A^. CHARLES Dickens's

©HBIiTMAS €AK0JL,

BOSTON : LEK &; SHKP^KD, Fxxblishers.

1876.

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aOO<>X^3jaQ(!K3)CO»(!TO^COOO(XlC>aaQCT^

'■>''' A CoUecHon of COMEDIES, DRAMAS, and FARCES, adapted to eUher Public or Private Performance. Containing a full description of all the necessary Stage Business.

SPENCER'S UNIVERSAL STAGE.

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11.

PBICE, 15 CENTS EACB. ^S^ No Plays exehanffed.

Three Acts. 6 Mhle, 4 Female char-J acters. Nicholas Flam. A Comedy in Two Acts. By J.B. Buckstone. 5 Male, 3 Female characters.

The Welsh Girl. A Comedy in One Act. By Mrs. Planche, 3 Male, 2 Female characters.

John Wopps. A Farce in One Act. By W. E. Suter. 4 Male, 2 fVmale characters.

The Turkish Bath. A Farce in One Act. By Montague Williams and F. C. Burnand, 6 Male, 1 Fe- male character.

The Two Puddlfoots. A Farce in One Act. By J. M. Morton. 3 Male, 3 Female characters.

Old If onesty. A Comic Drama in Two Acts. By J. M. Morton. 5 Male, 2 Female characters.

T^vo Gentlemen in a Fix. A Farce in One Act. By W. E. Suter.

2 Male cliaracters. Smashlngton Goit. A Farce in

One Act. By T..I. Williame. 5 Male,

3 Female characters.

Tvro Heads Better thanOne. A Farce in One Act. By I.enox Home.

4 Male, 1 Female character. John Bobbs. A Farce in One Act.

By J. M. Morton. 5 Male, 2 Female characters.

The Bawghter of the Regi- ment. A Drama in Two Acts. By Edward Fitzball. 0 Male, 2 Female characters.

Annt Charlotte's 9Iaid. A Farce in One Act. By J. M. Morton. 3 Male, 3 Female characters.

Brother Bill and ^Te. A Farce in One Act. By W. E. Suter. 4 Male, 3 Female characters.

Bone on Both Sides. A Farce in Ou' Act. By J. M. Morton. 3 Male, 2 Female characters.

)

T>nndwcl£etty'8 Picnic. A Farce in One Act. By T. J. Williams. 6 Male, 3 Female characters.

I've "ivritten to Browne. A Farce in One Act. By T. .1. Williams. 4 Male, 3 Female characters.

^.ending a nand. A Farce in One Act. By G. A. A'Becket. 3 Male,

2 Female characters.

19. My Precious Betsy. A Farce in

One Act By J. M. Morton. 4 Male, 4 Femuli characters.

20. MyTwrn]Vext. A Farce in One Act.

By T. J. Williams. 4 Male, 3 Fe- male clia.f. -ters.

21. Wine Poin< « ol the I^aw. A Com-

edy in One Act. By Tom Taylor. 4 Male, ;^ Female characters.

22. The Phantom Breakfast. A

Farce in One Act. By Charles Sel- by. 3 Male, 2 Female characters.

23. Bandelions Bodges. A Farce in

One Act. By T. J. Williams. 4 Male, 2 K'emale characters.

24. A Slice ot L,uck. A Farce in One

Act. £y J. M. Morton. 4 Male, 2 Female characters. 26. Al^vays Intended. A Comedy in One Act. By Hq«ce Wigan. 3 Male, 3 Female chaWcters.

26. A Bull In a China Shop. A Com-

edy in Two Acts. By Charles Mat- thews. 6 Male, 4 Female characters.

27. Another Glass. A Drama iu One

Act. By Thomas Mqrton. 6 Male,

3 Female characters.

28. Bowled Out, A Farce in One Act.

By H. T.Craven. 4 Male, 3 Female characters.

29. Cousin Tom. A Commedietta in

One Act. By George Roberts. 3 Male, 2 Female diaracters.

30. Sarali's lioung Man. A Farce in

One Act. By W. E, Suter. 3 Male, 3 Female characters.

31. Hit Him, He has IVo Friends.

A Farce in One Act. By E. Yates and N. H. Harrington. 7 Male, 3 Female characters.

3?- The Christening. A Farce in One ict. By J. B. Buckstone. 5 Male, b Female characters.

3o. A Bace lor a Widow. A Farce in One Act. By Thomas J. Wil- liams. 5 JIale, 4 Female character.^. Tour liife's In Banger. A Farce in One Act. By J. M. Morton. 3 Male, 3 Female characters. True unto Beath. A Drama in Two Acts. By J. Sheridan Knowlcs. C Male, 2 Female rharacters. j;

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UCSB LIBRARf

CHRISTMAS CAROL.

CHARLES DICKENS.

AS CONDENSED BY HIMSELF, l-OR HIS

READINGS.

BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD.

NEW YORK: ^ CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 1877.

Gad's Hill, Hicham by Rochester, Kbnt Tenth October, 1867.

The edition bearing the imprint of Messrs. Ticknor and Fields ii the only ccrrect and authorized edition of my Readings.

CHARLES DICKENS.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by

TICKNOR AND FIELDS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Coiut of the District of Massachusetts.

UmvKKsiTY Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Ca, Cambridge.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

IN FOUR STAVES.

STAVE ONE.

marlet's ghost.

MARLEY was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The regis- ter of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to.

Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Scrooge knew he was dead ? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise ? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole adminis- trator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, his sole mourner.

Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name, however. There it yet stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door, — Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called

4 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley. He answered to both names. It was all the same to him.

Oh ! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, was Scrooge ! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sin- ner ! External heat and cold had little influence on him. No warmth could warm, no cold could chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its pur- pose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather did n't know where to have him. The heaviest rain and snow and hail and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one re- spect, — they often " came down " handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, " My dear Scrooge, how are you ? 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 woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen's dogs appeared to know him ; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts ; and then would wag their tails as though they said, " No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master ! "

But what did Scrooge care ! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 5

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

Once upon a time — of all the good days in the year, upon a Christmas eve — old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting, foggy weather ; and the city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark al- ready.

The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open, that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who, in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he could n't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room ; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle ; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.

" A merry Christmas, uncle ! God save you ! " cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation Scrooge had of his approach.

" Bah ! " said Scrooge ; " humbug ! "

" Christmas a humbug, uncle ! You don't mean that, I am sure ? "

6 A CHRISTMAS CABOL.

" I do. Out upon merry Christmas I What 's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without monej' ; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer ; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you ? If I had my will, every idiot who goes about with ' Merry. Christmas ' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly ^rough his heart. He should ! "

" Uncle ! "

" Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."

"Keep it! But you don't keep it."

"Let me leave it alone, then. Much good may it do you ! Much good it has ever done you ! "

" There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, ■when it has come round, — apart from the venera- tion due to its sacred origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that, — as a good time ; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time ; the only time I kno'w' of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow- travellers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And there-

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I

fore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it /low done me good, and will do me good ; and I say, God bless it!"

The clerk in the tank involuntarily applauded.

"Let me hear another sound from you," said Scrooge, " and you '11 keep your Christmas by losing your situation ! You 're quite a powerful speaker, sir," 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, in- deed he did. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first.

" But why ? " cried Scrooge's nephew. " Why ? "

" Why did you get married ? "

" Because I fell in love."

" Because you fell in love ! " growled Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing in the world mqre ridiculous than a merry Christmas. " Good afternoon ! "

" Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me be- fore that happened. Why give it as a reason for not coming now ? "

" Good afternoon "

" I want nothing from you ; I ask nothing of you ; why cannot we be friends ? "

" Good afternoon,"

8 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

" I am Borry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I '11 keep my Christmas humor to the last. So A Merry Christ- mas, uncle!"

" Good afternoon ! "

" And A Happy New- Year ! "

" Good afternoon ! "

nis nephew left the room without an an- gry word, notwithstanding. The clerk, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in. They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's oflSce. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

" Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. " Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?"

" Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years. He died seven years ago, this very night."

" At this festive season of theyear, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, " it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight 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 in want of common comforts, sir."

" Arc there no prisons ? "

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 9

" Plenty of prisons. But under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the unoffending multitude, 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 it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices What shall I put you down for ? "

" Nothing ! "

" You wish to be anonymous ? "

'* I wish to be left alone. 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 people merry. I help to support the prisons and the workhouses, — they cost enough, — and those who are badly off must go there."

" Many can't go there ; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die, they had better do it. and decrease the surplus population."

At length the hour of shutting. up the counting house arrived. With an ill-will Scrooge, dismount- ing from his stool, tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat.

" You '11 want all day to-morrow, I suppose ? "

" If quite convenient, sir."

" It 's not convenient, and it 's not fair. If 1 was to stop half a crown for it, you 'd think yourself mightily ill-used, I '11 be bound ? " 1*

10 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

" Yes, sir."

" And yet you don't think me ill-used, when I pay a day's wages for no work."

" It's only once a year, sir."

" A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December ! But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning."

The clerk promised that he would ; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honor of its being Christmas eve, and then ran home as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman's-buff.

Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern ; and having read all the news- papers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker's book, went home to bed. He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard. The building was old enough now, and dreary enough ; for no- body lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices.

Now it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door of this house, except that it was very large ; also, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 11

•whole residonce in that place ; also, that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London. And yet Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermedi- ate process of change, not a knocker, but Marley's face.

Marley's face, with a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar. It was not angry or ferocious, but it looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look, — with ghostly spectacles turned up upon its ghostly forehead.

As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. He said, " Pooh, pooh I " and closed the door with a bang.

The sound resounded through the house like thunder. Every room above, and every cask in the wine-merchant's cellars below, appeared to have a separate peal of echoes of its own. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes. He fastened the doOr, and walked across the hall, and up the stairs. Slowly too, trimming his candle as he went.

Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for its being very dark. Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. But before he ahut his heavy door, he walked through his rooms to see that all was right. He had just enough recollection of the face to de- sire to do that.

Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber-room, all as they

12 A CHBISTMAS CAROL.

should be. Nobody under the table, nobody un- der the sofa ; a small fire in the grate ; spoon and basin ready ; and the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed ; nobody in the closet ; no- body in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. Lum- ber-room as usual. Old fire-guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and a poker.

Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in ; double-locked himself in, which was not his custom. Thus secured against surprise, he took ofi" his cravat, put on his dressing-gown and slippers and his nightcap, and sat down before the very low fire to take his gruel.

As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated, for some purpose now forgotten, with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It* was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that, as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. Soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house.

This was succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below, as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchant's cellar.

Then he heard the noise much louder, on the

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 13

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

It came on through the heavy door, and a spectre passed into the room before his eyes. And upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it ci'ied, " I know him! Marley's ghost ! "

The same face, the very same. Marley in his pigtail, ufenal waistcoat, tights, and boots. His body was transparent ; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind,

Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now.

No, nor did he believe it even now. Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him,^ though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes, and noticed tlie very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, — he was still incredulous.

" How now ! " said Scrooge, caustic and cold aa ever. " What do you want with me ? "

" Much ! " — Marley's voice, no doubt about it

" Who are you ? "

" Ask me who I was.'^

" Who were you then ? "

" In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley."

" Can you — can you sit down ? "

"I can."

" Do it, then."

Scrooge asked the question, because he didn't

14 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

know whether a ghost so transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair ; and felt that, in the event of its being impossible, it might in- volve the necessity of an embarrassing explanation. But the ghost sat down on the opposite side of the fireplace, as if he were quite used to it.

" You don't believe in me."

"I don't."

" What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses ? "

'.' I don't know."

" Why do you doubt your senses ? "

" Because a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mus- tard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an under- done 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 wag- gish then. The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keep- ing down his horror.

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

" Mercy ! Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me ? Whj do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me ? "

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 15

" It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow- men, and travel far and wide ; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. I cannot tell you all I would. A very little more is permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot B^ay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house — mark me ! — in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole ; and weary jour- neys lie before me ! "

" Seven years dead. And travelling all the time ? You travel fast ? "

" On the wings of the wind."

" You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years."

" 0 blind man, blind man! not to know that ages of incessant labor by immortal creatures for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of useful- ness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused ! Yet I was like this man ; I once was like this man! "

" But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

16 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. " Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business ; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my busi- ness !" • ^

Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.

" Hear me ! My time is nearly gone."

" I will. But don't be hard upon me ! Don't be flowery, Jacob ! . Pray ! "

" 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 procuring, Ebenezer."

" You were always a good friend to me. Thank'ee ! "

" You will be haunted by Three Spirits."

" Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob ? I — I think I 'd rather not."

" Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow night, when the bell tolls One. Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night, when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more ; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us !."

It walked backward from him ; and at every

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 17

step it took, the window raised itself a little, so that, when the apparition reached it, it was wide open,

Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. Scrooge tried to say, " Humbug ! " but stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the invisible world, or the dull con« versation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose, he went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep on the instant.

18 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

STAVE TWO.

THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS.

w

HEN Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that, looking out of bed, he could scarcely dis- tinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber, until suddenly the church clock tolled a deep, dull, hollow, melancholy ONE. Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn aside by a strange figure, — like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the ap- pearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age ; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand ; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible ; and which was doiibtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extin- guisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.

' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 19

"Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me ?"

"I am!"

" Who and what are you ? "

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."

" Long past ? "

" No. Your past. The things that you will see with me are shadows of the things that have been ; they will have no consciousness of us."

Scrooge then made bold to inquire what busi- ness brought him there.

" Your welfare. Rise, and walk with me ! "

It would have been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and the hour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes ; that bed was warm, and the thermometer a long way below freezing ; that he was clad but lightly in his slippers, dressing-gown, and nightcap ; and that he had a cold upon him at that time. The grasp, though gentle as a wo- man's hand, was not to be resisted. He rose ; but finding that the Spirit made towards the window, clasped its robe in supplication.

" I am a mortal, 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 in the busy thoroughfares of a city. It was made plain enough by the dress- ing of the shops that here, too, it was Christmas time.

20 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he knew it.

" Know it ! Was I apprenticed here ! "

They went in. At sight of an old gentleman in a Welsh wig, sitting behind such a high desk that, if he had been two inches taller, he must have knocked his head against the ceiling, Scrooge cried in great excitement : " Why, it 's old Fez- ziwig ! Bless his heart, it 's Fezziwig, alive again ! "

Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up at the clock, which pointed to the hour of seven. He rubbed his hands ; adjusted his capacious waistcoat ; laughed all over himself, from his shoes to his organ of benevolence ; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice : " Yo ho, there ! Ebenezer ! Dick ! "

A living and moving picture of Scrooge's former self, a young man, came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow-prentice.

" Dick Wilkins, to be sure ! '' said Scrooge to the Ghost. " My old fellow-prentice, bless me, yes. There he is. He was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor Dick! Dear, dear ! "

" Yo ho, my boys! " said Fezziwig. " No more work to-night. Christmas eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer ! Let 'b have the shutters up, before a man can say Jack Kobinson ! Clear away, my lads, and let 's have lots of room here ! "

Clear away ! There was nothing they would n't

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 23

have cleared away, or could n't have cleared awa}', with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life forever- more ; the floor 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 of it, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches. In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women em- ployed in the business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin the baker. In came the cook, with her brother's particular friend the milkman. In they all came one after another : some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling ; in they all came, anyhow and everyhow. Away they all went, twenty couple at once ; hands half round and back again the other way ; down the middle and up again ; round and round 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 ; all top couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them. When this result was

2i A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried out, " Well done!" and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of por- ter especially provided for that purpose.

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 and Boiled, when the fiddler struck up " Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old P'ezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too ; with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them ; three or four and twenty pair of partners ; people who were not to be trifled with ; people who would dance, and had no notion of walking.

But if they had been twice as many, — four times,

— old Fezziwig would have been a match for them and so would Mrs. Fezziwig. As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig'a calves. Thej shone in every part of the dance You could n't have predicted, at any given time, what would become of 'em next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone all through the dance, — advance and retire, turn your partner, bow and courtesy, corkscrew, thread the needle, and back again to your place, — Fezziwig " cut,"

— cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with his legs.

A CHRISTIIAS CAROL. 23

When the clock struck eleven this domestic ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig- took their sta- tions, one on either side 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.

" A small matter," said the Ghost, " to make these silly folks so full of gratitude. lie has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money, — three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise ? "

"It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter self, — " it is n't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy ; to make our service light or burdensome ; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks ; in things so slight and insignificant that it is im- possible to add and count 'em up : what then ? The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune."

He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped.

" What is the matter ? "

" Nothing particular."

" Something, I think ? "

" No, no. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That 's all."

24 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

" My time grows short," observed the Spirit. "Quick!"

This was not addressed to Scrooge, or to any one whom he could Bce, but it produced an imme- diate effect. For again he saw himself. lie was older now ; a man in the. prime of life.

He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl in a black dress, in whose eyes there were tears.

" It matters little," she said softly to Scrooge's ibrmer self. "To you, very little. Another idol lslJ displaced me ; and if it can comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."

" WL'it Idol has displaced you ? "

" A golden one. You fear the world too much. I have seen your nobler iinpiratiuns fall off one by one, until \he viaster-paseion. Gain, engrosses you. Have I not ? "

" What then ? Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then ? I am not changed towards you. Have I ever sought release from our en- gagement ? "

" In words, no. Never."

" In what, then ? "

" In a changed nature ; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life ; another Hope as its great end. If you were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless girl ; or, choosing her, do I not know

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 25

that your repentance and regret would surely follow ? I do ; and I release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you once were."

"Spirit! remove me from this place."

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

"Remove me!" Scrooge exclaimed. "I can- not bear it ! Leave me ! Take, me back. Haunt me no longer ! "

As he struggled with the Spirit he was conscious of being exhausted, and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness ; and, further, of being in his own bed- room. He had barely time to reel to bed before he sank into a hea'vy sleep.

26 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

STAVE THREE.

THE SECOND OF THE THREE SPIRIT B.

^CROOGE awoke in his own bedroom. There k^ was no doubt about that. But it and his own adjoining sitting-rgom, into which he shuffled in hia slippers, attracted by a great light there, had under- gone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove. The leaves of holly, mistletoe, and iv}'' reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there ; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that petrifaction of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, 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, and great bowls of punch. In easy state upon this couch there sat a Giant glorious to see ; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and who raised it high to shed its light on Scrooge, as he camo peeping round the door.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 27

*' Come in, — come in ! and know me better, man! I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me ! You have never seen the like of me before ! "

" Never."

" Have never vralked forth with the younger members of my family ; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these latei years ? " pursued the Phantom.

" I don't think I have, I am afraid I have not Have you had many brothers, Spirit ? "

" More than eighteen hundred."

" A tremendous family to provide for! Spirit, conduct me where you will. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me pi-ofit by it."

" Touch my robe ! "

Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.

The room and its contents all vanished instantly, and they stood in the city streets upon a snowy Christmas morning.

Scrooge and the Ghost passed on, invisible, straight to Scrooge's clerk's ; and on the thresh- old of the doow 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 four- roomed house !

28 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

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 daugh- ters, also brave in ribbons ; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of pota- toes, and, getting the corners of his monstrous shirt-collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honor of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl came tearing in, screaming that outside the ba- ker'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 table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes, bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled.

" What has ever got your precious father then ? " said Mrs. Cratchit. " And your brother Tiny Tim I And Martha warn't as late last Christmas day by half an hour ! "

" Here 's Martha, mother I " said a girl, appear- ing as she spoke.

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

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 29

" Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are ! " said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her.

" We 'd a deal of work to finish up last night," replied the girl, " and had to clear away this morning, mother 1 "

. " Well ! Never mind so long as you are come," said Mrs. Cratchit. "Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm. Lord bless ye ! "

"No, no 1 There's father coming," cried the two 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 comforter, ex- clusive of the fringe, hanging down before him ; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable ; and Tiny Tim upon his shoul- der. 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 Cratch- it, looking round.

" Not coming," said Mrs. Cratchit.

" Not coming ! " said Bob, with a sudden de- clension 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 did n't like to see him disappointed, ii it were only in joke ; so she came out prematurely

30 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

from behind the closet door, and ran into hia arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house, that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper.

" And how did little Tim behave ? " asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his cre- dulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.

" As good as gold," said Bob, " and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. lie 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."

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 and sister to his stool beside the fire ; and while Bob, turning up his cuffs, — 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 round and round and put it on the hob to simmer, Master Peter and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 81

Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready before- hand in a little saucepan) hissing hot ; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigor ; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple-sauce ; Mar- tha 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 moutlis, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast ; but when she did, and when the long-expected gush of stuflSng issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all 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 didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a suffi- cient dinner for tlie whole family ; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with groat delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they had n't ate it all at last ! Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular

82 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows I But now, the plates being changed by Miss Be- linda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone, — too ner- vous to bear witnesses, — to take the pudding up, and bring it in.

Suppose it should not be done enough ! Sup- pose it should break in turning out ! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose, — a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid ! All sorts of hor- rors were supposed.

Hallo ! A great deal of steam ! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing- day ! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating- house and a pastry-cook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that ! That was the pudding ! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit en- tered,— flushed but smiling proudly, — with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.

0, a wonderful pudding ! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their H^Arriage. Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said oi

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 33

thought it was at all a small pudding for a largo family. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing.

At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and con- sidered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovelful of chestnuts on the fire.

Then all the Cratchit family drew round the bearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family dis- play of glass, — two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle.

These held the hot stuff from the jug, however. as well as golden goblets would have doi»e ; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire spattered and crackled noisily. Then Bob proposed : —

" A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us ! "

Which all the family re-echoed.

" God bless us every one ! " said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

He sat very close to his father's side, upon his little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him.

Scrooge raised his head speedily, on hearing his own name.

8

34 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

"Mr. Scrooge 1 " said Bob; "I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast ! "

" The Founder of the Feast indeed ! " cried Mrs. Cratchit, reddening. " I wish I had hini hei*e. I 'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he 'd have a good appetite for it."

"My dear," said Bob, "the children! Christ- mas day."

" It should be Christmas day, I am sure," said she, " on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge, You know he is, Robert ! Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow ! "

" My dear," was Bob's mild answer, " Christ-- mas day."

" I '11 drink his health for your sake and the day's," said Mrs. Cratchit, " not for his. Long life to him ! A merry Christmas and a happy New Year ! He '11 be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt ! "

The children drank the toast after her. It was the first of their proceedings which had no hearti- ness in it. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he did n't care twopence for it. Scrooge was the Ogre of the family. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dis- pelled for full five minutes.

After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier than before, from the mere relief of Scrooge the Baleful being done with. Bob Cratchit told

A CHRISTMAS CAhOL. 35

them how he had a situation in his eye for Mas- ter Peter, which would bring in, if obtained, full five and sixpence weekly. The two young' Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea of Peter's being a man of business ; and Peter him- self looked thoughtfully at the fire from be- tween his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favor when he came into the receipt of that bewildei'ing income. Martha, who was a poor apprentice at a milli- ner's, then told them what kind of work she had to do, and how many hours she worked at a stretch, and how she meant to lie abed to-morrow morning for a good long rest ; to-morrow being ft holiday she passed at home. Also how she had seen a countess and a lord some days be- fore, and how the lord " was much about as tall as Peter " ; at which Peter pulled up his col- lars so high that you could n't have seen his head if you had been there. All this time the chest- nuts and the jug went round and round ; and by and by they had a song, about a lost child trav- elling in the snow, from Tiny Tim, who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it very well in- deed.

There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome family ; they were not well dressed ; their shoes were far from being water- proof ; their clothes were scanty ; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of apawn-

86 A CHRISTMAS CAROK.

broker's. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time j and when they faded, and looked happier yet in the bright sprinklings of the Spirit's torch ak parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and es- pecially on Tiny Tim, until the last.

It was a great surprise to Scrooge, as this scene vanished, to hear a hearty laugh. It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognize it as his own nephew's, and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his side, and looking at that same nephew.

It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humor. When Scrooge's nephew laughed, Scrooge's niece by marriage laughed as -heartily as he. And their assembled friends, being not a bit behindhand, laughed out lustily.

" He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live I " cred Scrooge's nephew. " He believed it tool"

" More shame for him, Fred ! " said Scrooge's hieoe, indignantly. Bless those women ! they never do anything by halves. They are always in earnest.

She was very pretty ; exceedingly pretty. With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face ; a ripo ^ittle mouth that seemed made to bo kissed, — as

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 37

no doubt it was ; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that melted into one another when she laughed ; and the sunniest pair of eyes you ever saw in any little creature's head. Alto- gether she was what you would have called pro- voking, but satisfactory, too. 0, perfectly satis- factory.

" He 's a comical old fellow," said Scrooge's nephew, " that 's the truth ; and not so pleasant as he might be, -However, his offences carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him. Who suffers by his ill whims ? Himsel/, always. Here he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won't come and dine with us. What 's the consequence ? He don't lose much of a dinner."

" Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner," interrupted Scrooge's niece. Everybody else said the same, and they must be allowed to have been competent judges, because they had just had dinner ; and, with the dessert upon the table, were clustered round the fire, by lamplight.

" Well, I am very glad to hear it," said Scrooge's nephew, "because I have -n't any great faith, in these youug housekeepers. What do you say, Topper ? "

Topper clearly had his eye on one of Scrooge's niece's sisters, for he answered that a bachelor was a wretched outcast, who had no right to express an opinion on the subject. Whereat

88 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Scrooge's niece's sister — the plump one with the lace tucker ; not the one with the roses — > blushed.

After tea they had some music. For they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch, I can as- sure you, — especially Topper, who could growl •away in the bass like a good one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face over it.

But they did n't devote the whole evening to music. After a while they played at forfeits ; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. There was first a game at blind-man's-buff though. And I no more believe Topper was really blinded than I believe he had eyes in his boots. Because the way in which he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker was an outrage on the credulity of human nature. Knocking down the fire-irons, tumbling over the chairs, bumping up against the piano, smothering himself among the curtains, wherever she went there went he ! He always knew where the plump sister was. lie would n't catch anybody else. If you had fallen up against him, as some of them did, and stood there, he would have made a feint of en- deavoring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding, and would instantly have sidled oft' in the direction of the plump sister.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 39

" Here is a new game," said Scrooge. " One half-hour, Spirit, only one ! "

It was a Game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's nephew had to think of something, and the rest must find out what ; he only answering to their questions yes or no, as the case was. The fire of questioning to which he was exposed elicited from him that he was thinking of an animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that growled and grunted some- times, and talked sometimes, and lived in London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, and was n't led by anybody, and did n't live in a menagerie, and was never killed in a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow, or a bull, or a tiger, or a dog, or a pig, or a cat, or a bear. At every new question put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter ; and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off" the sofa and stamp. At last the plump sister cried out : —

" I have found it out ! 1 know what it is, Fred ! I know what it is ! " *

" What is it ? " cried Fred.

" It 's your uncle Scro-o-o-o-oge ! "

Wiiich it certainly was. Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some objected that the reply to "Is it a bear?" ought to have been " Yes."

Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay

40 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

and light of heart, that he would have drank to the unconscious company in an inaudible speech But the whole scene passed off in the breatb of the last word spoken by his nephew ; and he and the Spirit were again upon their travels.

Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick-beds, and they were cheerful ; on foreign lands, and they were close at home ; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope ; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts. Suddenly, as they stood together in an open place, the bell struck twelve.

Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it no more. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and, lifting up his eyes, beheld a Holemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a mit,t along the ground totvards him.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 41

STAVE FOUR.

THE LAST OP THE SPIRITS.

THE Phantom slowly, gravely, silently ap- proached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee ; for in the air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.

It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.

" I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come ? Ghost of the Future ! I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me ? "

It gave him no reply. The hand was pointecl straight before them.

"Lead on! Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on. Spirit!"

They scarcely seemed to enter the city ; for the city rather seemed to spring up about them. But

42 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

there they were in the heart of it ; on 'Change, amongst the merchants.

The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of busi- ness men. Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk.

" No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin, "I don't know piuch ab'out it either way. I only know he 's dead."

" When did he die ?" inquired another.

" Last night, I believe."

" Why, what was the matter with him ? I thought he 'd never die."

" God knows," said the first, with a yawn.

" What has he done with his money ? " asked a red-faced gentleman.

" I have n't heard," said the man with the large chin. " Company, perhaps. He has n't left it to me. That 's all I know. By, by ! "

Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should attach importance to conversa- tion apparently so trivial ; but feeling assured that it must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to consider what it was likely to be. It could scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost's province was the Future.

He looked about in that very place for his own image ; but another man stood in his accustomed corner, and though the clock pointed to his usual time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 43

himself among the multitudes that poured in through the Porch. It gave him little surprise, however ; for he had been revolving in his mind a change of life, and he thought and hoped he saw his new-born resolutions carried out in this.

They left this busy scene, and went into an ob- scure part of the town, to a low shop where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy ofial were bought. A gray -haired rascal, of great age, sat smoking his pipe.

Scrooge and the Phantom came into the pres- ence of this man, just as a woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the shop. But she had scarcely entered, when another woman, similarly laden, came in too ; and she was closely followed by a man in faded black. After a short period of blank astonishment, in which the old man with the pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a laugh.

" Let the charwoman alone to be the first 1 " cried she who had entei'ed first. " Let the laun- dress alone to be the second ; and let the under- taker's man alone to be the third. Look here, old Joe, here 's a chance ! If we have n't all three met here without meaning it!"

" You could n't have met in a better place. You were made free of it long ago, you know ; and the other two ain't strangers. What have you got to sell ? What have you got to sell ? "

" Half a minute's patience, Joe, and you shall see."

44 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

" What odds then ! What odds, Mrs. Dilber ? '* said the woman. " Every person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did ! Who 'a the worse for the loss of a few things like these ? Not a dead man, I suppose."

Mrs. Dilber, whose manner was remarkable for general propitiation, said, " No, indeed, ma'am."

" If he wanted to keep 'era after he was dead, a wicked old screw, why was n't he natural in his life- time ? If he had been, he 'd have had somebody to look after him when he was struck with Death, in- stead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself"

" It 's the truest word that ever was spoke, it 's a judgment on him."

" I wish it was a little heavier judgment, and it should have been, you may depend upon it, if I could have laid my hands on anything else. Open that bundle, old Joe, and let me know the value of it. Speak out plain. I 'm not afraid to be the first, nor afraid for them to see it."

Joe went down on his knees for the greater convenience of opening the bundle, and dragged out a large and heavy roll of some dark stuff.

" What do you call this ? Bed-curtains ! "

" Ah ! Bed-curtains 1 Don't drop that oil upou the blankets, now."

" His blankets ? "

" Whose else's do you think ? He is n't likely to take cold without 'em, I dare say. Ah ! You

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 45

may look through that shirt till your eyes ache ; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It 's the best he had, and a fine one too. They 'd have wasted it by dressing him up in it, if it had n't been for me,"

Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror

" Spirit ! I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. Merciful Heaven, what is this ! "

The scene had changed, and now he almost touched a bare, uncurtained bed. A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell straight upon this bed ; and on it, unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of this plunderecf.unknown man.

" Spirit, let me see some tenderness connected with a death, or this dark chamber, Spirit, will ha forever present to me."

The Ghost conducted him to poor Bob Cratchit's house, — : the dwelling he had visited before, — and found the mother and the children seated round the fire.

Quiet. Very quiet. The noisy little Cratchits were as still as statues in one corner, and sat look- ing up at Peter, who had a book before him. The mother and her daughters were engaged in needle- work. But surely they were very quiet !

" ' And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.'"

Where had Scrooge heard those words ? He had not dreamed them. The boy must have read them

46 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

out, as he and the Spirit crossed the threshold. Why did he not go on ?

The mother laid her work upon the table, and put her hand up to her face.

" The color hurts my eyes," she said.

Tlie color ? Ah, poor Tiny Tim !

" They 're better now again. It makes them weak by candle-light ; and I would n't show weak eyes to your father when he comes home, for the world. It must be near his time."

" Past it rather," Peter answered, shutting up his book. " But I think he has walked a little slower than he used, these few last evenings, mother."

" I have known him walk with — I have known him walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very fast indeed."

" And so have I," cried Peter. " Often."

" And so have I," exclaimed another. S£) had all.

" But he was very light to carry, and his father loved him so, that it was no trouble, — no trouble. And there is your father at the door! "

She buried out to meet him ; and little Bob in his comforter — he had need of it, poor fellow — came in. His tea was ready for him on the hob, and they all tried who should help him to it most. Then thft two young Cratcbits got upon his knees and laid, ea-ch ehJ^d, a little cbeeJ^ again5«i his face, as if they said, " D«.f.'t -^lii^d it, fp-tb^/* Pop't be grieved 1 "

A CHRISTMAS CAROL, 47

Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke pleasantly to all the family. He looked at the work upon the table, »nd praised the industry and speed of Mrs. Cratchit and the girls. They would be done long before Sunday, he said.

" Sunday ! You went to-day, then, Robert ? "

" Yes, my dear," returned Bob. " I wish yoa could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you '11 see it often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little, little child ! My little child ! "

He broke down all at once. He could n't help it. If he could have helped It, he and his child would have been farther apart, perhaps, than they were.

" Spectre," said Scrooge, " something informs me that our parting moment is at hand. I know it, but I know not how. Tell me what man that was, with the covered face, whom we saw lying dead ? "

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come conveyed him to a dismal, wretched, ruinous churchyard.

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One.

" Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be only? "

Still the Ghost pointed downward to the gr^vo by which it stood.

48 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

" Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from^the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me ! "

The Spirit was immovable as ever.

Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went ; .and, following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, — Ebenezer Scrooge.

"Am /that man who lay upon the bed? No, Spirit ! 0 no, no I Spirit ! hear me ! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope ? Assure me *hat I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life."

For the first time the kind hand faltered.

" I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year, I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me, I will not shut out the les- sons that they teach. 0, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone ! "

Holding up his hands in one last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phan- tom's hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost.

Yes, . and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in !

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 49

He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing out the lustiest peals he had ever heard.

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist, no night ; clear, bright, stirring, golden day.

" What 's to-day ? " cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who per- haps had loitered in to look about him.

" Eh ? "

" What 's to-day, my fine fellow ? "

" To-day ! Why, Christmas day."

" It 's Christmas day ! I have n't missed it. Hallo, my fine fellow ! "

" Hallo ! "

** Do you know the Poulterer's, in the next street but one, at the corner ? "

" I should hope I did."

" An intelligent boy ! A remarkable boy ! Do you know whether they 've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there ? Not the little prize Turkey, — the big one ? "

" What, the one as big as me ? "

" What a delightful boy ! It's a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck ! "

" It 's hanging there now."

" Is it ? Go and buy it."

*' Walk-ER ! " exclaimed the boy.

" No, no, I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell 'em to bring it here, that T may give them the

3 D

so A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and I '11 give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes, and I '11 give you half a crown ! "

The boy was ofi"like a shot.

" I '11 send it to Bob Cratchit's ! He sha'n't know who sends it. It's twice the size of Tiny Tim. Joe Miller never made sach a joke as sending it to Bob's will be!"

The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady one ; but write it he did, somehow, and went down stairs to open the street door, ready for the coming of the poulterer's man.

It was a Turkey ! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em short oflf in a minute, like sticks of sealing- wax,

Scrooge dressed himself " all in his best," and at last got out into the streets. The people were by this time pouring forth, as he had seen them with the Ghost of Christmas Present ; and, walking with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresist- ibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good- humored fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you ! " And Scrooge said often afterwards, that, of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.

In the afternoon, he turned his steps towards his nephew's house.

A CHEISTMAS CAROL, 51

He passed the door a dozen times, before he had the courage to go up and knock. But he made a dash, and did it.

" Is your master at home, my dear ? " said Scrooge to the girl. Nice girl ! Very.

"Yes, sir."

" Where is he, my love ? "

" He 's in the dining-room, sir, along with mis tress."

"He knows me," said Scrooge, with his hand already on the dining-room lock. " I '11 go in here, my dear."

"Fred!"

" Why, bless my soul ! " cried Fred, " who 's that ? "

" It 's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred ? "

Let him in ! It is a mercj' he did n't shake his arm off. He was at home in five minutes. Noth- ing could be heartier. His niece looked just the same. So did Topper when he came. So did the plump sister, when she came. So did every one when th£y came. Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happi- ness!

But he was early at the oflBce next morning. 0, he was early there. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late ! That was the thing he had set his heart upon.

And he did it. The clock struck nine. No Bob

52 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A quarter past. No Bob. Bob was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time. Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come into the Tank.

Bob's hat was off, before he opened the door ; bis comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy ; driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.

" Hallo ! " growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could feign it. " What do you mean by coming here at this time of day ? "

"I am very sorry, sir. I am behind my time."

''You are? Yes. I think you are. Step this way, if you please."

" It 's only once a year, sir. It shall not be re- peated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir."

" Now, I '11 tell you what, my friend. I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore," Scrooge continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waist- coat that he staggered back into the Tank again, — " and therefore I am about to raise your salary ! "

Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler.

" A merry Christmas, Bob! " said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. " A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good follow, than I have given you for many a year ! I '11 raise your salary, and en-

A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 53

deavor to assist your struggling family, aud we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop. Bob ! Make up the fires, and buy a second coal-scuttle before you dot another i. Bob Cratchit ! "

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more ; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him ; but his own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived in that respect upon the Total-Abstinence Principle ever afterwards ; aud it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us ! And so, aa Tiny Tim observed, God Bless TJs, Every One 1

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