit within

abroad among his
wide; and

if

that spirit goes not forth in

condemned to do
to wander through
is

and witness what

it

so after death.

the world

— oh,

It is

woe

life,

it

doomed

is

me!

cannot share, but might have

shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"

Again the Specter raised a cry and shook
wrung its shadowy hands.

its

chain and

"You are fettered,"
me why?"

said Scrooge, trembling.

"Tell

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied
"I made it link by link, and yard
by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and
the Ghost.

of

my own

free will

I

wore

it.

Is its pattern

strange to j/onf"

Scrooge trembled more and more.

"Or would you

know, " pursued the Ghost,

1

06

Christmas - Tide.

"the weight and length of the strong coil you
It was full as heavy and as long

bear yourself?

as this seven Christmas

labored on

since.

it

Eves

You have

ago.

a ponderous chain!"

It is

Scrooge glanced about him on the

floor, in

the expectation of finding himself surrounded by

some

fifty

or sixty fathoms of iron cable; but he

could see nothing.

"Jacob," he
Marley,

tell

said, imploringly,

me

more.

"old Jacob

Speak comfort

to

me,

Jacob!"
'
'

I

have none to give,

'

the Ghost replied.

'

"It comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge,

and

conveyed

is

kinds of men.

A

very

cannot

little

rest,

My

where.

by other

ministers,

to other

Nor can I tell you what I would.
more is all permitted to me. I
cannot stay,

I

spirit

counting-house

I

cannot linger any-

never walked beyond our

— mark

me!

—

in

life

my

spirit

never roved beyond the narrow limits of our

money-changing
before

hole,

and weary journeys

lie

me!"

It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he
became thoughtful, to put his hands in his

breeches pockets.

had

said,

Pondering on what the Ghost
lifting

up

have been very slow about

it,

he did so now, but without

his eyes or getting off his knees.

"You must

'

A

107

Christmas Carol.

Jacob," Scrooge observed, in a business-like
manner, though with humihty and deference.
"Slow!" the Ghost repeated.

"Seven years dead," mused Scrooge, "and
traveling

all

the time!"

"The whole time,"

said the Ghost.

"No

Incessant torture of remorse.

no peace.

rest,

'

"You

travel fast?" said Scrooge.

"On

the wings of the wind," replied the

Ghost.

"You

might have got over a great quantity
'

of ground in seven years,

'

The Ghost, on hearing
cry,

and clanked

its

said Scrooge.
this, set

dead silence of the night that the
have been

"Oh,

justified in indicting

captive,

cried the phantom,

incessant labor,
earth

must pass

which

know

it is

that

its little

up another

chain so hideously in the

it

Ward would

for a nuisance.

bound and double-ironed!"
"not to know that ages of

by immortal

creatures, for this

into eternity before the

susceptible

is all

any Christian

sphere, whatever

spirit
it

good of

Not

to

working kindly

in

developed.

may

be, will find its

too short for its vast means of usefulNot to know that no space of regret can
make amends for one life's opportunity misused!
Yet such was I! Oh, such was I!"
"But you were always a good man of busi-

mortal
ness.

life

I

o8

Christmas - Tide.

ness, Jacob," faltered Scrooge,

who now began

to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing

"Mankind was my

hands again.

common

welfare

was

my

business;

its

The

business.

charity,

mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were

my

The

business.

but a drop of water
of

my

dealings of
in the

my

all

trade were

comprehensive ocean

business!"

It held up its chain at arm's-length, as if that
were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and
flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At

this

time of the rolling year," the Spec-

"I

Why

I

walk

through crowds of fellow-beings with

my

eyes

them

to

that

ter

said,

turned

down,

suffer

most.

and never

raise

did

Wise Men to a poor
no poor homes to which its

blessed Star which led the

abode!
light

Were

there

would have conducted

Scrooge was very
Specter going on

mef

much dismayed

at this rate,

to hear the

and began to quake

exceedingly.

"Hear me!"

cried the Ghost.

"My

time

is

nearly gone."

"I will," said Scrooge. "But don't be hard
upon me! Don't be flowery, Jacob, pray!"
"How it is that I appear before you in a
I have
shape that you can see, I may not tell.

'

'

A
sat

109

many and many

you

beside

invisible

day.

Christmas Carol.

a

'

It

was

an

not

agreeable

idea.

shivered and wiped the perspiration

Scrooge

from

his

brow.

my penance," pur"I am here to-night to warn
you, that you have yet a chance and hope of
escaping my fate.
A chance and hope of my
"That

is

no

light part of

sued the Ghost.

procuring, Ebenezer.

'

"You were

always a good
" Thank 'ee!"

Scrooge.

"You
"by

will

friend to me,

"

said

be haunted," resumed the Ghost,

three spirits."

Scrooge's countenance

almost as low as

fell

the Ghost's had done.

"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned,
Jacob?" he demanded,
"It is."

"I

—

I

in a faltering voice.

think I'd rather not," said Scrooge.

"Without their visits," said the Ghost, "you
cannot hope to shun the path I tread.
Expect
the

first

to-morrow, when the

"Couldn't

I

take 'em

bell tolls one.

all at

once and have

Jacob?" hinted Scrooge.
"Expect the second on the next night

it

over,

same hour.

The

third

at the

upon the next night when

the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate.

1 1

o

Christmas- Tide.

Look to see me no more; and look that, for your
own sake, you remember what has passed between us!"

When

it had said these words the Specter
wrapper from the table and bound it
Scrooge knew this
round its head as before.
by the smart sound its teeth made when the

took

its

jaws were brought

He

together by the bandage.

ventured to raise his eyes again, and found

his supernatural visitor

erect

about

its

with

attitude,

The
at

confronting him in an

chain

wound over and

arm.

apparition walked backward from

every step

little,

its

so that

it

took the window raised

when

the Specter reached

him and
itself

it,

it

a

was

wide open.

beckoned Scrooge to approach which he
they were within two paces of each
other, Marley's Ghost held up its hand, warning
him to come no nearer. Scrooge stopped.
It

did.

When

Not so much
fear;

for

in

obedience as in surprise and

on the raising of the hand, he became

sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent

sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings
expressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory.

Specter, after listening for a
the mournful dirge,
bleak, dark night.

in-

The

moment, joined

in

and floated out upon the

A

m

Christmas Carol

Scrooge followed to the window, desperate

He

in his curiosity.

The

air

was

filled

looked out.
with phantoms, wandering

moaning
Every one of them wore chains
like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be
guilty governments) were linked together; none
were free.
Many had been personally known
He had been quite
to Scrooge in their lives.
hither and thither in restless haste, and
as they went.

familiar with one old ghost in a white waistcoat,

with a monstrous iron safe attached to

who

wretched

woman

with an infant,

was

whom

it

saw

The misery with them

below, upon a door-step.
all

ankle,

its

cried piteously at being unable to assist a

clearly that they sought to interfere, for

good, in

human

matters, and had lost the

power

forever.

Whether these

creatures faded into mist, or

mist enshrouded them, he could not

they and their
the night

spirit

became

as

tell.

But

voices faded together, and
it

had been when he walked

home.
Scrooge closed the window, and examined
the door by which the Ghost had entered.

was double-locked,
own hands, and the

as he
bolts

it

It

with his

were undisturbed.

He

"Humbug!" but stopped at the first
And being from the emotion he had

tried to say
syllable.

had locked

—

112

Christmas - Tide.

undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his
glimpse of the invisible world, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the

—

hour much in need of repose, went straight to
bed without undressing, and fell asleep upon the
instant.

STAVE TWO.
THE FIRST OF THE THREE

When

Scrooge awoke

it

SPIRITS.

was so dark

that,

looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish

window from the opaque walls
He was endeavoring to pierce
darkness with his ferret eyes when the

the transparent
of his chamber.

the

chimes of a neighboring church struck the four
quarters.

So he

To

great

listened for the hour.

astonishment the heavy bell
went on from six to seven, and from seven to
eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped.
Twelve!
It was past two when he went to bed.
The clock was wrong. An icicle must have got
into the works.
Twelve!

He

his

touched the spring of his repeater to cor-

most preposterous

clock.

rect

this

little

rapid

pulse beat twelve, and stopped.

"Why,
I

it

isn't possible," said

Its

Scrooge, "that

can have slept through a whole day and far

into another night.

It

isn't possible

that any-

A Christmas

113

Carol.

thing has happened to the sun, and this
at

is

twelve

noon!"

The

idea being an alarming one, he scrambled

out of bed, and groped his

He was

way

to the

window.

obliged to rub the frost off with the

sleeve of his dressing-gown before he could see

anything; and could see very

could

make

out was, that

it

little

was

then.

still

All he

very foggy

and extremely cold, and that there was no noise

and making a great
would have been if
night had beaten off bright day and taken possession of the world.
This was a great relief,
of people running to
stir,

and

fro,

as there unquestionably

because "three days after sight of

Exchange pay

this First of

Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his
order," and so forth, would have become a mere
to

United States' security

if

there were no days to

count by.

Scrooge went to bed again and thought and
thought, and thought

it

over and over and over,

and could make nothing of

it.
The more he
more perplexed he was; and the
more he endeavored not to think, the more he

thought, the

thought.

Marley's Ghost bothered him exceedingly.
Every time he resolved within himself, after
mature inquiry, that it was all a dream, his mind
flew back again, like a strong spring released to

Christmas- Tide.
position,

its first

lem

to

be worked

and presented the same proball

through,

"Was

it

dream

a

or not?"

Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had
gone three-quarters more, when he remembered,
on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of
a visitation

when

the bell tolled one.

He

re-

was passed;
and considering that he could no more go to
sleep than go to heaven, this was perhaps the

solved to

lie

awake

until

the hour

wisest resolution in his power.

more

quarter was so long that he was

The

than once convinced he must have sunk into a
doze unconsciously, and missed the clock.
length

it

broke upon his listening

At

ear.

"Ding, dong!"

"A

quarter past," said Scrooge, counting.

"Ding, dong!"
"Half-past!" said Scrooge.

"Ding, dong!"

"A

quarter to it," said Scrooge.

"Ding, dong!"

"The hour
phantly,

He
it

now

itself,"

"and nothing

Scrooge,

said

trium-

else!"

spoke before the hour

bell

sounded, which

did with a deep, dull, hollow, melancholy

ONE.
instant,

Light flashed up

room upon the
bed were drawn.

in the

and the curtains of

his

A
The
tell

115

Christinas Carol.

were drawn
Not the curtains at

curtains of his bed

you, by a hand.

aside, I

his feet,

at his back, but those to which
was addressed. The curtains of his bed
were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into

nor the curtains
his face

a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to
face with the unearthly visitor
as close to

it

as

I

am now to

who drew them,
I am stand-

you, and

ing in the spirit at your elbow.

was a strange

It

figure

—

yet not

like a child;

man, viewed
through some supernatural medium, which gave
him the appearance of having receded from the
so

a

like

as like

child

an old

view, and being diminished to a child's proporIts hair,

tions.

down

its

which hung about

back, was white as

if

neck and

its

with age; and yet

it, and the tenderbloom was on the skin. The arms were very
long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its
Its legs and
hold were of uncommon strength.

the face had not a wrinkle in
est

feet,

most

delicately formed,

upper members, bare.

were,

those

like

wore a tunic of the
purest white; and round its waist was bound a
lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful.
It

It

held a branch of fresh, green holly in

and

in

singular

emblem, had
flowers.

its

contradiction

of

its

dress trimmed with

hand,

wintry

that

summer

But the strangest thing about

it

was,

6

'

Christmas- Tide.

1 1

that

from the crown of

and which was doubtless the occasion of

visible;
its

head there sprung a
by which all this was

its

bright, clear jet of Hght,

using, in

its

duller

moments,

guisher for a cap, which

now

a great extin-

held under

its

when Scrooge looked

at

it

arm.

Even

though,

this,

with increasing steadiness, was not

it

For

gest quality.

tered

now

what was

in

as

its

its

belt sparkled

stran-

and

glit-

one part and now in another, and

light

one instant,

at

another time was

dark, so the figure itself fluctuated in

its distinct-

now a thing with one arm, now with
one leg, now with twenty legs, now a pair of
legs without a head, now a head without a body,
ness; being

which dissolving parts no outline would be

of

visible in the

And

away.

be

itself

dense gloom wherein they melted
in the

very wonder of

this,

it

would

again; distinct and clear as ever.

"Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was
me?" asked Scrooge.
"I am!"
The voice was soft and gentle. Singularly

foretold to

low, as
it

were

if,

instead of being so close beside him,

at a distance.

"Who and what are you.-'"
manded.
" I am the Ghost of Christmas

Scrooge dePast.

'

A
"Long
of

117

Christmas Carol.

past?" inquired Scrooge, observant

dwarfish stature.

its

"No; your past."
Perhaps Scrooge could not have told anybody why if anybody could have asked him,
but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his
cap, and begged him to be covered.
"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "would you
so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light
give?

Is

it

whose passions made

this

and force

cap,

through whole trains of years to wear

my

I

not enough that you are one of those

it

me

low upon

brow!"
Scrooge reverently disclaimed

offend

or

intention to

all

having willfully

any knowledge of

any period of

"bonneted" the

Spirit at

He

bold to inquire what business

then

made

his

life.

brought him there.

"Your

welfare!" said the Ghost.

Scrooge expressed himself

much

obliged, but

could not help thinking that a night of unbroken
rest

end.

would have been more conducive to that
The Spirit must have heard him think-

ing, for

then.
It

it

said immediately,

"Your

reclamation,

Take heed!"
put out

its

strong hand as

clasped him gently by the arm.

"Rise, and walk with me!"

it

spoke, and

8

Christmas - Tide.

1 1

It

would have been

Scrooge to

in vain for

plead that the weather and the hour were not

adapted to pedestrian purposes; that the bed
was warm, and the thermometer a long way
below freezing; that he was clad but lightly in
his slippers, dressing-gown,

and night-cap; and

had a cold upon him at that time. The
grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was
He rose; but finding that
not to be resisted.
the Spirit made towards the window, clasped his

that he

robe in supplication.

"I am a mortal," Scrooge remonstrated,
"and liable to fall."
"Bear but a touch of my hand there,'' said
the Spirit, laying it upon his heart, "and you
shall be upheld in more than this!"

As

the

words were spoken,

they

passed

through the wall, and stood upon an open coun-

The city
on either hand.
Not a vestige of it was
had entirely vanished.
The darkness and the mist had
to be seen.
vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter
try road, with fields

day, with

snow upon the ground.

"Good heaven!"

said Scrooge, clasping his

"I
hands together as he looked about him.
I was a boy here!"
was bred in this place.

The

Spirit gazed

touch, though

it

upon him mildly.

had been

light

Its gentle

and instantane-

"

A
ous, appeared

present to the old man's sense

still

He was

of feeling.

119

Christmas Carol.

odors floating in the

conscious of a thousand

air,

each one connected with

a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and
cares, long, long forgotten!

"Your

"And

trembling," said the Ghost.

lip

what

is

is

that

upon your cheek?"

Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching

in

was a pimple; and begged the
Ghost to lead him where he would.
"You recollect the way?" inquired the Spirit.

his voice, that

it

"Remember

it!" cried Scrooge, with fervor;

"I could walk it blindfold.
"Strange to have forgotten
observed

years!"

the

walked

along

the

it

many

for so

"Let

Ghost.

us

go

on."

They

Scrooge

road.

recognizing every gate, and post, and tree, until
a

market-town appeared

little

with

its

bridge,

Some shaggy

in the distance,

church, and winding river.

its

now were seen

ponies

trotting

towards them with boys upon their backs, who
called to other boys in country gigs

spirits,

fields
air

and shouted to each other,

were so

full of

laughed to hear

"These

and

carts,

All these boys were in great

driven by farmers.

until the

merry music that the

broad
crisp

it.

are but shadows of the things that

'

1

2o

Christmas - Tide.

"They have no

have been," said the Ghost.
consciousness of us.

The jocund

'

came

travelers

on; and as they

came, Scrooge knew and named them every one.

Why

was he

Why

them!

rejoiced

beyond

all

bounds

Why

heart leap up as they went past!
filled

to see

did his cold eye glisten, and his

was he

when he heard them

with gladness

give

each other Merry Christmas, as they parted at
cross-roads

homes!

and

by-ways,

What was merry

for

their

several

Christmas to Scrooge

Out upon merry Christmas!

What good had

.-*

it

ever done to him?

"The

school

"A

Ghost.

is

not quite deserted," said the

solitary

child,

neglected

by

his

friends, is left there still."

Scrooge said he knew

They

left

the

it.

And

he sobbed.

high-road by a well-remem-

bered lane and soon approached a mansion of
dull

red brick, with

a

little

weather-cock-sur-

mounted cupola on the roof, and a bell hanging
It was a large house, but one of broken
in it.
fortunes,

used,

for

the

their walls

spacious

offices

were

were damp and mossy,

little

their

windows broken, and their gates decayed.
Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables, and
the coach-houses and sheds were overrun with
Nor was it more retentive of its ancient
grass.

—

A

121

Christmas Carol,

state within; for entering the dreary hall,

glancing through the open doors of

many

and

rooms,

chilly

them poorly furnished, cold, and
There was an earthy savor in the air, a
bareness in the place, which associated

itself

somehow with

they found
vast.

candle-light,

much

too

getting up by

and not too much to

They went,

eat.

the Ghost and Scrooge, across

the hall, to a door at the back of the house.

It

opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare,
melancholy room, made barer still by lines of

At one

plain deal forms and desks.

of these a

boy was reading near a feeble fire, and
Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see

lonely

poor forgotten

his

Not a
and

self as

he used to be.

squeak

latent echo in the house, not a

scuffle

from the mice behind the paneling,

not a drip from the half-thawed water-spout in
the dull yard behind, not a sigh

among

the leaf-

less

boughs of one despondent poplar, not the

idle

swinging of an empty store-house door, no,

not a clicking in the

fire,

but

fell

upon the head

of Scrooge with a softening influence,

and gave

a freer passage to his tears.

The

Spirit

touched him on the arm,

pointed to his younger
ing.

self,

Suddenly a man,

in

intent

upon

and

his read-

foreign garments

wonderfully real and distinct to look at

— stood

122

Christmas- Tide.

outside the window, with an axe stuck in his belt,

and leading by the bridle an ass laden with wood.

"Why,
in ecstasy.

yes,

I

"It's dear old honest Ali Baba! Yes,

One Chrismas

know!

was

child

solitary

Ali Baba!" Scrooge exclaimed,

it's

come, for the

And

boy!
wild

first

And

down by

head!

all

when yonder

alone,

he did

time, just like that.

Orson;

brother,

they

there

who was put down

ers, asleep, at the

side

time,

here

Poor

Valentine," said Scrooge, "and his

what's his name,
see him?

left

And
draw-

Gate of Damascus; don't you

the Sultan's

Groom

the Genii; there he

Serve him

go!
in his

right.

I'm glad

turned upis

of

upon
it.

his

What

business had he to be married to the Princess!"

To

hear Scrooge expending

all

the earnest-

ness of his nature on such subjects, in a most
extraordinary voice between laughing and cry-

and to see his heightened and excited face,
would have been a surprise to his business
ing,

friends in the city, indeed.

"There's

the

parrot!"

"Green body and yellow

tail,

cried

Scrooge.

with a thing like

a lettuce growing out of the top of his head;

there he

is!

Poor Robin Crusoe, he called him,

when he came home
the island.

again after sailing round

'Poor Robin Crusoe, where have

you been, Robin

Crusoe.-"

The man thought he

'

A

123

Christmas Carol.

was dreaming, but he wasn't. It was the parThere goes Friday, running for
rot, you know.
Hoop!
Halloa!
his life to the Httle creek!
Halloo!"

Then, with a rapidity of transition very

for-

eign to his usual character, he said, in pity for

former

his

self,

"Poor boy!" and

cried again.

"I wish," Scrooge muttered, putting his
hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after
but it's too late
drying his eyes with his cuff, "

—

now.

'

"What

is

the matter?" asked the Spirit.

"Nothing," said Scrooge. "Nothing. There
was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my
door last night. I should like to have given him
something; that's all."

The Ghost
its

waved

smiled, thoughtfully, and

hand, saying as

it

did so,

"Let us

see another

Christmas!"
Scrooge's former

self

grew larger

words, and the room became a

more

dirty.

cracked;
ceiling,

The

little

at

the

darker and

panels shrunk, the windows

fragments of plaster

fell

out of the

and the naked laths were shown instead;

how all this was brought about, Scrooge
knew no more than you do. He only knew that

but

it

was quite

pened

so;

correct; that

everything had hap-

that there he was, alone again,

when

1

Christmas- Tide.

24

all

the other boys had gone

home

for the jolly

holidays-

He was
down

not reading now, but walking up and

Scrooge looked

despairingly.

and with a mournful shaking of

at

the Ghost,

his head,

glanced

anxiously towards the door.
It

opened, and a

much younger

girl,

little

than the boy, came darting

and putting her

in,

arms about his neck, and often kissing him,
addressed him as her "Dear, dear brother."

come

"I have

home,

bring you

to

dear

brother!" said the child, clapping her tiny hands,

and bending down

"To

to laugh.

bring you

home, home, home!"

"Home,

little

"Yes!"

said

"Home
ever.
to

for

Fan?" returned the boy.
the

good and

Father

is

so

be that home's

me

child,
all.

much
like

brimful

Home,

of

glee.

forever and

kinder than he used

He

heaven!

one dear night when

spoke so

was going to
bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more
if you might come home; and he said yes, you
gently to

should; and sent

And

ing her eyes,

but

first,

long,

me

you're to be a

"and

I

in a

coach to bring you.

man,"

said the child, open-

are never to

we're to be together

come back

all

and have the merriest time

world."

here;

the Christmas
in

all

the

A
"You

125

Christmas Carol.

are quite a

woman,

Fan!"

little

ex-

claimed the boy.

She clapped her hands and laughed, and
to touch his head; but being too

tried

laughed

and stood on tiptoe to embrace him.

again,

Then she began

to

drag him,

eagerness, towards the door;
loth to go,

A

little,

accompanied

in

her.

voice in the hall

terrible

down Master Scrooge's

her childish

and he, nothing
cried,

"Bring

box, there!" and in the

appeared the school-master himself, who

hall

glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state
of

mind by shaking hands with him.

conveyed him and
well of
seen,

then

a shivering best parlor that ever was

where the maps upon the

celestial

He

his sister into the veriest old

and

terrestrial globes

were waxy with

cold.

wall,

in the

and the
windows,

Here he produced

a

decanter of curiously light wine and a block of
curiously heavy cake, and administered instalof those dainties to the young people; at
same time sending out a meager servant to
offer a glass of "something" to the post-boy,

ments
the

who answered

that he thanked the gentleman,

was the same tap as he had tasted beMaster Scrooge's
fore, he had rather not.
trunk being by this time tied onto the top of the

but

if

it

1

16

Christmas- Tide.
bade

children

chaise,

the

good by

right willingly,

gayly

down

the

school-master

and getting into

it

drove

the garden sweep; the quick wheels

dashing the hoar-frost and snow from off the

dark leaves of the evergreens

"Always

like spray.

whom

a delicate creature,

a breath

"But

might have withered," said the Ghost.
she had a large heart!"

"So
right.

had,"

she
I

"You're

Scrooge.

cried

not gainsay

will

it.

God

Spirit.

for-

bid!"

"She
had, as

I

"One

died a

woman,"

said the Ghost,

"and

think, children."

child," Scrooge returned.

"True,"

said the Ghost.

Scrooge seemed uneasy
swered, briefly,

"Your nephew!"

in his

mind, and an-

"Yes."

Although they had but that moment
school behind them, they were

thoroughfares of a

city,

now

left

in the

the

busy

where shadowy passen-

gers passed and repassed; where shadowy carts

and coaches battled for the way, and

all

the strife

It was made
and tumult of a real city were.
plain enough, by the dressing of the shops, that
here, too, it was Christmas time again; but it

was evening, and the streets were lighted up.
The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse
door, and asked Scrooge

if

he knew

it.

A Christmas Carol.
"Know it!"

117

"Was

said Scrooge.

appren-

I

ticed here!"

They went in. At sight of an old gentleman
Welsh wig, sitting behind such a high desk

in a

that

he had been two inches

if

have knocked
Scrooge cried
Fezziwig!

old

head

his

taller

he must

the

ceiling,

against

excitement,

in great

Bless his heart;

"Why,

it's

it's

Fezziwig

alive again!"

Old Fezziwig

up

at the

his

capacious waistcoat; laughed

from

pen and looked

which pointed to the hour of
rubbed his hands; adjusted his

He

seven.

down

laid

clock,

his shoes to his

all

over himself,

organ of benevolence; and

called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial
voice,

"Yo

Ebenezer!

ho, there!

Scrooge's former

man, came briskly

self,

in,

Dick!"

now grown

a

accompanied by

young
his fel-

low- 'prentice.

"Dick Wilkins,
the Ghost.

to

be sure!" said Scrooge to
There he is. He

"Bless me, yes.

was very much attached

"Yo
more

to

me, was Dick.

Poor

Dear, dear!"

Dick!

ho,

work

my

boys!" said Fezziwig.

"No

Christmas Eve,

Dick.

to-night.

Christmas, Ebenezer!
Let's have the shutters
up," cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his
hands, "before a

man

can say Jack Robinson!"

128

Christmas - Tide.

You
went

how those two fellows
They charged into the street with

wouldn't believe

at

it!

— two,
—
pinned 'em — seven,
the shutters

one,

their places

four,

—had 'em up
—barred 'em and
nine — and came back

three

in

six

five,

eight,

before you could have got to twelve, panting like
race-horses.

"Hilli-ho!"

down from

"Clear away,

room here!

Fezziwig,

old

cried

skipping

the high desk, with wonderful agility.

my

lads,

and

Hilli-ho, Dick!

let's

have

lots of

Chirrup, Ebenezer!"

There was nothing they wouldn't
or couldn't have cleared
away, with old Fezziwig looking on.
It was
Every movable was packed
done in a minute.
Clear away!

have cleared

off,

as

if it

away,

were dismissed from public

life

for-

was swept and watered,
the lamps were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon
the fire; and the warehouse was as snug, and
warm, and dry, and bright a ball-room as you
would desire to see upon a winter's night.
In came a fiddler with a music-book, and
went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra
evermore,

the

out of

and tuned

it,

floor

like

fifty

stomachaches.

came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast, substantial
In came the three Miss Fezziwigs,
smile.
In came the six young
beaming and lovable.
In came all
followers whose hearts they broke.
In

A

Christmas Carol.

129

young men and women employed in the
In came the housemaid, with her
In came the cook, with her
cousin, the baker.

the

business.

particular

brother's

came

friend,

the

the boy from over the way,

milkman.

In

who was

sus-

pected of not having board enough from his
master; trying to hide himself behind the

girl

from next door but one, who was proved

to

had her ears pulled by her mistress.

In they

all

have

came, one after another; some shyly, some

some gracefully, some awkwardly, some
some pulling; in they all came, anyhow

boldly,

pushing,

Away

and everyhow.

they

all

went,

twenty

couple at once; hands half round and back again
the other way;

down

round and round

the middle and up again;

in various stages of affectionate

grouping; old top couple always turning up in
the

wrong

place;

new

top couple starting off

again, as soon as they got there;
at last,

When

all

top couples

and not a bottom one to help them!

this result

was brought about, old Fezzi-

wig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried
out,

"Well done!" and

the fiddler plunged his

hot face into a pot of porter especially provided
for that purpose.

But scorning

rest,

reappearance, he instantly began again

—

upon

his

—though

as if the other fiddler
there were no dancers yet
had been carried home, exhausted, on a shutter,

Christmas- Tide.

130

and he were a brand-new man, resolved to beat
him out of sight or perish.
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and
there was negus, and there was a great piece of
cold roast, and there was a great piece of cold
boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of
beer.
But the great effect of the evening came
after the roast
artful

and boiled, when the fiddler (an

dog, mind!

The

sort of

man who knew

you or I could have told
it him!) struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley."
Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs.

his business better than

Fezziwig.
piece of

Top

couple, too, with a good,

work cut out

for

stiff

them; three or four

and twenty pair of partners; people who were
not to be trifled with; people

who

zuould dance,

and had no notion of walking.
But if they had been twice as many ah, four
times old Fezziwig would have been a match

—

—

As to
and so would Mrs, Fezziwig.
was worthy to be his partner in every

for them,

her, she

sense of the term.
tell

me

higher and

If
I'll

that's not high praise,

use

it.

A

positive light

appeared to issue from Fezziwig' s calves.
shone in every part of the dance

like

They
moons.

You couldn't have predicted, at any given time,
what would have become of them next. And

A
when
all

Christmas Carol.

131

old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone

through the dance

— advance and

retire,

both

hands to your partner, bow and curtsey, corkscrew, thread-the-needle, and back again to your
place

— Fezziwig

"cut"

—cut

appeared to wink with his

so deftly that he

legs,

and came up on

his feet again without a stagger.

When
ball

the clock struck eleven, this domestic

broke up.

their stations,

Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig took

one on either side of the door, and

shaking hands with every person individually as

he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry
Christmas.

When

everybody had retired but

the two 'prentices, they did the

same

to

them;

and thus the cheerful voices died away, and the
lads were left to their beds, which were under
a counter in the back shop.

During the whole
acted like a
soul

He

were

in

man

of this time Scrooge

had

His heart and
the scene, and with his former self.
out of his wits.

corroborated everything, remembered every-

and underwent the
was not until now, when
the bright faces of his former self and Dick were
turned from them, that he remembered the
Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking
full upon him, while the light upon its head

thing,

enjoyed everything,

strangest agitation.

burnt very clear.

It

'

T

Christmas - Tide.

32

"A small
these

matter," said the Ghost, "to make
so full of gratitude.

silly folks

"Small!" echoed Scrooge.
The spirit signed to him to listen to the two
apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in
praise of Fezziwig; and when he had done so,

"Why,

said,

is

He

not?

it

has spent but a

—

few pounds of your mortal money three or four,
Is that so much that he deserves this
perhaps.
praise?"

"It
former,

not

Spirit.

He

speaking unconsciously

and

his

latter

make our

some; a pleasure or a
that

it

is

in

is

He

quite as great as

felt

"What

his

like

isn't

that,

Say

that his

power

things so slight and

and

impossible to add

count 'em up: what then?
gives

"It

service light or burden-

toil.

words and looks;

insignificant

self.

has the pov/er to render us happy

or unhappy; to

lies in

Scrooge, heated by the

isn't that," said

remark,

if it

The happiness he
cost a fortune.

'

the Spirit's glance, and stopped.
is

the matter?" asked the Ghost.

"Nothing particular," said Scrooge.
"Something, I think?" the Ghost insisted.
'

I should like to
No, said Scrooge, No.
be able to say a word or two to my clerk just
'

'

'

now.

'

'

That's all."

His former

self

turned down the lamps as he

A

Christmas Carol.

133

gave utterance to the wish; and Scrooge and the
Ghost again stooci side by side in the open air.

"My time

grows

short,

"Quick!"
This was not addressed

whom

one

mediate

he could

Spirit.

to Scrooge, or to

see, but

any

produced an im-

it

For again Scrooge saw himself.
man in the prime of life.

effect.

He was

" observed the

older now; a

His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of
but it had begun to wear the signs

later years,

and avarice.

care

of

There was an eager,

greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed
the passion that had taken root, and where the

shadow

of the

He was
young

fair

growing tree would

fall.

not alone, but sat by the side of a
girl

in

a

mourning

dress, in

whose

eyes there were tears which sparkled in the light
that shone out of the

Ghost of Christmas Past.

" she' said, softly. "To
Another idol has displaced me,
you, very little.
and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to
come as I would have tried to do, I have no just
"It matters

little,

cause to grieve."

"What

"A

"This
world!" he
it is

idol

has displaced

you.''"

he rejoined.

golden one."
is

the

said.

even-handed dealing of

"There

is

the

nothing on which

so hard as poverty; and there

is

nothing

it

'

1

'

'

Christmas- Tide.

34

condemn with such

professes to

severity as the

pursuit of wealth!"

"You
swered,

merged
of

its

fear the world too

much," she

an-

"All your other hopes have
the hope of being beyond the chance

gently.
into

sordid reproach.

aspirations

fall off

have seen your nobler

I

one by one,

until the

master-

Have I not?"
"What then?" he retorted. "Even if I
have grown so much wiser, what then? I am
passion. Gain, engrosses you.

not changed towards you.

'

She shook her head.

"Am

I?"

"Our contract is an old one. It was made
when we were both poor and content to be so,
until, in good season, we could improve our
You
worldly fortune by our patient industry.

When

are changed.
another man.

it

was made, you were

'

"I was a boy," he

"Your own

said, impatiently.

feeling tells

you that you were

"I am.
what you are," she returned.
That which promised happiness when we were

not

one

in heart, is fraught

are two.

How

thought of
that

I

this,

I

will

liave thought of

"Have

I

now
how keenly

with misery

often and

not say.
it,

It

is

that
I

we

have

enough

and can release you.

ever sought release?"

'

"

A

—

'

Christmas Carol.

"In words. No,
"In what, then?"

135

never.

In a changed nature; in an altered

another atmosphere of
great end.

life;

spirit;

in

another hope as

its

made my

In everything that

any worth or value

in

your

ever been between us," said the
mildly, but with steadiness

would you seek

Ah, no!"
He seemed

me

upon him,

"You

me,

me now?

But he

said,

with

think not."

"I would gladly think otherwise
learned a truth like
it

"tell

to yield to the justice of this sup-

she answered, "heaven knows!

irresistible

had

looking

girl,

out and try to win

position, in spite of himself.

a struggle,

love of

If this

sight.

must

this,

be.

I

know how
But

if

could,"

I

if

When /

have

strong and

you were free

to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even

I

believe

—

you would choose a dowerless girl you
who, in your very confidence with her, weigh
that

everything by gain;

moment you were

or choosing her,

if

for a

enough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your
repentance and regret would surely follow?
I
do; and I release you, with a full heart, for the
the love of him you once were.
He was about to speak; but with her head
false

'

turned from him, she resumed.

"You may

1

Christmas - Tide.

36

memory

the

you

will

of

what

is

—have pain

past half

makes me hope

A

very, very brief

in this.

time, and you will dismiss the recollection of

it

from which

it

gladly, as an unprofitable dream,

you awoke.
May you be
you have chosen!"

happened well

that

happy in the life
She left him and they parted.

"show me no more!

"Spirit!" said Scrooge,

Conduct
torture

me

home.

Why

do you delight to

me?"

"One shadow more!"

"No more!"

exclaimed the Ghost.

cried Scrooge.

don't wish to see

"No

more.

I

Show me no more!"

it.

But the relentless Ghost pinioned him
his arms,

in both
and forced him to observe what hap-

pened next.

They were

another scene and

in

place;

room, not very large or handsome, but

full

a
of

Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful
comfort.
young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed
it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely
matron,

sitting

opposite

her

daughter.

The

room was perfectly tumultuous, for
there were more children there than Scrooge in
his agitated state of mind could count; and unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, there were
noise in this

not

forty children

conducting themselves

one, but every child

was conducting

itself

like
like

A
yond

137

The consequences were uproarious

forty.

Christmas Carol.

be-

but no one seemed to care; on the

belief;

mother and

the

contrary,

and enjoyed

heartily,

daughter

laughed

very much;

it

and the

soon beginning to mingle in the sports,

latter,

got pillaged by the

young brigands most ruth-

What would

lessly.

Though

of them.

rude, no, no!

I

not have given to be one

I

never could have been so

wouldn't for the wealth of

I

all

the world have crushed that braided hair and
torn

down; and

it

for the precious

wouldn't have plucked
to save

my

As

life.

it

to

sport, as they did, bold

have done

have grown round

come

straight

dearly liked,

I

God

little

bless

it

for a punishment,

again.

shoe,

my

And

yet

I

I

I

soul!

measuring her waist

young brood,

should have expected

I

it;

off,

in

couldn't

my arm

to

and never

should have

own, to have touched her

lips;

to

have questioned her, that she might have opened
them; to have looked upon the lashes of her

downcast eyes, and never raised a blush; to have
let

loose

waves

of hair, an inch of

be a keepsake beyond price;
have

liked, I

which would

in short, I

should

do confess, to have had the

lightest

license of a child,

and yet to have been

enough to know

man

value.

its

But now a knocking

at the

door was heard,

and such a rush immediately ensued that she.

Christmas -Tide.

138

with laughing face and

borne towards

it,

plundered dress,

was

the center of a flushed and

boisterous group, just in time to greet the father,

who came home attended by

man

laden with

Then

the shout-

a

Christmas toys and presents.

ing and the struggling, afid the onslaught that

was made on the defenseless porter! The scaling him with chairs for ladders to dive into his
pockets, despoil him of brown paper parcels,
hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round his
neck,

pommel

his back,

pressible affection!

and kick

The

his legs in irre-

shouts of wonder and

delight with which the development

package was received!

ment

that the

The

terrible

baby had been taken

of

every

announce-

in the act of

putting a doll's frying-pan into his mouth, and

was more than suspected

of having swallowed a

The
immense relief of finding this a false alarm!
The joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy! They are

fictitious

all

turkey glued on a wooden platter!

indescribable alike.

It

is

enough that by

degrees the children and their emotions got out
of the parlor, and

by one

stair at a time,

up

to

the top of the house, where they went to bed,

and so subsided.

And now

Scrooge looked on more attentively

than ever, when the master of the house, having
his

daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down

'

A

Christmas Carol.

own

with her and her mother at his

when he thought

that

139
and

fireside;

another creature,

such

quite as graceful and as full of promise, might
have called him father, and been a springtime
in the

haggard winter of his

life,

his sight

grew

very dim indeed.

"Belle," said the husband, turning to his
I saw an old friend of yours
'

wife, with a smile,

'

afternoon."

this

"Who

was
"Guess!"

"How
added,

it?"

can

Tut,

I?

the

in

same

"Mr. Scrooge
window, and as
candle inside,

His partner

I

lies

and there he
I

I

know," she

laughing

as

he

"Mr. Scrooge."

laughed.

world,

don't

breath,

it

it

was.

I

passed his

office

was not shut up and he had a

could scarcely help seeing him.

upon the point
alone.

sat

do believe.

of death,

Quite alone

I

hear,

in

the

'

"Spirit!" said Scrooge, in a broken voice,

"remove me from
'

this

place."

you these were shadows of the things
"That they
that have been," said the Ghost.
are what they are, do not blame me!"
"Remove me!" Scrooge exclaimed, "I can'

I

told

not bear it!"

He

turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that

it

140

Christinas -Tide.

looked upon him with a face, in which in some

way

strange
faces

it

there were fragments of

had shown him, wrestled with

"Leave me!

Take me back.

the

all

it.

Haunt me no

longer!"
In the struggle,

if

that can be called a strug-

no visible resistance
was undisturbed by any effort of
adversary, Scrooge observed that its light was

gle in which the Ghost with

on
its

its

own

part

burning high and bright, and dimly connecting
that with

its

influence over him, he seized the

extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed
it

down upon its head.
The Spirit dropped beneath

extinguisher covered

Scrooge pressed

it

its

it,

so that the

whole form; but though

down with

all

his

force,

he

could not hide the light which streamed from

under

it

in

He was

an unbroken flood upon the ground.
conscious of being exhausted, and

overcome by an

irresistible

further, of being in his

the cap a

drowsiness;

and

He

gave

own bedroom.

parting squeeze, in which his hand

relaxed, and had barely time to reel to
fore he sank into a heavy sleep.

bed be-

A

Christmas Carol.

141

STAVE THREE.
THE SECOND OF THE THREE

Awaking
snore,

and

in the

sitting

SPIRITS.

middle of a prodigiously tough

up

in

bed

to get his thoughts

together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that

the bell
felt

was again upon the stroke of one. He
was restored to consciousness in the

that he

right nick of time, for the especial

purpose of

holding a conference with the second messenger

despatched to him through Jacob Marley's
tervention.

in-

But finding that he turned uncom-

when he began to wonder which of
new specter would draw back,
he put them every one aside with his own hands,
and lying down again, established a sharp lookfortably cold

his curtains this

out

all

round the bed.

lenge the Spirit on the

For he wished

moment

of

its

to chal-

appearance,

and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and

made

nervous.

Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who
plume themselves on being acquainted with a
move or two, and being usually equal to the time
of day, express the

wide range of their capacity

by observing that they are good
for anything from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter, between which opposite extremes, no doubt,
for adventure

14^

Christmas-Tide.

there

tolerably wide

a

lies

range

of

and comprehensive
Without venturing for

subjects.

Scrooge quite as hardily as

this,

I

don't mind

on you to believe that he was ready for a
good, broad field of strange appearances, and

calling

nothing between a baby and rhinoceros
would have astonished him very much.
that

Now, being prepared for almost anything, he
was not by any means prepared for nothing; and
consequently,

when

the bell struck one, and no

shape appeared, he was taken with a violent
Five minutes,

trembling.

of

minutes,

ten

fit

a

quarter of an hour went by, yet nothing came.
All this time he lay upon his bed, the very core

and

center of

streamed upon

a
it

blaze

when

of

ruddy

and which, being only

hour,

light

which

the clock proclaimed the
light,

was more

alarming than a dozen ghosts, as he was powerless to

make

out what

it

meant, or would be

at,

and was sometimes apprehensive that he might
be that very moment an interesting case of spontaneous combustion, without having the consolation of

knowing it. At last, however, he began
as you or I would have thought at

to think

—

for

it

first,

is

always the person not in the pre-

dicament who knows what ought to have been

done
it,

in

too

—

it,

and would unquestionably have done

at last, I say,

he began to think that the

A

Christmas Carol.

143

source and secret of this ghostly Hght might be
in the adjoining

tracing
full

room, from whence, on further

seemed

it

it,

This idea taking

to shine.

possession of his mind, he got up softly and

shuffled in his slippers to the door.

The moment Scrooge's hand was on

the lock,

a strange voice called him by his name, and

bade him

He

enter.

obeyed.

own room.

transformation.

There was no doubt
had undergone a surprising
The walls and ceiling were so

hung with

green that

It

was

his

But

about that.

living

it

it

looked a perfect

grove, from every part of which bright gleaming
berries glistened.

so

many

The

crisp

leaves of

and ivy reflected back the

mistletoe,

little

holly,

light as

if

mirrors had been scattered there,

and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the
chimney as that dull petrifaction of a hearth had
never known

in

Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or

many and many a winter season gone.
Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of

for

were

throne,

turkeys,

geese,

game,

poultry,

brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long
wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings,
barrels

of

oysters,

red-hot

chestnuts,

cherry-

cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears,

immense

twelfth-cakes,

punch, that

made

the

and seething bowls of

chamber dim with

their

Christmas-Tide.

144

In easy state upon this couch,

delicious steam.

who bore

there sat a jolly giant, glorious to see,
a glowing torch,

horn, and held

it

shape not unlike Plenty's

in

up, high up, to shed

its light

on

Scrooge as he came peeping round the door.

"Come

"Come

in!" exclaimed the Ghost.

me

and know

in!

better,

man!"

Scrooge entered, timidly, and hung

his head
was not the dogged
Scrooge he had been, and though the Spirit's
eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet

before

this

He

Spirit.

them.

"I am the Ghost

of Christmas Present," said

"Look upon me!"

the Spirit.

Scrooge reverently did

so.

It

was clothed

in

one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with
This garment hung so loosely on the

white fur.
figure that

capacious breast was bare, as

its

if

disdaining to be warded or concealed by any
artifice.

Its feet,

observable beneath the ample

were also bare, and on its
wore no other covering than a holly
wreath, set here and there with shining icicles.
Its dark brown curls were long and free
free as

folds of the garment,

head

it

—

its

genial face,

its

and

its

cheery voice,
its

joyful

air.

sparkling eye,
its

its

unconstrained

Girded round

its

open hand,
demeanor,
middle was

an antique scabbard, but no sword was in

it,

'

A

Christmas Carol

and the ancient

was

sheath

145

eaten

up

with

rust.

"You have

never seen the

exclaimed the

like of

me before!"

Spirit.

"Never!" Scrooge made answer

"Have
members
young)

to

it.

never walked forth with the younger

my

of

my

family,

meaning

(for I

am

elder brothers born in these

very
later

years?" pursued the Phantom.

"I don't think

am

afraid

I

"I

have," said Scrooge.

I

Have you had many

have not.

brothers, Spirit?"

"More

than

hundred,"

eighteen

said

the

Ghost.

"A

tremendous family

to provide for!"

mut-

tered Scrooge.

The Ghost

of Christmas Present rose.

"Spirit," said Scrooge, submissively, "con-

me where you

duct

will.

on compulsion, and
working now.

I

To-night,

me

went forth

learnt a lesson

I

if

which

is

you have aught to

by

it."

Scrooge did as he was

told,

teach me,
'
'

let

Touch

Holly,

my

profit

robe

!

'

mistletoe,

and held

red berries,

geese, game, poultry,

ivy,

vanished instantly.

it

fast.

turkeys,

brawn, meat, pigs, sau-

and punch
So did the room, the

sages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit,
all

last night

—
1

46

fire,

Christmas - Tide.
the ruddy glow, the hour of night, and they

stood in the city streets on Christmas morning,

where

made

(for

the weather

was severe) the people

a rough, but brisk and not unpleasant kind

snow from the pave-

of music in scraping the

ment

in

front of their dwellings, and

tops of their houses,
to the boys to see

it

from the

whence it was mad delight
come plumping down into

the road below, and splitting into artificial

little

snow-storms.

The house
windows

the

and

fronts looked black enough,

blacker,

contrasting

with

the

smooth, white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and
with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which
deposit had been ploughed up in deep fur-

last

rows by the heavy wheels of carts and wagons
furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other

hundreds

of

branched

off,

times where

and made

the

great

streets

intricate channels

hard

to trace in the thick, yellow

mud

The sky was gloomy and

the shortest streets

and icy water.

were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed,
half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in
a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys
in

Great Britain had, by one consent, caught

fire,

and were blazing away

to their dear hearts'

There was nothing very cheerful
the climate of the town, and yet was there an
content.

in
air

A

Christmas Carol.

147

of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest

summer

and brightest summer sun might have endeavFor the people who
ored to diffuse in vain.
air

were

shoveling

away on the housetops were

jovial

and

of

full

exchanging a facetious snowball
missile far than
heartily

if

it

many

went

out

calling

glee;

jest

and not

right,

one

—better-natured

wordy

a

to

now and then

another from the parapets, and

—laughing

less heartily

The poulterers' shops were
went wrong.
and the fruiterers' were radiant
There were great, round, potin their glory.
bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the
if

it

still

half open,

waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the
doors, and tumbling out into the street in their

There were ruddy, brown-

apoplectic opulence.

broad-girthed

faced,
in

the

friars,

fatness

of

Spanish

onions,

growth

their

like

shining

Spanish

and winking from their shelves in wanton
went by, and glanced

slyness at the girls as they

demurely

at the

hung-up mistletoe.

There were

and apples clustered high in blooming
pyramids; there were bunches of grapes made,
pears

in the

shopkeepers' benevolence, to dangle from

conspicuous hooks, that people's mouths might

water gratis as they passed; there were piles of
filberts,

mossy and brown,

fragrance, ancient walks

recalling,

among

in

their

the woods, and

1

48

Christmas - Tide.

pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered
leaves; there

were Norfolk

Biffins,

squab and

swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and

lemons, and in the great compactness of their
juicy persons, urgently entreating
to

be carried home

and beseeching

paper bags and eaten after

The very gold and

dinner.

among

in

silver fish, set forth

these choice fruits in a bowl, though

mem-

bers of a dull and stagnant blooded race, appeared
to

know

that there

to a fish

world

little

The

was something going

on,

went gasping round and round
in

and
their

slow and passionless excitement.

grocers'! oh the grocers'! nearly closed,

with perhaps two shutters down,

or one;

through those gaps such glimpses!

It

but

was not

alone that the scales descending on the counter

made

a merry sound,

roller parted

or

company

that

the

twine

so briskly, or

up and down

and

that the

canisters

were

tricks, or

even that the blended scents of tea and

coffee

the

rattled

were so grateful

raisins

were

so

to the nose, or even that

and

plentiful

almonds so extremely white, the

mon

like juggling

pure,

so long and straight, the other spices so

delicious, the candied fruits so

with molten sugar as to

make

caked and spotted
the coldest look-

ers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious.

was

the

sticks of cinna-

it

that the figs

Nor

were moist and pulpy, or that

A

Christmas Carol.

149

the French plums blushed in modest tartness

from their highly decorated boxes, or that everything was good to eat and in

but the customers were

its

Christmas dress;

and so

so hurried

all

eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that
they tumbled up against each other at the door,

and

crashing their wicker baskets wildly,

left

upon the counter, and came runfetch them, and committed hun-

their purchases

ning back to

dreds of the like mistakes, in the best humor
possible; while the grocer

and

his people

were

so frank and fresh that the polished hearts with

which they fastened

their aprons

behind might

have been their own, worn outside for general
inspection, and for Christmas

daws

to

peck

at

if

they chose.

But soon the steeples called good people

all

and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and

to church

with their gayest faces.

emerged from scores

At

the

same time there

of by-streets, lanes,

and

nameless turnings, innumerable people, carrying
their dinners to the bakers' shops.

these

poor revelers appeared to

Spirit

very much,

for he

The

sight of

interest

the

stood with Scrooge

beside him in a baker's doorway, and taking off
the covers as

their bearers

passed,

sprinkled

incense on their dinners from his torch.

And

Christmas - Tide.

150

was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once
when there were angry words between
some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other,
he shed a few drops of water on them from it,
and their good humor was restored directly,
for they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon
it

or twice

And

Christmas Day.
so

it

so

it

was!

God

love

it,

was!

In time the bells ceased and the bakers were
shut up; and yet there was a genial shadowing
forth of

these dinners and the progress of

all

their cooking in the

thawed blotch of wet above

each baker's oven, where the pavement smoked
as

the stones were cooking, too.

if
'

'

Is there a peculiar flavor in

what you sprinkle

from your torch?" asked Scrooge.

"There

my own."

is;

"Would

apply to any kind of dinner on

it

day?" asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given.

this

To

a

poor

one

most."

"Why

poor one most?" asked Scrooge.

to a

"Because
"Spirit,"

it

needs

said

it

most."

Scrooge,

thought, "I wonder you, of

many worlds about

us,

after
all

a

moment's

the beings in the

should desire to cramp

these people's opportunities of innocent enjoy-

ment."

'

A
"I!"

Christmas Carol.

151

cried the Spirit.

"You would

means

deprive them of their

of

dining every seventh day, often the only day on

which they can be said to dine

said

all,"

at

Scrooge, "wouldn't you?"

"I!"

cried the Spirit.

"You

seek to close these places on the sev-

enth day," said Scrooge,

same

thing.

"/

seek!" exclaimed the

me

"Forgive
done

"and

in

it

comes

to the

'

if

I

Spirit.

am wrong.

your name, or

at least

It

has been

in that of

your

family," said Scrooge.
•

"There

are

some upon

returned the Spirit,

and who do
hatred,

their

envy,

"who

this earth of

lay claim to

deeds of passion, pride,

bigotry,

and

selfishness

name, who are as strange to us and
and kin as
that,

if

they had never lived.

all

yours,"

know

us,

ill-will,

in

our

our kith

Remember

and charge their doings on themselves, not

us."

Scrooge promised that he would, and they

went

on, invisible, as they

the suburbs of the town.
quality of the

Ghost (which Scrooge had observed

at the baker's), that
size,

had been before, into
It was a remarkable

notwithstanding his gigantic

he could accommodate himself to any place

with easCj and that he stood beneath a low roof

1

Christmas - Tide.

52

quite as gracefully and like a supernatural crea-

ture as

was possible he could have done

it

in

any

lofty hall.

And
else

it

ture,

led

perhaps

had

Spirit

was

and

him

was the pleasure the good
off this power of his, or

it

showing

in

his

own

kind, generous, hearty na-

sympathy with

his

all

poor men, that

straight to Scrooge's clerk's; for there

he went, and took Scrooge with him, holding to
his robe; and on the threshold of the door the
Spirit smiled,

and stopped to bless Bob Cratchit's

dwelling with

the

sprinklings

of

his

torch.

Think of that! Bob had but fifteen "Bob"
a-week himself; he pocketed on Saturdays but
fifteen copies of his Christian name; and yet the
Ghost of Christmas Present blessed his fourroomed house!
Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit's wife,
dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown,
but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make
a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the
cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her
daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master
Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan
of potatoes,

and getting the corners of

his

mon-

strous shirt collar (Bob's private property, con-

ferred

upon

into his

his son

and heir

in

honor of the day)

mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gal-

'

A
lantly attired,

Christmas Carol.

and yearned to show

the fashionable parks.
Cratchits,

boy and

girl,

153
his linen in

And now two
came

tearing

in,

smaller

scream-

ing that outside the baker's they had smelt the

goose and known

it

for their

own, and basking

in luxurious thoughts of sage

and onion, these

young Cratchits danced about the

and

table,

exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while

he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked
him) blew the

fire until

the slow potatoes bub-

bling up knocked loudly at the saucepan

lid to

be led out and peeled.

"What

has ever got your precious father

then?" said Mrs. Cratchit.

And Martha

Tiny Tim!
Christmas

Day by

"And your

brother,

warn't as late

half an hour.

"Here's Martha, mother!"

last

'

said a

girl,

ap-

pearing as she spoke.

"Here's Martha, mother!" cried the two
young Cratchits.
"Hurrah!
There's such a
goose, Martha!"

"Why,

bless your heart alive,

my

dear,

how

you are!" said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a
dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonlate

net for her with officious zeal.

"We'd
replied the

work to finish up last night,"
"and had to clear away this

a deal of
girl,

morning, mother!"

"

1

Christmas - Tide.

54

"Well, never mind so long as you are come,
"Sit ye down before the
and have a warm. Lord bless

said Mrs. Cratchit.
fire,

my

dear,

ye!"

"No,

no!
There's father coming," cried
young Cratchits, who were everywhere
at once.
"Hide, Martha, hide!"
So Martha hid herself, and in came little
Bob, the father, with at least three feet of com-

the two

forter,

exclusive of the fringe,

hanging down

before him, and his threadbare clothes darned

up and brushed to look seasonable, and Tiny
Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he
bore a little crutch and had his limbs supported
by an iron frame!

"Why,

Where's our

Martha.'"'

cried

Bob

Cratchit, looking round.

"Not coming," said Mrs. Cratchit.
"Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden
declension in his high

spirits, for he had been
Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and
had come home rampant; "not coming upon

Christmas Day!"

Martha didn't like to see him disappointed,
were only a joke, so she came out prematurely from behind the closet door and ran into
his arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled
Tiny Tim and bore him off into the wash-house.
if it

'

A
that he

Christmas Carol.

155

might hear the pudding singing

in the

copper.

"And how

did

little

Tim behave?" asked

Mrs. Cratchit, when she had
credulity,

rallied

and Bob had hugged

his

Bob on

his

daughter to

his heart's content.

"As good
Somehow he

as gold," said Bob,

"and

better.

by himself
so much, and thinks the strangest things you
ever heard.
He told me coming home that he
hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day
who made lame beggars walk and blind men
see.

gets thoughtful, sitting

'

Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them
this,

and trembled more when he said that Tiny

Tim was growing

strong and hearty.
His active little crutch was heard upon the
floor, and back came Tiny Tim before another

word was spoken, escorted by

his brother

sister to his stool before the fire,

turning up his cuffs

and

and while Bob,

—

as if, poor fellow, they
were capable of being made more shabby compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and

lemons, and stirred
it

it

—

round and round and put

on the hob to simmer, Master Peter and the

two ubiquitous young Cratchits went

to fetch the

1

Christmas - Tide.

56

goose, with which they soon returned in high
procession.

Such a bustle ensued

you might have

that

thought a goose the rarest of

birds; a feath-

all

ered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a

matter of course
very

like

it

— and

in truth

the gravy (ready beforehand in a
hissing hot; Master Peter

with incredible vigor;

was something

it

Mrs. Cratchit made

in that house.

little

mashed

saucepan)

the potatoes

Miss Belinda sweetened

up the apple sauce; Martha dusted the hot
plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny
corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set
chairs for everybody, not forgetting themselves,

and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed
spoons into their mouths,

lest

for goose before their turn

At

last

said.

they should shriek

came

It

was succeeded by

as Mrs. Cratchit,

when she

did,

looking slowly

all

all
it

along the

in the breast;

and when the long-expected

gush of stuffing issued
delight arose

was

a breathless pause,

carving-knife, prepared to plunge

but

be helped.

to

the dishes were set on, and grace

forth,

one murmur of

round the board, and even Tiny

Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat
on the table with the handle of his knife, and
feebly cried Hurrah!

There never was such a goose.

Bob

said he

A Christmas Carol by; Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by; Charles Dickens

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