A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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Episode Transcript

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This is a LibriVox recording. AllLibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,please visit LibriVox dot org. That's l
I B R I v o Xdot org. Recorded by me, Glenn
Halstrom, also known as Smokestack JonesSmokestack Jones at gmail dot com. You'll
also find my blog at too muchJohnson dot blogspot dot com. A Christmas

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Carol in prose being a ghost storyof Christmas by Charles Dickens. Preface.
I have endeavored in this ghostly littlebook to raise the ghost of an idea
which shall not put my readers outof humor with themselves, with each other,
with the season, or with me. May it holt their houses pleasantly,
and no one wished to lay it, Your faithful friend and servant,

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c. D. December eighteen fortythree. Stave one Marley's ghost. Marley
was dead to begin with. Thereis no doubt whatsoever about that the register
of his burial was signed by theclergyman, the clerk, the undertaker,
and the chief mourner. Scrooge signedit, and Scrooge's name was good upon
change for anything he choose to puthis hand to old Marley was as dead

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as a door nail. Mind,I don't mean to say that I know
of my own knowledge what there isparticularly dead about a door nail. I
might have been inclined myself to regarda coffin nail as the deadest piece of
iron mungery in the trade. Butthe wisdom of our ancestors is in the
simile, and my unhallowed hand shallnot disturb it, or the country is
done for. You will therefore permitme to repeat emphatically that Molly was as

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dead as a door nail. Scroogeknew 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. Scroogewas his sole executor, his sole administrator,
his sole assign, his sole residuarylegatee, his sole friend and sole
mourner. And even Scrooge was notso dreadfully cut up by the sad event,

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but that he was an excellent manof business in the very day of
the funeral, and solemnized it withan undoubted park. The mention of Marley's
funeral brings me back to the pointI started from there is no doubt that
Marley was dead. This should bedistinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come
of the story I am going torelate. If we were not perfectly convinced
that Hamlet's father died before the playbegan, there would be nothing more remarkable

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in his taking a stroll at nightin an easterly wind upon his own ramparts
than there would be of any othermiddle aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark
in a breezy spot, say SaintPaul's churchyard, for instance, literally to
astonish his son's weak mind. Scroogenever painted out Old Marley's name there It
still years afterwards, above the warehousedoor Scrooge and Marley. The firm was

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known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimespeople new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge,
and sometimes Marley. He answered toboth names. It was all the
same to him. Oh, buthe was a tight fisted hand at the
grindstone. Scrooge a squeak, using, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching,
covetous, old cinner, hard andsharp as flint, from which no

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steel ever struck. Our generous fire, secret and self contained and solitary as
a oyster. The cold within himfroze his old features, nipped his pointed
nose, shriveled, his cheek stiffenedhis gait, made his eyes red,
his thin lips blue, and spokeout shrewdly in his grating voice. A
frosty rhyme was on his head,and on his eyebrows and his wiry chin.

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He carried his own low temperature alwaysabout with him. He iced his
office in the dark days and didn'tthought one degree at Christmas. External heat
and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, No wintry
weather chill him. No wind thatblew was bitter than he. No falling
snow was more intent upon its purpose. No pelting rain less open to entreaty.

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Foul weather did nowhere to have him. The heaviest rain and snow inhaled
and sleet could boast one advantage overhim in only one respect. They often
came down handsomely, and Scrooge neverdid. Nobody ever stopped him on the
street to say, with gladsome looks, my dear Scrooge, how are you?

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When will you come to see me? No beggars implored him to bestow
a trifle. No children asked himwhat it was o'clock. No man or
woman ever, once in all hislife, inquired to the way to such
and such a place of Scrooge.Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know
him, and when they saw himcoming on, would tug their owners into
hallways and up courts, and thenwould wag their tails as though they said,

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no eye at all is better thanan evil eyed dark master. But
what did Scrooge care? It wasthe very thing he liked to etch his
way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its
distance. Was what the knowing onescalled nuts to Scrooge. Once upon a
time, of all the good daysin the year, on Christmas Eve,

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Old Scrooge sat busy in his countinghouse. It was cold, bleak,
biting weather, foggy withal and hecould hear the people in the court outside
go wheezing up and down, beatingtheir hands upon their breasts and stamping their
feet upon the pavement stones to warmthem. The city clocks had just gone
three, but it was quite darkalready. It had not been light all

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day, and candles were flaring inwindows of the neighboring offices like ruddy smears
upon the palpable brown air. Thefog came pouring in at every chink and
keyhole, and was so dense withoutthat although the court was of the narrowest,
the houses opposite were mere phantoms.To see the dingy cloud come drooping

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down and scurring everything one might havethought nature lived hard by and was brewing
on a larger scale. The doorof Scrooge's counting house was open that he
might keep an eye upon his clock, when a dismal little cell beyond sort
of tank, was copying letters.Scrooge had a very small fire, but
the clerk's fire was so much smallerthat it looked like one coal. But

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he couldn't replenish it, for Scroogekept the coal box in his own room,
and so surely as the clerk camein with a shovel, the master
predicted that it would be necessary forthem to part. Wherefore the clerk put
on his white comforter and tried towarm himself with the candle, in which
effort, not being a man ofstrong imagination, he failed. A Merry

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Christmas, Uncle God save you,cried a cheerful voice. It was the
voice of Scrooge's nephew, who hadcome upon him so quickly that this was
the first intimation he had of hisapproach. Bah, said Scrooge, humbug.
He had so heated himself with rapidwalking in the fog and frost.
This nephew of Scrooger's that he wasall to glow. His face was ruddy

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and handsome, his eyes sparkled,and his breath smoked again. Christmas a
humbug, uncle, said Scrooge's nephew. You don't mean that. I'm sure
I do, said Scrooge. Christmas, what right have you to be merry?
What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough? Come then,
returned the nephew gaily. What righthave you to be dismal? What

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reason have you to be morose?You're rich enough. Scrooge, having no
better answer ready at the spur ofthe moment, said Bah again, and
followed up with humbug. Don't becross, uncle, said the nephew.
What else could I be, returnedthe uncle, When I live in such
a world of fools as this,Merry Christmas? Out upon merry Christmas.

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What's Christmas time to you but atime for paying bills without money, a
time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer, time
for balancing your books, and havingevery item in him through a round dozen
of months presented dead against you.If I could work my will, said
Scrooge indignantly, every idiot who goesabout with Merry Christmas on his lips should

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be boiled in his own pudding,and bearing with a stink of holly through
its heart. He should, uncle, pleaded the nephew. Nephew returned the
uncle sternly, keep Christmas in yourown way, and let me keep it
in mine. Keep it, repeatedScrooge's nephew. But you don't keep it.
Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. Much good it

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may do you, Much good hasever done you. There are many things
from which I have derived good,by which I have not profited, I
dare say, returned the nephew,Christmas among the rest. But I am
sure I have always thought of Christmastime when it has come round, apart
from the veneration to its sacred nameand origin. If anything belonging to it
can be apart from that as agood time, a kind forgiving, charitable,

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pleasant time, the only time Iknow of in the long calendar of
the year when men and women seemby one consent to open the shut up
hearts freely, and to think ofpeople below them as if they really were
fellow passengers to the grave, andnot another race of creatures bound on other
journeys. Therefore, Uncle, thoughit has never put a scrap of gold

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and silver in my pocket, Ibelieve that it has done me good.
It will do me good, andI say God bless it. The clerk
in the tank involuntarily applauded. Becomingimmediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked
the fire and extinguished the last frailspark forever. Let me hear another sound
out of you, said Scrooge,and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your

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situation. You're quite a powerful speaker, sir, he said, turning to
his nephew, I wonder you don'tgo to parliament. Don't be angry,
Uncle, come dine with us tomorrow. Scrooge said he would see him.
Yes, indeed he would. Hewent up the whole length of expression and
said that he would see him thatextremity. First, But why, cried

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Scrooge's nephew. Why why did youget married, said Scrooge, Because I
fell in love. Because you'll fellin love, growled Scrooge, as if
it were the only thing in theworld more ridiculous than a merry Christmas.
Good afternoon. Nay, uncle,but you never came to see me before
that happened. Why give it isa reason for not coming now? Good

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afternoon, said Scrooge. I wantnothing from you, I ask nothing of
you. Why cannot we be friends? Good afternoon. I am sorry with
all my heart that I find youso resolute. We have never had any
quarrel for which I have been aparty, But I have made the trial

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in homage to Christmas, and I'llkeep my Christmas humor to the last.
So a merry Christmas, uncle,Good afternoon, said Scrooge, and a
happy New Year. But afternoon,said Scrooge. His nephew left the room
without an angry word. Notwithstanding hestopped at the outer door to bestow his
greetings of the season on the clerk, who, cold as he was,
was warmer than Scrooge, for hereturned them cordially. There's another fellow muttered

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Scrooge, who overheard him, myclerk with fifteen shillings a week and a
wife and family talking about a merryChristmas, or retire to bedlam. This
lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in.
They were portly gentlemen, pleasant tobehold, and now stood with their hats
off in Scrooge's office. They hadbooks and papers in their hands and bowed

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to him. Scrooge and Marley's Ibelieve, said one of the gentlemen,
referring to his list. How Ihad the pleasure of addressing mister Scrooge and
mister Marley. And mister Marley hasbeen dead these seven years. Scrooge replied,
he died seven years ago this verynight. Oh, we have no
doubt his liberality is well represented byhis surviving partner, said the gentleman presenting

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his credentials. It certainly was,for there had been two kindred spirits at
the ominous word liberality. Scrooge frownedand shook his head and handed the credentials
back. This firstive season of theyear, mister Scrooge said, this gentleman
taking up a pen, it ismore than usually desirable, that we should
make some provision for the poor anddestitute, who suffered greatly at this present

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time. Many thousands are a wantof common necessaries. Hundreds of thousands are
a want of common comfort. Sir, Are they not prisons? Said Scrooge.
Reload of prisons, said the gentleman, laying down his pet again.
And the union workhouses, demanded Scrooge, are they still in operation? They
are still, returned the gentleman.I wish I could say they were not.

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The treadmill and the poor law arein full digger, then, said
Scrooge. They're both very busy,sir. H I was afraid, from
what you said at first, thatsomething had occurred to stop them in their
useful course, said Scrooge. I'mvery glad to hear it, under the
impression that they scarcely furnished Christian shareof mind and body to the multitude,

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returned the gentleman. A few ofus are endeavoring to raise fond to buy
the course of meat and drink,and means of warmth. We choose this
time because it is the time ofall others, when want is kidney felt,
and abundance rejoices what shall I putyou down for nothing? Scrooge replied,
you wish to be anonymous. Iwish to be left alone, said

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Scrooge. Since you ask me whatI wish, gentlemen, that is my
answer. I don't make many myselfat Christmas, and I can't afford to
make idle people. Mary. Ihelp to support the establishments I have mentioned.
They cost enough, and those whoare badly off must go there.
Many can't go there, and manywould rather die. If they would rather
die, said Scrooge, they'd betterdo it and decrease the surplus population.

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Besides, excuse me, I don'tknow that, but you might know it,
observed the gentleman. It's not mybusiness, Scrooge returned, It's enough
for a man to understand his ownbusiness and not to interfere with other peoples.
Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Seeing clearly that this
would be useless to pursue the point, the gentleman withdrew. Scrooge resumed his

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labors with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than
usual with him. Meanwhile, thefog and darkness thick, and so the
people ran about with flaring links,poffering their surfaces to go before horses and
carriages and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of the church,
whose gruff old bear was always peepingslyly down at Scrooge out of a gothic

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window in the wall, became invisibleand struck the hours and quarters in the
clouds with tremendous vibrations. Afterwards,as if its teeth were shattering in its
frozen head. Up there, thecold became intense. In the main street.
At the corner of the court,some laborers were repairing the gas pipes,
and had lighted a great fire anda brasia, round which a party

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of ragged men and boys were gathered, warming their hands and winking their eyes
before the blaze in rapture. Thewater plug, being left in solitude,
its overflowing sullenly congealed and turned tomisanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops,
where holly sprigs and berries crackled inthe lamp heat of the windows,
made pale face as ruddy as theypassed palter Engrocer's trades became splendid joke,

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a glorious pageant in which it wasnext to impossible to believe that such dull
principles as bargain and sale had anythingto do. The Lord Mayor, in
the stronghold of the mighty Mansion house, gave orders to his fifty cooks and
butlers to keep Christmases a lord mayor'shousehold should, And even the little tailor,
whom he had fined five shillings onthe previous Monday for being drunken bloodthirst

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in the streets, stirred up tomorrow'spudding in his garret, while his lean
wife and the babies sailed out tobite the beef. Foggier yet and colder,
piercing, searching, biting cold.If the good Saint Dunstan had but
nipped the evil spirit's nose with atouch of such weather as that, instead
of using his familiar weapons, thenindeed he would have roared to lusty purpose.

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The owner of one's scant, youngnose, gnawed and mumbled by the
hungry cold as bones are gnawed bydogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to
regale him with the Christmas carol.But at the first sound and of God,
bless you, marry, gentlemen,may nothing you dismay. Scrooge seized
the ruler with such energy of actionthat the singer fled in terror, leaving
the keyhole to the fog and evenmore congenial frost. At length, the

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hour of shutting up the counting housearrived. With an ill will. Scrooge
dismounted from his stool and tacitly admittedthe fact to the expected clock in the
tank, who instantly snuffed his candleout and put on his hat. You'll
want all day tomorrow, I suppose, said Scrooge, if it's quite convenient,
sir. It's not convenient, saidScrooge. And it's not fair if

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I were to stop half a crown, for you'd think yourself ill used.
I'll be bound. The clerk smiledfaintly, and yet said Scrooge, you
don't think me. I'll use whatI pay a day's way just for no
work. The clerk observed that itwas early once a year, a poor
excuse for picking a man's pocket everytwenty fifth of December, said Scrooge,
buttoning his great coat to his chin. But I suppose you must have the

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whole day. I'll be here allthe earlier. The next morning, the
clerk promised that he would, andScrooge walked out with growl. The office
was closed in a twinkling in theclock, with the long ends of his
white comforter dangling blow his waist,for he boasted no greatcoat, went down
a slide on Cornhill at the endof le Lane of Boys twenty times in

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honor of its being Christmas Eve,and then ran home to Campden Town as
hard as he could pelt to playat blind Man's Bluff. Scrooge took his
melancholy dinner and his usual melancholy tavernat. Having read all the papers and
beguiled the rest of the evening withhis banker's book, went home to bed.
He lived in chambers which had oncebelonged to his deceased partner. There

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were a gloomy suite of rooms ina lowering pile of building up a yard,
where it in so little business tobe that one could scarcely have fancying
that I must have run there whenit was a young house, playing at
hide and seek with other houses,and forgotten the way out again. It
was old enough now and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it. With
Scrooge the other rooms being all letout his offices. The yard was so

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dark that even Scrooge, who knewits every stone, was fain to grope
with his hands. The fog andfrost so hung about the black old gateway
of the house that it seemed asif the genius of the weather sat in
mournful meditation on the threshold. Nowit is a fact that there was nothing
in particular about the knocker on thedoor, except that it was very large.

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It is also a fact that Scroogehad seen it night and morning during
his whole residence in that place.Also that Scrooge had little of what is
called fancy about him, as anyman in the city of London, even
including which his abode were the Corporation, Alderman and Livery. Let it also
be borne in mind that Scrooge hadnot bestowed one thought on Marley since his

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last mention of his seven years deadpartner that afternoon. And then let any
man exc blained to me if hecan, how it happened that Scrooge,
having his key in the lock ofthe door, saw in the knocker,
without its undergoing any intermediate process ofchange, not a knocker, but Marlly's
face Marley's face. It was notin impenetrable shadow, as the other objects

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in the yard were, but ina dismal light about it, like a
bad lobster in a dark cellar.It was not angry or ferocious, but
looked at Scrooge as Marley used tolook, with ghostly spectacles turned up on
its ghostly forehead. The hair wascuriously stirred, as if by a breath
of hot air, and though theeyes were wide open, they were perfectly

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motionless. That and its livid color, made it horrible. But his horror
seemed to be in spite of theface and beyond its control, rather than
a part of his own expression.As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon,
it was a knocker again. Tosay that he was not startled, or
that his bloodud was not conscious ofa terrible sensation to which it had been

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a stranger from infancy, would beuntrue. But he put his hand upon
the key he had relinquished, turnedit sturdily, walked in, and lighted
his candle. He did pause,with a moment's irresolution, before the shut
door, and he did look cautiouslybehind this verse, as if half expected
to be terrified with the sight ofMorley's pig tails sticking out into the hall.

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But there was nothing in the backof the door except the screws and
nuts that held the knocker on.So he said pooh poop and closed it
with a bang. The sound resoundedthrough the house like a thunder. Every
room above, and every cask inthe wine merchants cellars below appeared to have
a separate peal of echoes of itsown. Scrooge was not a man to

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be frightened by echoes. He fastenedthe door and walked across the hall of
the stairs, slowly, too,trimming the candle as he went. You
may talk vaguely about driving a coachand six up a good old flight of
stairs, or through a bad youngact of Parliament, But I mean to
say that you might have got ahearse up that staircase and taken it broadwise

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with the splinter bar towards the wall, and the door towards the ball strades,
and done it easy. There wasplenty of width for that, and
room despair, which is perhaps thereason why Scrooge thought he saw a locomotive
hearse going on before him in thegloom half a dozen gas lamps out in
the street wouldn't have lighted the entrytoo well, so he may suppose it

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was pretty dark with Scrooge's dip up. Scrooge went, not carrying a button,
for that darkness is cheap, andScrooge lightd it. But before he
shut his heavy door, he walkedthrough his rooms to see that all was
right. He had just enough recollectionof the face to desire to do that.

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Sitting room, bedroom, lumber roomalls. He should be nobody under
the table, nobody under the sofa, a small fire in the grave,
spoon and basin ready, and thelittle saucepan of gruel. Scrooge had a
coat in his head upon the hop, Nobody under the bed, Nobody in
the closet, Nobody in his dressinggown, which was hanging up in a
suspicious attitude against the wall, lumberof his usual old fireguard. Two shoes,

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two fish baskets, washing stand onthree legs in a poker. Quite
satisfied, he closed his door andlocked himself in double locked himself in,
which was not his costume. Thussecured against surprise, he took off his
cravat, put on his dressing gown, and slippers in his nightcap, and
sat down before the fire to takehis gruel. It was a very low

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fire, and knee nothing on sucha bitter night, he was obliged to
sit close to it and brood overit before he could extract the least sensation
of warmth from such a handful offuel. The fireplace was an old one,
built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint
Dutch tiles designed to straighten scriptures.There were canes and abels, Pharaoh's daughters,

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queens of Sheba, angelic messengers descendingthrough the air, and clouds like
feather beds, Abraham's belt, Asaur'sapostles putting off to sea in butter boats.
Hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts, And yet that face of Marley,
seven years dead, came like theancient prophets rod and swallowed up the

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whole. If each smooth tile hadbeen a blanket first, with power to
shape some picture on its surface fromthe disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there
would have been a copy of oldMarley's head on every one. Humbug,
said Scrooge, and walked crossed theroom. After several turns, he sat
down again. As he drew hishead back in the chair, his glance

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happened to rest upon the bell,a disused bell that hung in the room
and communicated for some purpose now forgotten, with the chamber in the highest story
of the building. It was withgreat astonishment and with the range inexplicable dread,
that as he looked he saw thisbell began to swing. It swung
so softly in the outset that itscarcely made a sound, But soon it

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rang loudly, and so did everybell in the house. This might have
lasted half a minute or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The
bells ceased as they had begne together. They were succeeded by a clanking noise
deep down below, as if someperson were dragging a heavy chain over the
casks of the wine merchants. CellarScrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts

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in halted houses were described as draggingchains. The celadorf flew up with a
booming sound, and then he heardthe noise much louder, on the floors
below, then coming up the stairs, then coming straight towards the door.
It's humbled, still, said Scrooge, I won't believe it. His color

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changed, though, when without ait came on through the heavy door and
passed into the room before his eyes. Upon it coming in, the dying
flame leapt up as though it cried, I know him, Marley's ghost,
and fell again the same face,the very same Marley, and his pigtail,

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usual waistcoat, tights, and boots, the tassels on the latter bristling
like his pigtail, and his coatskirts, and the hair upon his head.
The chain he drew was clasped aboutthe middle. It was long and
wound about him like a tail,and it was made for Scrooge observed it
closely of cash boxes, keys,padlocks, ledgerds, deeds, and heavy

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purses wrought in steel. His bodywas transparent, so that Scrooge, observing
him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his
coat behind. Scrooge often heard thatMarley had no bowels, but he had
never believe it until now, nordid he believe it even now, although
he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him,

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though he felt the chilling influence ofits death, cold eyes and marked the
very texture of the folded kerchief boundround its head and chin, which Rapper
he had not observed before. Hewas still incredulous and fought against his sentences.
How now, said Scrooge, causticand cold as ever, What do
you want of me? Much Molly'svoice, No doubt about it. Oh

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are you ask me who I was? Who were ye? Then, said
Scrooge, raising his voice. Youare particular for a shade, he was
going to say to a shade,but substituted this is more appropriate in life.
I was your partner, Jacob Marley. Can you can you sit down?
Asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him. I can do it. Then.

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Scrooge asked the question because he didn'tknow whether a ghost so transparent might
find himself in a condition to takea chair, and felt that, in
the event of its being possible,it might involve the necessity of an embarrassing
explanation. But the ghost sat downthe opposite side of the fireplace, as
if you were quite used to it. You don't believe me, observed the
ghost. I don't, said Scrooge. What evidence would you have of my

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reality beyond that of your senses?I don't know, said Scrooge. Why
do you doubt your senses, Because, said Scrooge, a little thing affects
them, A slight disorder of thestomach makes them cheats. You may be
an undigested bit of beef, ablot of mustard, a crumb of cheese,
a fragment of an under dead potato. There's more of gravy than of

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grave about you, whatever you are. Scrooge was not much in the habit
of cracking jokes, nor did hefeel in his heart by any means waggish.
Then the truth is that he triedto be smart as a means of
distracting his own attention and keeping downhis terror. For the specter's voice disturbed
the very marrow in his bones.To sit staring at those fixed, glazed

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eyes in silence for a moment wouldplay, Scrooge felt the very deuce with
him. There was something very awfultoo, Inspecter's being provided with an infernal
atmosphere of its own. Scrooge couldnot feel it himself, but it was
clearly the case, for though theghost sat perfectly motionless, its hair and
skirts and tassels was still agitated,as if by the hot vapor from an

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oven. You see this, toothpick, said Scrooge, returning quickly to
the charge for the reason, justto sign and wishing, though it were
only for a second, to divertthe vision's stony gaze from himself. I
do, replied the ghost. Youare not looking at it, said Scrooge.
But I see it, said theghost. Notwithstanding, well, said

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Scrooge, I have but to swallowthis and be for the rest of my
days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Humbug,
I tell you, humbug this.The spirit raised a frightful cry and
shook its chain with such a dismaland appalling noise that Scrooge held tight to
his chair to save himself from fallingin a swoon. But how much greater

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was his horror when the phantom,taking off bandage round its head, as
if it were too warm to wearindoors, his lower jaw dropped down upon
his breast. Scrooge fell upon hisknees and clasped his hands before his face.
Mercy, he said, dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?
Man of the worldly mind, repliedthe ghost, do you believe in me

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or not I do, said Scrooge. I must, But why do spirits
walked the earth? Why did hecome to me? It is required of
every man. The ghost returned thatthe spirit within him should walk abroad among
his fellow men, and traveled farand wide. And if that spirit goes
not forth in life, it iscondemned to do so. After death,

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it is doomed to wander through theworld. Oh woe is me, and
witness what it cannot share but mighthave shared on earth. And turned to
happiness again. The specter raised acry and shook its chain and wrung its
shadowy hands. You are fettered,said Scrooge, trembling. Tell me why
I wear the chain I forged inlife, replied the ghost. I made

(30:33):
it link by link and yard byyard, and girded it on of my
own free will, and of myown free will. I wart is its
pattern strange to you? Scrooge trembledmore and more, or would you know?
Pursued the ghost. The weight andlength of the strong coil you bear
yourself. It was as full asheavy in as long as this seven Christmas

(30:56):
eves ago you have labored on it. Since it is a ponderous chain.
Scrooge glanced about him on the floorin the expectation of finding himself surrounded by
some fifty or sixty fathoms of ironcable. But he could see nothing.
Jacob, he said, imploringly,Oh, Jacob Marley, tell me more.
Speak comfort to me. Jacob,I have none to give, the

(31:19):
ghost replied. It comes from otherregions, Ebenez, a Scrooge, and
is conveyed by other ministers to otherkinds of men. Nor can I tell
you what I would? Very littlemore is all permitted to me. I
cannot rest, I cannot stay,I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never
walked beyond our counting house mark mein life. My spirit never rode beyond

(31:45):
the narrow limits of our money changinghole and weary journeys lived before me.
It was a habit of Scrooge wheneverhe became thoughtful to put his hands in
his breeches pockets, pondering on whatthe ghost had said. He did so
now, but without lifting up hiseyes or getting off his knees. You

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must have been very slow about it, Jacob. Scrooge observed, in a
business like manner, though with humilityand deference, slow, the ghost repeated.
Seven years dead, mused Scrooge,And traveling all the time the whole
time, said the ghost. Norest, no peace, incessant torture and
remorse. You travel fast, saidScrooge. Of the wings of the wind,

(32:30):
replied the ghost. You might havegot off a great quantity of ground
in seven years, said Scrooge.The ghost, on hearing the set of
another, cry and clanked its chainso hideously in the dead silence of the
night that the ward would have beenjustified in inditing it for nuisance. Oh,
captive, bound and double iron,cried the phantom. Not to know

(32:52):
the ages of incessant labor by immortalcreatures, for this earth must pass into
it before the good, which issusceptible, is all developed. Not to
know that any Christian spirit walking kindlyin its little sphere, whatever it may
be, will find its mortal lifetoo short for its vast means of usefulness.

(33:14):
Not to know that no space ofregret can make amends for one's life's
opportunity misused. Yet such was I, Oh, such was I. But
you were always a good man ofbusiness, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who
now began to apply this to himself, business, cried the ghost, wringing
his hands again. Mankind was mybusiness, The common welfare was my business.

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Charity, mercy, forbearance, andbenevolence were all my business. The
dealings of my trade were but adrop of water, and the comprehensive ocean
of my business. He held upthe chain at arm's length, as if
it were the cause of all itsunvailing grief, and flung it heavily upon
the ground again. At this timeof the rolling, the specter said,

(34:00):
I suffer most. Why did Iwalk through the crowds of fellow beings with
my eyes turned down, and neverreason to that blessed star which led the
wise men to a poor abode?Were the no poor homes to which its
light would have conducted me. Scroogewas very much dismayed to hear the specter
going on at the spray and beginto quake exceedingly hear me, said the

(34:22):
ghost. My time is nearly gone, I will, said Scrooge, But
don't be hot upon me. Don'tbe flowery, Jacob pray. How is
it that I appear before you ina shape that you can see? I
may not tell I have sat invisiblebeside you many and many a day.
This was not an unagreeable idea.Scrooge shivered and wiped the perspiration from his

(34:42):
brow. That is no like partin my penance, pursued the ghost.
I am here to night to warnyou that you have yet a chance and
hope of escaping my fate, Achance and hope of my procuring Ebenezer,
you are always a good friend tome, said Scrooge. Thank'ee, you
will be haunted, resumed the ghostby three spirits. Scrooge's countenance fell almost

(35:07):
as low as the ghosts had done. Is that the chance and hope you
mentioned, Jacob, he demanded ina faltering voice. It is I I
think I'd rather not, said Scrooge. Without their visits, said the ghost,
You cannot hope to shun the pathI tread. Expect the first tomorrow
when the bell tolls. One couldn'tI take them all at once and have

(35:30):
it over, Jacob, hitted Scrooge. Expect the second on the next night
at the same hour. The thirdupon 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.
And when he said these words,the specter took its wrapper from the

(35:52):
table and bounded around its head asbefore. Scrooge knew this by the smart
sound its teeth made when jaws werebrought together by the bandage. He ventured
to raise his eyes again and foundhis supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect
attitude. With its chain wound overand about its arm. The apparition walked

(36:14):
backward from him, and with everystep it took, the window raised itself
a little, so that when theSpecter reached it, it was wide open.
It beckoned Scrooge to approach, whichhe did. When there were within
two paces of each other. Marley'sghost tell of its hand, warning him
to come no nearer. Scrooge stopped, not so much an obedience as in
surprise and fear, for on theraising of the hand he became sensible of

(36:37):
confused noises in the air, incoherentsounds of lamentation and regret, wailing's inexpressively
sorrowful and self accusatory. The specter, after listening for a moment, joined
in the mournful dirge, and floatedout upon the bleak, dark night,
Scrooge followed to the window, desperatein his curiosity. He looked out.

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The air was filled with phantoms,wandering hither and thither in restless haste,
and moaning as they went. Everyone of the more chains like Marley's ghost.
Some few there might be guilty governmentswere linked together. None were free.
Many had been personally no discourage intheir lives. He had been quite

(37:19):
familiar with one old ghost in awhite waistcoat with a monstrous iron safe attached
to its ankle, who cried piteouslyat being unable to assist a wretched woman
with an infant, who had sawbelow upon a door step. The misery
within them all was clearly that theysought to interfere for good in human matters,
and had lost the power forever.Whether these creatures faded into mist or

(37:43):
mist enshrouded them, he could nottell. But they and their spirit voices
faded together, and the night becameas it had been when he walked home.
Screwge closed the window and examined thedoor by which the ghost had entered.
He was double locked, as hehad locked it with his own hands,
and the boats were undisturbed. Hetried to say humbug, but stopped
at the first syllable, and,being from the emotion he had undergone of

(38:06):
the fatigues of the day, orhis glimpse of the invisible world, or
the dull conversation of the ghost,or the lateness upon the hour, much
in need of repose, went straightto bed without undressing, and fell asleep
upon the instant the end of Staveone of the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

(38:37):
This is a libravox recording. AllLibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,please visit LibriVox dot org. That's
l I B R I v oX dot org. Recorded by me Glenn
Halserm, also known as Smokestack JonesSmokestack Jones at gmail dot com. You'll
also find my blog at too muchJohnson dot blogspot dot com. A Christmas

(39:00):
Carol by Charles Dickens. Stave two, the first of the Three Spirits.
When Scrooge awoke, it was sodark that, looking out of bed,
he could scarcely distinguish the transparent windowfrom the opeque walls of his chamber.
He was endeavoring to pierce the darknesswith his ferret eyes. When the chimes
of a neighboring church struck the fourquarters, so he listened for the hour.

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To his great astonishment, the heavybell went from six to seven,
and from seven to eight, andregularly up to twelve, then stopped twelve.
It was past two when he wentto bed. The clock was wrong.
An icicle must have gotten to theworks twelve. He touched the spring
of his repeater to correct the mostpreposterous clock. Its rapid little pulse beat

(39:46):
twelve and stopped. Why it isn'tpossible, said Scrooge, that I can
have slept through the whole day andfar into the night. It isn't possible
that anything has happened to the sun, and this is twelve at noon,
the idea being an alarming When hescrambled out of bed and groped his way
to the window, he was obligedto rub the frost off with the sleeve

(40:07):
of his dressing ground before he couldsee anything, and he could see very
little then. All he could makeout was that it was still very foggy
and extremely cold, and that therewas no noise of people running to and
fro and making a great stir,as there unquestionably would have been if night
had beaten off bright Day and takenpossession of the world. This was a

(40:29):
great relief, because three days aftersight of the first exchange, a pay
of mister Eberde's a Scrooge or hisorder and so forth would have become a
mere United States security if there wereno days to count by. Scrooge went
to bed again and thought and thoughtand thought it over and over and over,

(40:49):
and could make nothing of it.The more he thought, the more
perplexed he was, and the morehe endeavored not to think. The more
he thought. Molly's ghost bothered himexceedingly. Every time he resolved within himself
after a mature inquiry that it wasall a dream, his mind flew back
again, like a strong spring releasedto its first position, and presented the

(41:12):
same problem to be worked all through. Was it a dream or not?
Scrooge lay in this state until thechime had gone three quarters more, when
he remembered, on a sudden thatthe ghost had warned him of a visitation.
When the bell told one, heresolved to lie awake until the hour
had passed, and, considering thathe could no more go to sleep than

(41:34):
go to heaven. This was perhapsthe wisest resolution in his power. The
quarter was so long that he wasmore than once convinced that he must have
sunk into a doze unconsciously, andmissed the clock. At length. It
broke upon his listening ear ding Dong. A quarter passed, said Scrooge,
counting ding dong. Half past,said Scrooge, ding Dong. A quarter

(41:59):
two, it, said Scrooge,ding Dong. They are itself, said
Scrooge triumphantly, And nothing else.He spoke before the hour bell had sounded,
which it now did with a deep, dull, hollow melancholy. One
light flashed up in the room uponan instant, and the curtains of his
bed were drawn. The curtains ofhis bed were drawn aside. I tell

(42:22):
you by a hand, not thecurtains at his feet, nor the curtains
at his back, but those towhich his face was addressed. The curtains
of his bed were drawn aside,and Scrooge, starting up into a half
recumbent attitude, found himself face toface with the unearthly visitor, who drew
them as close to it as Iam now to you, and I am

(42:43):
standing in the spirit at your elbow. It was a strange figure, like
a child, yet not so likea child, as like an old man
viewed through some supernatural medium, whichgave him the appearance of having receded from
the view and being diminished to achild's proportions. Its hair, which hung
about its neck and down its back, was white, as if with age,

(43:06):
and yet the face had not awrinkle on it, and the tenderest
bloom was on the skin. Thearms were very long and muscular, the
hands the same as if its holdwere of uncommon strength. Its legs and
feet, most delicately formed, werelike those upper members bare. It wore
a tunic of the purest white androunder waist was bound a lustrous belt,

(43:30):
the sheen of which was beautiful.It had a branch of fresh green holly
in its hand, and, insingular 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 theresprang a bright, clear jet of light
by which all was visible, andwhich was doubtless the occasion of its using

(43:52):
in its duller moments a great extinguisherfor a cap, which it now held
under its arm. Even this,though, when Grooge looked at it with
increasing steadiness, was not the strangestquality. For as its belt sparkling glittered
now in one part and now inanother. And what was light one instant
at another time was dark. Sothe figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness,

(44:15):
being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with
twenty legs, now a pair oflegs without head, now a head without
a body, of which dissolving partsno outline would be visible in the dense
gloom wherein they melted away, Andin the very wonder of this, it
would be itself again, distinct andclear as ever. Are you the spirit,

(44:37):
sir, whose coming was foretold tome? Asked Scrooge. I am.
The voice was soft and gentle,singularly low, as if, instead
of being so close beside him,it were at a distance. Oh and
what are you, Scrooge demanded,I am the ghost of Christmas past,

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long past, cried Scrooge, observedof its dwarfish stature. No your past,
perhaps Scrooge could not have told anybodywhy if anybody could have asked them
but he had a special desire tosee the spirit in his cap, and
begged him to be covered. What, exclaimed the ghost, would you so

(45:20):
soon put out with worldly hands thelight I give? Is it not enough
that you are one of those whosepassions made this cap and forced me,
through the whole trains of years towear it low upon my brow? Scrooge
reverently disclaimed all intention to offend,and the knowledge of having wilfully bonneted the
spirit of any period in his life. Then he made bold to inquire what

(45:43):
business brought him here? Your welfare, said the ghost. Scrooge expressed himself
much obliged, but could not helpthinking that a knight of unbroken rest would
have been more conductive to that end. The spirit must have heard him thinking,
for it said, immediately your reclamation, then take heed. It put
out his hand as it spoke,and clasped him gently by the arm.

(46:07):
Rise and walk with me. Itwould have been in vain for Scrooge to
plead the weather and the hour werenot adapted to pedestrian purposes. That bed
was warm in the thermometer a longway below freezing, that he was glad
but lightly in his slippers, dressinggown in night cap, and that he
had a cold upon him at thetime. The grasp, though gentle as

(46:27):
a woman's hand, was not tobe resisted. He rose, but,
finding that the spirit made towards thewindow, clasped his robe in supplication.
I am mortal, Scrooge remonstrated,and libel to fall bear. But a
touch of my hand, there,said the spirit, laying it upon his
heart, and you shall be upheldin more than this. As the words

(46:51):
were spoken, they passed through thewall and stood upon an open country road
with fields on either hand. Thecity had entirely vanished, not a vestige
of it to be seen. Thedarkness and the mist had vanished with it,
for it was a clear, cold, wintry day, with snow upon
the ground. Good Heaven, saidScrooge, clasping his hands together as he
looked about him. I was bredin this place, I was a boy

(47:13):
here. The spirit gazed upon himmildly. Its gentle touch, though it
had been light and instantaneous, appearedstill present to the old man's sense of
feeling. He was conscious of athousand odors floating in the air, each
one connected with a thousand thoughts,and hopes and joys and cares long long
forgotten. Your lip is trembling,said the ghost, And what is that

(47:37):
upon your cheek? Scrooge muttered,with an unusual catching in his voice,
that it was a pimple, andbegged the ghost to lead him where he
would you recollect the way, inquiredthe spirit, Remember it, cried Scrooge,
with fervor. I could walk itwide folded. Strange to have forgotten
it for so many years, observedthe ghost. Let us go on.

(47:59):
They walked along the road, Scroogerecognizing every gate, every post, every
tree, until a little market townappeared in the distance, with its bridge,
its church, and winding river.Some shaggy ponies were now seen trotting
towards him, with boys upon theirbacks, who called to other boys in
country gigs and carts driven by farmers. All these boys were in great spirits

(48:22):
and shouted to each other, untilthe broad fields were so full of merry
music that the crisp air laughed tohear it. These are but shadows of
things that have been said the ghost. They have no consciousness of us.
The joss and travelers came on.As they came, Scrooge knew and named
them every one. Why was hefilled with gladness when he heard them give

(48:44):
each other Merry Christmas? As theyparted at cross yards and byways for several
homes. What was Merry Christmas toScrooge? Out upon Merry Christmas? What
good it ever done to him?The school is not quite deserted, said
the ghost. A solitary child,neglected by his friends, is left there
still. Scrooge said he knew it, and he sobbed. They left the

(49:07):
high road by a well remembered lane, and soon approached a mansion of dull
red brick, with a little weathercock surmounted cupola on the roof, and
a bell hanging in it. Itwas a large house, but one of
broken fortunes, for the spacious officeswere little used. Their walls were damp
and mossy, their windows broken in, their gates decayed. Fowls clucked and

(49:29):
strutted in the stables, and thecoach houses and sheds were overrun with grass.
Nor was it more retentive of itsancient state within. For entering the
dreary hall, and glancing through theopen doors of many rooms, they found
them poorly furnished, cold and vast. There was an earthly saver in the
air, a chilly barrenness in theplace, which associated itself somehow with too

(49:52):
much getting up by candle light,and not too much to eat. They
went, the ghost and Scrooge crossedthe hall to a door of the back
of the house. It opened beforethem and disclosed a long, bare,
melancholy room, made barer still bylines of plain deal forms and desks.
At one of these, a lonelyboy was reading near a feeble fire,

(50:14):
and Scrooge sat down upon a formand wept to see his poor, forgotten
self as he used to be.Not a latent echo in the house.
Not a squeak and scuffle from themice behind the paneling, Not a drip
from the half thought water spout inthe doll yard behind. Not a sigh
among the leafless boughs of one despondentpoplar. Not the idle swinging of an

(50:36):
empty stone house door. No,not a clicking of the fire. But
fell upon the heart of Scrooge witha softening influence, and gave a freer
passage to his tears. The spirittouched him on the arm and pointed to
his younger self, intent upon hisreading, Suddenly a man in foreign garments,

(50:57):
wonderfully real and distinct to look out, stood outside the window, with
an axe struck in his belt andleading by the bridle and ass laden with
wood. Why it's Ali Baba,Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy, dear old,
honest stally Baba. Yes, yes, I know. One Christmas time when
yon solitary child was left here allalone, he did come for the first
time, just like that poor boy. And Valentine, said Scrooge, and

(51:22):
his wild brother. Awesome, therethey go. And what's his name?
Who was put down in his drawersasleep at the gate of Damascus? Don't
you see him? And the Sultan'sgrooge turned upside down by the genie.
There he is upon his head.I'm glad of it. What business had
he to be married to the princess? To hear Scrooge expending on all the

(51:43):
earnestness of the nature of such subjectsin a most extraordinary voice, between laughing
and crying, and to see hisheightened and excited face would have been a
surprise to his business friends in thecity. Indeed, there's the parrot,
cried Scrooge, great body and yellowtail with a thing like lettuce growing out
at the top of his head.There he is, Poor Robinson Crusoe,

(52:04):
he called him when he came homeagain after sailing round the island. Poor
Robinson Crusoe, Where have you been, Robinson Crusoe. The man thought he
was dreaming, but he wasn't.He was the parrot, you know.
There goes Friday, running for hislife in the little creek. Hallo ha
hoo. Then, with the rapidityof transition, very foreign to his usual

(52:24):
character, he said, in apity of his former self, poor boy,
and cried again. I wish Scroogemuttered, putting his hand in his
pocket and looking about him after dryinghis eyes with his cuff. But it's
too late now. What is thematter, asked the spinnet. Nothing,

(52:46):
said Scrooge, and nothing. Therewas a boy singing a Christmas carol in
my door last night. I shouldlike to have kimmn him something, that's
all. The ghost smiled thoughtfully andwaved its hand, saying, as he
did so, let us see anotherChristmas. Scrooge's former self grew larger at

(53:08):
the words, and the room becamea little dark and more dirty. The
panel shrunk, the windows cracked,fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling,
and the naked lathes were shown instead. But how all this was brought
about, Scrooge knew no more thanyou do. He only knew that it
was quite correct that everything had happened, so that there he was alone again,

(53:30):
when all the other boys had gonehome for the jolly holidays. He
was not reading now, but walkingup and down despairingly. Scrooge looked at
the ghost, and with the mournfulshaking of his head, glanced anxiously towards
the door. It opened, anda little girl, much younger than the
boy, came darting in, puttingher arms about his neck and often kissing

(53:50):
him, dressed him as her deardear brother. I have come to bring
you home, dear brother, saidthe child, clapping her tiny hands and
bending down to laugh. To bringyou home, home, Home, home,
little fan returned the boy. Yes, said the child, brimfooth glee
home for good and all, homefor ever and ever. Father is so

(54:12):
much kinder than he used to be. That home's like heaven. He spoke
so gently to me one dear nightwhen I was going to bed, that
I was not afraid to ask himonce more if you might come home,
and he said yes, you should, and he sent me in a coach
to bring you. And you oughtto be a man, said the child,
opening her eyes, and never comeback here. But first we'll be
together all Christmas long and have themerriest time in the world. You're quite

(54:36):
a woman, little fan, exclaimedthe boy. She clapped her hands and
laughed and tried to touch his head, but being too little, laughed again
and stood on tiptoe to embrace him. She then began to drag him,
in her childish eagerness, towards thedoor, and he nothing loath. The
girl accompanied her. A terrible voicein the hall cried, bring down Master

(54:57):
Scrooger's box there, and in thehall all appeared the schoolmaster himself, who
glared on Master Scrooge with a ferociouscondensation and threw him into a dreadful state
of mind by shaking hands with him. He then conveyed him and his sister
into the veriest old well of ashivering best parlor that he ever was seen,
where the mats upon the wall andthe celestial and terrestrial globes in the

(55:19):
window were waxy with cold. Here, he produced a decanter of curiously light
wine and a block of curiously heavycake, and administered installments to those dainties
to the young people, at thesame time sending out a meager servant to
offer a glass of something to thepostboy, who answered that he thanked the
gentleman, but if it was thesame tap as he had tasted before,

(55:39):
he had rather not. Master Scrooge'strunk being by this time tied on to
the top of the chase, thechildren bade the schoolmaster good bye willingly,
and getting into it, drove gailydown the garden, sweep the quick wheels,
dashing the hoar frost and snow fromthe old dark leaves of the evergreens
like spray. Always a delicate creaturewhom a breath might have withered, said

(56:00):
the ghost. But she had alarge heart, so she had cried Scrooge,
you are right, I will notgainsay it. Spirit, God forbid.
She died a woman, said theghost, and had, as I
think children, one child. Scroogereturned, true, said the ghost,

(56:21):
your nephew. Scrooge seemed uneasy inhis mind, and answered briefly yes,
although they had but at that momentleft the school behind them. They were
now in the busy thoroughfares of thecity, where shadowy passengers passed and repassed,
where shadowy carts and coaches battled forthe way, and all the strife
and tumultum a real city were.It was made plain enough by the dressing

(56:43):
of the shops that there too,it was Christmas time again. But it
was evening, and the streets werelighted up. The ghost stopped at a
certain warehouse door and asked Scrooge ifhe knew it, know it, said
Scrooge, I was apprentice. HereThey went in at the sight of an
old gentleman in a Welsh wig,sitting behind such a high desk that if
he had been two inches tall,he must have knocked his head against the

(57:05):
ceiling. Scrooge cried in great excitement. Why it's old Fezziwig, bless his
heart, it's Fizzywig alive again.Old Fizzywig laid down his pen and looked
up at the clock, which pointedto the hour of seven. He rubbed
his hands, adjusted his capricious waistcoat, laughed all over himself, from his
shoes to his organ of benevolence,and called out in a comfortable, only

(57:27):
rich, fat jovial voice, nohold there, Ebenezer. Dick, Scrooge's
former self, now a grown youngman, came briskly and accompanied by his
fellow Priness Dick Wilkins. To besure, said Scrooge to the ghost.
Bless me eyes. There he is. He was very much attached to me,
was Dick for Dick. Dear dear, go home my boys, said

(57:50):
Fezzywig. No more work to nightChristmas eve, Dick, Christmas Eveniza.
Let's have the shutters up, criedOld Fezzywig, with a sharp clap of
his hands. Before a man cansay, Jack Robertson, you wouldn't believe
how those two fellows went at it. They charged into the street with the
shutters one, two, three,had them up in their places, four,
five, six barnum and pinned themseven eight nine, and came back

(58:14):
before you could gut to twelve,panting like race horses. Hallo, he
cried Old Fezziwig, skipping down fromthe high desk with wonderful agility. Clear
away my lands, and let's havelots of room here. Hello ho,
Dick, chirp. Ebeneezer clear away. There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared
away, or couldn't have cleared away, with the old Fezziwig looking on.

(58:35):
It was done in a minute.Every movable was packed off, as if
it were dismissed from public life forevermore. The floor swept and watered,
the lamps were trimmed, fuel washeaped upon the fire, and the warehouse
was as snug, as warm,and dry, and bright as a ball
room as you would desire to seeupon a winter's night. In came the
fiddler with a music book, andwent up to the lofty desk, and

(58:58):
made an orchestra, and tuned likefifty stomach aches. In came missus Fezziwig,
one vast substantial smile. In camethe three miss Fezziwigs, beaming and
lovable. In came the six youngfollowers, whose hearts they broke. In
came all the young men and womenemployed in the business. In came the
housemaid with her cousin, the baker. In came the cook with her brother's

(59:21):
particular friend, the milkman. Incame the boy from over the way,
who was suspected of not having boredenough from his master, trying to hide
himself behind the girl from next door, but one who was proved to have
had her ears pulled by her mistress. In. They all came, one
after another, some shyly, someboldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly,
some pushing, some pulling in.They all came, anyhow, and everyhow

(59:45):
away they all went. Twenty coupleat once danced half round and back again,
the other way, down the middle, and up again, round and
round, in various stages of affectionategrouping. Old top couple always turning up
the wrong place, New top couplesstarting off again as soon as they got
there. All top couples at lastanother butt want to help him. When

(01:00:07):
this result was brought about, oldFezzywig, clapping his hands to stop the
dance, cried out well done,and the fiddler plunged his hot face into
a tubber porter specially provided for thatpurpose, but scorning rest. Upon his
reappearance, he instantly began again,though there were no dancers yet, as
if the fiddler had been carried home, exhausted in a shutter, and he

(01:00:30):
were a brand new man, resolvedto beat them out of sight or perish.
There were more dances there were moreforfeits and more dances, and there
was cake, and there was nigus, and there was a great piece of
cold roast, and there was agreat piece of cold boiled, and there
were mince pies and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening

(01:00:51):
came after the roast and boiled.When the fiddler, an artful dog mind,
the sort of man who knew hisbusiness better than you or I and
could have told him, struck upSir Roger to cover. Then Old Fezziwig
stood out to dance with Missus Fezziwig. Top couple two and a good stiff
piece of work cut out for themthree or four and twenty pair of partners,
people who were not to be trifledwith, people who would dance and

(01:01:13):
had no notion of walking. Butif they had been twice as many four
times, Old Fezziwig would have beena match for them, and so would
Missus Fezziwig, as to her,she was worthy to be his partner in
every sense of the term. Ifthat's not high praise, tell me higher,
and I'll use it. A positivelight appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves.
They shone in every part of thedance like moons, you wouldn't have

(01:01:35):
predicted at any time what would havebecome of him next. And then Old
Fezziwig and Missus Fezziwig had gone allthrough the dance. Advance and retire both
hands to your partner, bow andCurtsey corkscrew, thread the needle, and
back again your place. Fezziwig cutcut so deftly he appeared to wink with
his legs and came upon his feetagain without a stacker. When the clock

(01:01:58):
struck eleven, the domestic ball brokeup. Mister and Missus Vezswig took their
stations, one on either side ofthe door, with shaking hands with every
person individually as he or she wentout to wish him or her a merry
Christmas. When everybody had retired butthe two Prentes, they did the same
to them. And thus the cheerfulvoices died away, and the lads were
left to their beds, which wereunder the counter in the back shop.

(01:02:22):
During this whole time, Scrooge actedlike a man out of his wits.
His heart and soul were in thescene, and with his former self he
corroborated everything remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation. It
wasn't until now, when the brightfaces of his former self and Dick were
turned from him, that he rememberedthe ghost and became conscious that it was

(01:02:45):
looking full upon him, while thelight upon its head burnt very clear.
A small matter, said the ghost, To make these silly folks so full
of gratitude, small, echoed Scrooge. The spirit signed him to listen to
the two princesses who were pouring outtheir hearts and praise of Feziwig. And
when he had done so, said, why is it not he had spent

(01:03:07):
but a few pounds of your mortalmoney three or four? Perhaps is that
so much that he deserves this praise? It isn't that, said Scrooge,
heated by the remark, and speakingunconsciously like his former not his lat herself.
It isn't that, spirrit. Hehas the power to render us happy
or unhappy, to make our servicelight, a burdensome, a pleasure,

(01:03:28):
or a toil. Say that hispower lies in words and looks, in
things so slight and insignificant that itis impossible to add or counter em up.
What then, the happiness he givesis quite as great as if it
cost a fortune. He felt thespirit's glance and stopped. What is the
matter, asked the ghost. Nothingparticular, said Scrooge, Something I think,

(01:03:52):
the ghost insisted. Now, saidScrooge. Now, I should like
to be able to stare a wordor two to my clerk. Just now.
That's all. His former self turneddown the lamps as he gave utterance
to the wish, and Scrooge inthe ghost again stood side by side in
the open air. My time grewshort, observed the spinner quick. This

(01:04:12):
was not addressed to Scrooge or toany one whom he could see, but
it produced an immediate effect. Foragain Scrooge saw himself. He was older,
now, a man in the primeof life. His face had not
the harsh and rigid lines of lateryears, but had begun to wear the
signs of care and avarice. Therewas an eager, greedy, restless motion
in the eye, which showed thepassion that had taken root, and where

(01:04:33):
the shadow of the groaning tree wouldfall. He was not alone, but
sat by the side of a fairyoung woman in a morning dress, in
whose eyes there were tears which sparkledin the light that shone out of the
ghosts at Christmas past. It matterslittle, she said softly, to you,
very little. Another idol has displacedme. And if I can cheer

(01:04:57):
and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do,
I have no just cause to grievewhat idol has displaced you. He
rejoined, A golden one. Thisis an even handed dealing of the world,
he said. There is nothing onwhich it is so hard as poverty,
and there is nothing it professes tocondemn with such severity as the pursuit

(01:05:19):
of wealth. You fear the worldtoo much, she answered gently. All
your other hopes emerge into the hopeof being beyond the chance of its sordid
reproach. I have seen your nobleraspirations fall off, one by one,
until the master passion gain engrosses you. Have I not what then, he

(01:05:40):
retorted, Even if I have grownso much wiser, what then I am
not changed towards you? She shookher head. Am I. Our contract
is an old one. It wasmade when we were both poor and content
to be so, until in goodseason we could improve our worldly fortunes by
our patient industry. You are changedwhen it was made. You are another

(01:06:01):
man. I was a boy,he said, impatiently. Your own feeling
tells you that you are not whatyou are. She returned, I am
that which promised happiness when we wereone in heart is fraught with misery now
that we are two. How oftenand how keenly have I thought of this?
I would not say? It isenough that I have thought of it
and can release you. Have Iever sought release in words? No?

(01:06:27):
Never in what? Then? Ina changed nature, in an altered spirit,
in another atmosphere of life, anotherhope as its great end in everything
that made my love of any worthof value in your sight? If this
had never been between us, saidthe girl, looking mildly but with steadiness
upon him, tell me, wouldyou seek me out now and try to

(01:06:50):
win me now? Ah? No, He seemed to yield the justice of
its supposition in spite of himself,but said, with the struggle you think
not. I would gladly think otherwiseif I could. She answered, Heaven
knows when I have learned a truthlike this, I know how strong and

(01:07:11):
irresistible it must be. But ifyou are free to day to morrow,
yesterday can even believe that you wouldchoose a dowerless girl, you who,
in your very confidence with her,weigh everything by gain or choosing her,
if for a moment you are falseenough to your one guiding principle to do
so, Do I not know thatyour repentance and regret would surely follow?

(01:07:33):
I do, and I release youwith a full heart for the love of
him you once were. He wasabout to speak, but with her head
turned from him, she resumed,you may the memory of what is past
half makes me hope you will havepain in this a very, very brief
time, and you will dismiss therecollection of it gladly is an unprofitable dream

(01:07:57):
from which it has happened. Wellthat you are woe. May you be
happy in the life that you havechosen. She left him and they parted.
Spirit said Scrooge, Show me nomore, conduct me home. Why
do you delight to torture me?One shadow more? Exclaimed the ghost.

(01:08:17):
No more, cried Scrooge, nomore, I do not wish to see
it. Show me no more.But the relentless ghost pinioned him in both
arms and forced him to observe whathappened next, they were in another scene
in place, a room not verylarge or hansom, but full of comfort.
Near to the winter fire, satup beautiful young girls, so like

(01:08:39):
a last that Scrooge believed it wasthe same until he saw her, now
a comely matron, sitting opposite herdaughter. The noise in the room was
perfectly tumultuous, for there were morechildren there than Scrooge, in his agitated
state of mind, could count,And unlike the celebrated herd in the poem,
there were not forty children conducting themselveslike one, but every child was

(01:08:59):
conduct itself like forty. The consequenceswere uproarious beyond belief, but no one
seemed to care. On the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily and
enjoyed it very much, and thelatter, soon beginning to mingle in the
sports, got pillaged by the youngbrigands most ruthlessly. What would I not
have given me one of them?Though I would never have been so rude?

(01:09:20):
No, No, I wouldn't,for the wealth of all the world
have crushed that braided hair and tornit down, And for the precious little
shoe I wouldn't have plucked it off. God bless my soul to save my
life as to measuring her waist insport as they did, bold young brood,
I couldn't have done it. Ishould have expected my arm to have
grown round for the punishment and nevercome straight again. And yet I should

(01:09:45):
have dearly liked I own to havetouched her lips, to have questioned her
that she might have opened them,to have looked upon the lashes of her
downcast eyes, and have never raiseda blush, to have let loose waves
of hair, an inch of whichwould be a keepsake beyond price. In
short, I should have liked Ido confess to have the lightest license of

(01:10:05):
a child, and yet have beenman enough to know its value. But
now a knocking on the door washeard in such a rush immediately ensued that,
with a laughing face and plunder dresswas borne towards it the center of
flushed and boisterous group, just intime to greet the father who had come
home attended by a man laden withChristmas toys and presents. Then the shouting

(01:10:27):
and struggling, and the onslaught thatwas made on the defenseless porter, the
scaling him with chairs for ladders todrive into his pockets, despoil him with
brown paper parcels, hold on tightby his cravat, hug him round the
neck, pobble his back, andkick his legs in irrepressible affection. The
shouts of wonder and delight with whichthe development of every package was received.

(01:10:49):
The terrible announcement that the baby hadtaken in the act of putting a doll's
frying pat into his mouth, andwas more than suspective having swallowed a fictitious
turkey glued on a wooden platter.The immense relief of finding this a false
alarm, the joy of the gratitudeand ecstasy, they are all indescribable.
Alike. It is enough that bydegrees the children and their emotions had got

(01:11:10):
out of the parlor, and byone stare at a time up to the
top of the house when they wentto bed, and so subsided. And
now Scrooge looked on more attentively thanever, when the master of the house,
having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her
mother at his own fireside, Andwhen he thought that such another creature quite
as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and

(01:11:33):
had been a springtime in the haggardwinter of his life. His sight grew
very dim. Indeed, Bell saidthe husband, turning to his wife with
a smile. I saw an oldfriend of yours this afternoon. Who was
it? Guess? How can Itut? I don't know, she added
in the same breath, laughing ashe laughed. Mister Scrooge, Mister Scrooge,

(01:11:56):
it was. I passed his officewindow, and it was not shut
up, and he had a candleinside. I could scarcely help seeing him.
His partner lies upon the point ofdeath, I hear, and there
he sat alone, quite alone inthe world. I do believe. Spare
it, said Scrooge in a brokenvoice. Remove me from this place.
I have shown you the shadows ofthings that have been said the ghost that

(01:12:19):
there what they are. Do notblame me, remove me, Scrooge exclaimed,
I cannot bear it. He turnedupon the ghost, and, seeing
that it looked upon him with aface in which, some strange way there
were fragments of all faces that hadshown him, wrestled with it. Leave
me, take me back on meno longer. In the struggle, if

(01:12:41):
it can be called a struggle inwhich the ghost, with no visible resistance
on its own part, was undisturbedby any effort of its adversary. Scrooge
observed that its light was burning highand bright and dimly, connecting that with
its influence over him, he seizedhis extinguisher cap and by a sudden action,
pressed it down upon his head.The spirit dropped beneath it, so
that the extinguisher covered its whole form. But though Scrooge pressed it down with

(01:13:06):
all its force, he could nothide the light, which streamed from under
it in an unbroken flood upon theground. He was conscious of being exhausted
and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness,and further of being in his own bedroom.
He gave the cap a parting squeezein which his hand relaxed, and

(01:13:28):
had barely time to reel to bedbefore he sank into a heavy sleep.
The end of Stave two of aChristmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This is

(01:13:50):
a Libraryvox recording. All librvox recordingsare in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visitlibravox dot org. That's I bri ivox
dot org. Recorded by me GlennHalserm also known as Smokestack Jones Smokestack Jones
at gmail dot com. You'll alsofind my blog at too much Johnson dot

(01:14:10):
blogspot dot com. A Christmas Carolby Charles Dickens Stave three, the second
of the three spirits. Awakening inthe middle of a prodigiously tough snore and
sitting up in bed to get histhoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to
be told what belle it was.Again, upon the stroke of one he
felt he was restored to consciousness inthe right nick of time, for the

(01:14:32):
especial purpose of holding a conference withthe second messenger dispatched to him through Jacob
Marley's intervention. But finding that heturned uncomfortably cold when he began to wonder
which of his curtains a new specterwould draw back, he put them every
one aside with his own hands,and lying down again, established a sharp
lookout all round the bed, forhe wished to challenge the spirit in the

(01:14:54):
moment of its appearance, did notwish to be taken by surprise, and
made nervous. Gentlemen of the freeand eese he saw it, who plumed
themselves on being acquainted with a moveor two, and being usually equal to
the time of day, expressed thewide range of their capacity for adventure by
observing that they are good for anythingfrom pitch and toss to manslaughter, between
which opposite extremes. No doubt therelies a tolerably wide and comprehensive range of

(01:15:17):
subjects without venturing. For Scrooge quiteas handily as this, I don't mind
in calling on you to believe thathe was ready for a good broad field
of strange appearances, and that nothingbetween a baby and her a nuceriss would
have astonished him very much. Now, being prepared for almost anything, he
was not, by any means preparedfor nothing. And consequently, when the

(01:15:39):
bells struck one and no shape appeared, he was taken with a violent fit
of trembling. Five minutes, tenminutes, a quarter of an hour went
by, yet nothing came. Allthis time he lay upon his bed the
very core and center of a blazingruddy light, which streamed upon it when
the clock claim the hour, atwhich being only light, was more alarming

(01:16:02):
than a dozen ghosts, as hewas powerless to make out what it meant
or would be at and was sometimesapprehensive that he might be, at the
very moment an interesting case of spontaneouscombustion, without having the consolation of knowing
it. At last, however,he began to think as you and I
would have thought at first, forit is always the person not in the

(01:16:24):
predicament who knows what ought to havebeen done in it, and would unquestionably
have done it too. At last, I say, he began to think
that the source and secret of hisghostly life might be in the adjoining room.
From whence on further tracing it,it seemed to shine this idea.
Taking full possession of his mind,he got up softly and shuffled in his

(01:16:45):
slippers to the door. The momentScrooge's hand was on the lock, a
strange voice called him by his nameand bade him enter. He obeyed.
It was his own room, therewas no doubt about that, But it
undergone a surprising transformation. The wallsand ceiling were so hung with living green
that it looked a perfect grove,from every part of which bright, gleaming

(01:17:10):
berries glistened. The crisp leaves ofholly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the
light as if so many little mirrorshad been scattered there, and such a
mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a he
that never known in Scrooge's time,or Leigh's, or for many and many
a winter season gone. Heaped upon the floor to form a kind of

(01:17:33):
throne, were turkeys, geese,game, poultry, brawn, great joints
of meat, suckling pigs, longwreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum
puddings, barrels of oysters, redhot chestnuts, cherry cheeked apples, juicy
oranges, luscious pears, immense twelthcakes, and seething bowls of punch that

(01:17:57):
made the chamber dim with their delicioussteam. In easy state, upon this
couch there sat a jolly giant,glorious to see, who bore a glowing
torch and shaped not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up high up to
shed its light on Scrooge as hecame peeping round the door. Come in,
exclaimed the ghost, Come in andknow me better, ma'am. Scrooge

(01:18:23):
entered timidly and hung his head beforethis spirit. It was not the dogged
Scrooge he had been, and thoughthe Spirit's eyes were clearing, kind,
he did not like to meet them. I am the ghost of Christmas present,
said the spirit. Look upon me. Scrooge reverently did so. It
was clothed in one simple green robeor mantle, bordered with white fur.

(01:18:46):
This garment hung so loosely on thefigure that its capricious breast was bare,
as if disdaining to be ordered orconcealed by any art of us. Its
feet, observable beneath the ample foldsof the garment, were also bare,
and on its head it wore noother covering than a holly wreath, set
here and there with shining icicles.Its dark brown curls were long and free,

(01:19:10):
free as its genial face, itssparkling eyes, its open hand,
its cheery voice, its unconstrained debana, and its joyful air. Girded around
its middle was an antique scabbard,but no sword was in it, and
the ancient sheath was eaten up withrust. You have never seen the like
of me before, exclaimed the spirit. Never Scrooge made answered to it.

(01:19:35):
Have never walked forth with the youngermembers of my family meeting, For I
am very young. My elder brother'sborn in these later years, pursued the
phantom. I don't think I have, said Scrooge. I am afraid I
have not. Have you had manybrothers, spirit, more than eighteen hundred,

(01:19:56):
said the ghost, the tremendous familyto provide for muttered Scrooge. The
ghost of Christmas present rose Spirit,said Scrooge submissively, and duct me where
you will. I went forth lastnight on compulsion, and I learned a
lesson which is working now to night. If you have ought to teach me,
let me profit by it. Touchmy robe. Scrooge did as he

(01:20:20):
was told and held it fast.Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy,
turkey, ski skin, poultry,brawn meat, pigs, sausages,
oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch all vanished instantly, so
did the room. The fire theruddy glowed the hour of night. And
they stood in the city streets onChristmas morning, where for weather was severe.

(01:20:42):
The people made a rough, butbrisk and not unpleasant kind of music
in scraping the snow from the pavementin front of their dwellings and from the
tops of their houses. Whence itwas mad delight to the boys to see
it come plumping down into the roadand splitting into artificial little snow stalls.
The moros Frantz looked black enough,and the windows blacker, contrasting with the

(01:21:02):
smooth white sheet of snow upon theroofs, and with the dirtiest snow upon
the ground, which last deposited hadbeen plowed up in deep furrows by the
heavy wheels of carts and wagons,furrows that crossed and recrossed each other hundreds
of times, where the great streetsbranched off and made intricate channels hard to
trace in the thick yellow mud andicy water. The sky was gloomy,

(01:21:26):
and the shortest streets were choked upwith a dingy mist, half thought,
half frozen, whose heavier particles descendedin a shower of sooty atoms, as
if all the chimneys in Great Britainhad, by but one consent, caught
fire and were blazing away to theirdear heart's content. There was nothing very
cheerful in the climate or the town, and yet there was an air of

(01:21:47):
cheerfulness abroad that the clearer summer airand brighter summer sun might have endeavored to
diffuse in vain, for the peoplewho were shoveling away on the housetops were
jovial and fullidly calling out to oneanother from the parapets, and now and
then exchanging a facetious snowball, betternatured missile far than many a wordy jest,

(01:22:10):
laughing heartily as it went right,or lessened heartily if it went wrong.
The poulterer's shops were still half open, and the fruiters were radiant in
their glory. There were great,round, pot bellied baskets of chestnuts,
shaped like the waistcoats of jolly oldgentlemen, plunging at the doors and tumbling
out into the street in their apoplecticopulence. There were a ruddy, brown

(01:22:33):
faced, broad girthed Spanish onions,shining in the fatness of their growth like
Spanish friars, and winking from theirshells in wanton slyness at the girls as
they went by, and glanced demurelyat the hung up mistletoe. There were
pears and apples clustered high in bloomingpyramids. There were bunches of grapes,
made in the shopkeeper's benevolence to danglefrom conspicuous hooks that people's mouths might water

(01:22:59):
gratis As there past, there werepiles of filberts, mossy and brown,
recalling in their fragrance, ancient walksamong the woods, in pleasant shufflings ankle
deep through withered leaves. There wereno folk biffins, squat and swathis setting
off the yellow of the oranges andlemons, and in the great compactness of
their juicy persons urgently entreating and beseechingto be carried home in brown paper bags

(01:23:21):
and eaten after dinner. The verygold and silver fish set forth among these
choice fruits in a bowl, thoughmembers of a dull and stagnant blooded race
appeared to know there was something goingon, and to a fish, when
gasping round and round in their littleworld in slow and passionless excitement, the
grosest, oh the grosest nearly closed, were perhaps two shutters down or one.

(01:23:45):
But through those gaps such glimpses.It was not alone that the scales
descending on the counter made a merrysound, or that the twine in roll
and departed company so briskly, orthat the canisters were rattled up and down
like juggling tricks. Or even thatthe blended scents of tea and coffee were
so grateful to the nose, oreven their raisins were so plentiful and rare,

(01:24:06):
the almonds so extremely white, thesticks of cinnamon so long and straight,
the other spices so delicious, thecandied fruits so caked and spotted with
molt and sugar as to make thecoldest lookers on feel faint and subsequently bilious.
Nor was it that the figs weremoist and pulpy, or that the
French plums blushed in modest tartness fromtheir highly decorated boxes, or that everything

(01:24:29):
was good to eat and in itsChristmas dress. But the customers were also
hurried and so eager in their hopefulpromise of the day, that they tumbled
up against each other at the door, crashing their wicker baskets wildly, and
left their purchasers upon the counter,and came running back to fetch them,
and committed hundreds of the like mistakesin the best humor possible. While the

(01:24:50):
grocer and his people were so frankand fresh that the polished hearts at which
they fastened their aprons behind might havebeen their own worn outside for general inspection,
and for Christmas doors to peck outif they choose. But soon the
steeples called good people all to churchand chapel, and away they came,
flocking through the streets in their bestclothes and with their gayest faces. And

(01:25:11):
at the time there emerged from scoresof by streets, lanes and nameless turnings,
innumerable people carrying their dinners to thebaker's shops. The sight of these
poor revelers appeared to interest the Spiritvery much, for he stood with Scrooge
beside him in a baker's doorway,and, taking off the covers as their
bearers passed, sprinkled incense on thedinners from his torch. And it was

(01:25:32):
a very uncommon kind of torch.For once or twice, when there were
angry words between some dinner carriers whoadjostled each other, he shed a few
drops of water on them from it, and a good humor was restored directly,
For they said it was a shameto quarrel upon Christmas Day, and
so it was, God love it. So it was in time the bells
ceased, and the bakers were shutup, And yet there was a general

(01:25:55):
shadowing forth of all these dinners inthe progress of their cooking, in the
fall blotch of wet above each baker'soven, where the pavement smoked as if
its stones were cooking too. Isthere a peculiar flavor in which you sprinkle
from your torch, asked Scrooge.There is my own. Would it apply
to any kind of dinner on thisday, asked Scrooge, to any kindly

(01:26:18):
given to a poor one? Most? Why a poor one? Most,
asked Scrooge, because it needs it, most Spirrit, said Scrooge, after
a moment's thought. I wonder you, of all the beings in the many
words about us, should desire tocramp these people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment,

(01:26:39):
I cried the Spirrit. You woulddeprive them of all their means of dining
every seventh day, often the onlyday in which they can be said to
dine at all, said Scrooge.Wouldn't you, i cried the Spirrit.
You seek to choose these places onthe seventh day, said Scrooge. And
it comes to the same thing Iseek, exclaimed the Spirit. Forgive me

(01:27:03):
if I am wrong. It hasbeen done in your name, or at
least that of your family, saidScrooge. There are some upon this earth
of yours, returned the Spirit,where they claim to know us, and
who do their deeds of passion,pride, ill will, hatred, envy,
bigotry, and self righteousness in ourname, who are as strange to
us and all our kith and kinas if they never lived. Remember that,

(01:27:26):
and charge the doings on themselves,not us. Scrooge promised that he
would, and they went on,invisible as they have been before, into
the suburbs of the town. Itwas a remarkable quality of the Ghost which
Scrooge had observed at the Baker's,that notwithstanding his gigantic size, he could
accommodate himself to any place with ease, and that he stood beneath the low

(01:27:48):
roof quite as gracefully and like asupernatural creature as it was possible that he
could have done in any lofty hall. And perhaps it was the pleasure the
Good Spirit had in showing off thispower of his, or else it was
his own kind, generous heart innature, and his sympathy with all poor
men that led him straight to Scrooge'sclocks, For there he went and took

(01:28:10):
Scrooge with him, holding to hisrobe, and on the threshold of the
door, the spirit smiled and stoppedto bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling with the twinkling
of his torch. Think of thatBob had but fifteen bobb a week himself
he pocketed on Saturdays, but fifteencopies of his Christian name, And yet
the ghost of Christmas present blessed hisforroom house. Then up rose Missus cratcher

(01:28:33):
cratched Its wife, dressed out poorlyin a twice turned gown, but braven
ribbons, which are cheap and makea goodly show for six months, and
she laid the claws, assisted byBelinda Cratchit, second of her daughter's,
also braven ribbons, while Master PeterCratchitt plunged a fork into the saucepan of
potatoes, and getting the corners ofhis monstrous shirt collar Bob's private property conferred

(01:28:55):
upon his son and heir in honorof the day, into his mouth,
rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in
the fashionable parks and now too smallA Cratchet's boy and girl came tearing in,
screaming that outside the bakers, theyhad smelt the goose and known it
for their own, and basking inluxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these

(01:29:16):
young Cratchets danced about the table andexalted Master Peter Cratchett to the skies.
While he not proud, though hiscollars nearly choked him, blew the fire
until the slow potatoes bubbling out knockedloudly in the saucepandid to be let out
and peeled. What has ever gotyour precious father, then, said Missus
Cratchery, and your brother tinied him. And Martha weren't as late last Christmas

(01:29:39):
day by half an hour. Here'sMartha, mother, said a girl,
appearing as she spoke. Here's Martha, mother, cried the two young Cratchets.
Hurrah, there's such a goose,Martha. Why bless your heart,
lie my dear, how late youare, said Missus cratcherd, kissing her
a dozen times and taking off hershawl and bonnet for her with a fish's
zeal. He had a deal ofwork to finish up last night, replied

(01:30:01):
the girl, and had to clearaway this morning. Mother. Well,
never mind, so long as you'vecome, said Missus Cratchett, sit you
down by the fire, my dear, and have a warm Lord bless you.
No, no father's coming, criedthe two young Crotchets, who were
everywhere at once. Hi, Martha, hide. So Martha hid herself,
and in came little Bob, thefather, with at least three feet of
comforter exclusive to the fringe hanging downbefore him, and his threadbare clothes,

(01:30:26):
darned up and brushed to look seasonable, and tiny Tim upon his shoulder.
Alas for tiny Tim, he borea little crutch and had his limbs supported
by an iron frame. Why where'sare Martha, cried Bob Cratchitt, looking
round. Not coming, said missusCratchittt. Not coming, said Bob,
with a sudden declension of his highspirits, for he had been Tim's blood
horse all the way from church,and he had come home rampant. Not

(01:30:49):
coming upon Christmas Day. Martha didn'tlike to see him disappointed, if it
were only in joke, so shecame out prematurely from behind the closet door
and ran into his arms, whilethe two young Cratchets hustled Tiny Tim and
bore him off into the wash housethat he might hear the pudding singing in
the copper, And how did littleTim behave asked Missus Cratchett, And Bob

(01:31:09):
had hugged his daughter to his heart'scontent. As good as gold, said
Bob, and better somehow he getsthoughtful sitting by himself so much, and
thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me coming home that he
had hoped people saw him in thechurch because he was a cripple, and
it might be pleasant to them toremember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars

(01:31:30):
walk and blind men see. Bob'svoice was tremulous when he told them this,
and trembled more when he said thetiny Tim was growing strong and hearty.
His active crutch was heard upon thefloor, and back came tiny Tim
before another word was spoken, escortedby his brother and sister to his stool
before the fire, And while Bob, turning up his cuffs, as if
poor fellow they were capable of beingmade more shabby, compounded some hot mixture

(01:31:51):
and a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round,
and put it on the harped simmer. Master Peter and the two ubiquitous young
Cratchets to fetch the goose, whichthey soon returned in high procession. Such
a bustle ensued that you might havethought a goose was the rarest of all
birds, a feathered phenomenon for whicha black swan was a matter of course,
And in truth it was something verylike it. In that house,

(01:32:14):
Missus Cratchet made the gravy already beforehandin a little saucepan. Hissing hot Master
Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigor. Miss Belda sweetened up the apple sauce.
Martha dusted the hot plates. Bobtook tiny tim beside him in a
tiny corner at the table, thetwo young Cratchets set chairs for everybody,
not forgetting themselves, and mounting guardupon their post, crammed spoons into their

(01:32:35):
mouths, less they should shriek forgoose before their turn came to be held.
At last, the dishes were seton, and grace was said.
It was succeeded by her breathless pause, as Missus Cratchett, looking slowly along
the carving knife, prepared to plungeit in the breast. But when she
did, and when the long expectedgush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur

(01:32:56):
of delight arose all round the board. An even tiny team mix sighted by
the two young Cratchetts, beat onthe table with the handle of his knife,
and feebly cried, Hurrah. Therenever was such a goose, Bob
said, he didn't believe that thereever was such a goose. Cooked,
its tenderness and flavor, sighs andcheapness were the themes of universal admiration eked

(01:33:19):
out by apple sauce and marshed potatoes. It was a sufficient dinner for the
whole family. Indeed, as MissusCratchett said, with great delight, surveying
one small atom of a bone uponthe dish, they hadn't ate it all
at last, Yet every one hadhad enough, and the youngest Cratchets in
particular, were steeped in sage andonion to the eyebrows. But now the

(01:33:41):
plates being changed by miss Belinda,Missus Cratchett left the room alone, too
nervous to hear witnesses to take thepudding up and bring it in. Suppose
it had not been done enough.Suppose it should break in turning out.
Suppose somebody should have gotten over thewall over the back yard and stolen it
while they were merry with the goose, a supper position, at which the
two young Cratches became livid. Allsorts of horrors were supposed. Hallo,

(01:34:05):
a great deal of steam. Thepuddy was out of the copper, A
smell like a washing day. Thatwas the cloth, A smell like an
evening house in a pastry cook's neckdoor to each other, with the laundress's
next door to that, that wasthe pudding. In half a minute,
Missus Cratchett entered, flush and smilingproudly, with the pudding like a speckled

(01:34:26):
cannon ball, so hard and firm, blazing with half of half a quartern
of ignited brandy, and bedight withChristmas Holly stuck into the top. Oh
what a wonderful pudding, Bob Cratchettsaid, and calmly too that he regarded
it as the greatest success achieved byMissus Cratchett since their marriage. Missus Cratchett
said that now the weight was offher mind, she would confess that she
and her doubts about the quality ofthe flower, everyone had something to say

(01:34:49):
about it. For nobody said orthought it was at all small pudding for
a large family, who would havebeen flat heresy to do so, any
Cratchett would have blushed to hint atsuch a thing. At last, the
dinner was all done, the clothwas cleared, the hearth swept, and
the fire made up. The compoundin the jug was being tasted and considered
perfect. Apples and oranges were putupon the table, and a shovelful of

(01:35:12):
chestnuts on the fire. And thenall the Cratchett family drew round the hearth
in what Bob Cratchit called the circlemeaning half a one, And at Bob
Cratchitt's elbow stood the family display ofglass, two tumblers, and a custard
cup without a handle. These heldthe hot stuff from the jug, however,
as well as golden goblets would havedone, and Bob served it out
with beaming looks, while the chestnutson the fire sputtered and crackled noisily.

(01:35:33):
Then Bob proposed a Merry Christmas tous all by DearS, God bless us,
which all the family be echoed,God bless us, every one,
said tiny Tim, the last ofall. He sat very close to his
father's side upon the stool. Bobheld his withered little hand in hears,
as if he loved the chair,and he wished to keep him by his

(01:35:54):
side, and dreaded that he mightbe taken from him. Spirit, said
Scrooge, with an interest he hadnever felt before. Or tell me if
tiny tim will live. I seea vacant seat, replied the ghost in
the poor chimney corner, and acrutch without an owner, carefully preserved.
If these shadows remain unaltered by thefuture, the child will die. No,

(01:36:15):
no, said Scrooge, Oh no, kind spirit say he will be
spared if these shadows are in unalteredby the future. None other of my
race returned The ghost will find himhere? What then, if he be
like to die, you'd better doit and decrease the surplus population. Scrooge
hung his head to hear his ownwords quoted by the spirit, and was

(01:36:36):
overcome with penitence and grief. Mansaid the ghost. If man, you
be at heart not adamant forbear thatwicked count, until you have discovered what
the surplus is and where it is, will you decide what men shall live
and what men shall die. Itmay be that in the sight of Heaven

(01:36:58):
you are more worth this and lessfit to live than millions like this poor
man's child. Oh God, tohear the insect on the leaf, pronouncing
on the too much life among hishungry brothers and the dust. Scrooge bent
before the ghost's rebuke and trembling,cast his eyes upon the ground, but
he raised them speedily upon hearing hisown name. Mister Scrooge, said Bob,

(01:37:20):
I give you, mister Scrooge,the founder of our feast. The
founder of our feast. Indeed,cried Missus Cratchet, reddening. I wish
I had him here. I'd givehim a piece of my mind to feast
upon her, and hope he'd havea good appetite for it. My dear,
said Bob the children Christmas Day.It should be Christmas Day, I'm
sure, said she, at whichone drinks the help of such an odious,

(01:37:42):
stingy heart. Unfeeling mad as misterScrooge, you know he is robber.
Nobody knows it better than you,poor fellow, my dear, was
Bob smiled. Answer. Christmas Day. I'll drink his health for your sake
in the day, said Missus Cratchett, but not for his long life.
To him, a merry Christmas anda happy New Year. Be very merry

(01:38:03):
and very happy. I have nodoubt the children drank the toast after her.
It was the first of their proceedingswhich had no heartiness. Tiny Tim
drank last of all, but hedidn't care. Tupinsford Scrooge was the ogre
of the family. The mention ofhis name cast a dark shadow upon the
party, which was not dispelled forfull five minutes after it had passed away.

(01:38:26):
They were ten times merrier than before, and the mere relief of Scrooge
the bale for being done with.Bob Cratchitt told them how he had a
situation in the desire for Master Peter, which would bring in if obtained full
five and sixpence weekly. The twoyoung Cratchets laughed tremendously at the idea of
Peter's being a man of business,and Peter himself looked thoughtfully at the fire

(01:38:46):
from between his collars, as ifhe were deliberating what particular investments he should
favor when he came into the receiptof that bewildering income. Martha, who
was a poor apprentice at of Millner's, then them what kind of work she
had to do, and how manyhours she worked at a stretch, and
how she meant to lie a bedtomorrow morning for a good long rest,

(01:39:08):
tomorrow being a holiday, she passedat home, and how she had seen
a countess and a lord some daysbefore, and how the lord was much
about as tall as Peter had whichPeter pulled up his collar so high that
you couldn't have seen his head ifyou had been there. All this time,
the chestnuts and the jug went roundand round, and by and by
they had a song about a lostchild traveling in the snow, from tiny

(01:39:28):
Tim, who had a plaintive littlevoice, and sang it very well.
Indeed, there was nothing of highmark in this. They were not a
handsome family. They were not welldressed. The shoes were far from being
waterproof, their clothes were scanty,and Peter might have known, and very
likely did, the insight of apawnbroker's. But they were happy, grateful,
pleased with one another, and contentedwith the time. And when they

(01:39:51):
faded they looked happier. Yet inthe bright sprinklings of the spirit's torture parting,
Scrooge had his eye upon them,especially untidy Tim, until the last.
By this time it was getting darkand snowing pretty heavily, as Scrooge
in the spirit went along the streets, the brightness of the roaring fires and
kitchens, parlors and all sorts ofrooms was wonderful. Here the flickering of

(01:40:13):
the blaze showed preparations for a cozydinner, with hot plates baking through and
through before the fire, and deepred curtains ready to be drawn to shut
out the cold and darkness. Thereall the children in the house are running
out in the snow to meet theirmarried sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles,
aunts, and to be the firstto greet them. Here again were
shadows on the window blind of guestsassembling, and there a group of handsome

(01:40:35):
girls, all hooded and fur bootedand all chattering at once, tripped lightly
off to some near neighbor's house,where woe upon the single man who saw
them enter. Artful witches. Well, they knew it in a glow,
But if you were judged from thenumbers of people on their way to friendly
gatherings, you might have thought thatno one was home to give them welcome
when they got there. Instead ofevery house expecting company and piling up its

(01:40:59):
fires, half chimed high blessings honoredhow the ghost exalted, how it bared
its breath of breast and opened itscapricious palm, and floated on outpouring with
a generous hand its bright and harmlessmirth on everything within its reach. The
very lamp lighter ran on before,dotting the dusky street with specks of light.
And who was dressed to spend theevening somewhere, laughed out loudly as

(01:41:23):
the spirit passed, though he hadkenned the lamp ladder than he had any
company but Christmas. And now withouta word of warning from the ghost,
they stood upon a bleak and desertmore, where monstrous masses of rude stone
were cast about as though it werethe burial place of giants, and water
spread itself wherever it listed, orwould have done so, but for the
frost that held it prisoner, andnothing grew but moss and furs in coarse

(01:41:47):
ring grass. Down in the west, the setting sun had left a streak,
a fiery red, which glared uponthe desolation for an instant like a
sullen eye, and frowning lower lowero'er yet was lost in the thick gloom
of darkest night. What place isthis? Asked Scrooge, a place where

(01:42:08):
miners live, who labor in thebowels of the earth, returned the spirit,
But they know me. See alight shone from the window of a
hut, and swiftly they advanced towardsit. Passing through the wall of mud
and stone, they found a cheerfulcompany assembled around a glowing fire, an
old old man and woman with theirchildren, and their children's children, and

(01:42:30):
another generation beyond that, all deckedout gaily in their holiday attire. The
old man, in a voice thatseldom rose above the howling wind upon the
barren waste, was singing them aChristmas song. It had been a very
old song when he was a boy, and from time to time they all
joined in the chorus. So surelyas they raised their voices, the old
man got quite blithe and loud,and so surely as they stopped, his

(01:42:54):
inger sank again. The Spirit didnot tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold
his robe, and, passing abovethe moor, sped whither not to sea
to see. To Scrute's horror,looking back, he saw the last of
the land, a frightful rage ofrocks behind him, and his ears were
deafened by the thundering of water asit rolled and roared and raged among the

(01:43:15):
dreadful cabins it had worn and scarcelytried to undermine. The earth. Built
upon a dismal reef of sunken rocks, some league or so from shore,
on which the waters chafed and dashedthe wild ear through, there stood a
solitary lighthouse. Great heaps of seaweedclung to its base, and storm birds,
born of the wind, one mightsuppose, as sea weed of the

(01:43:36):
water, rose and fell about itlike the waves they skimmed. But even
there two men who watched the lightand made a fire, and through the
loophole of the thick stone wall shedout a rare brightness in the awful sea.
Joining their horny hands over a roughtable at which they sat, they
wished each other merry Christness in theircan of grog. And one of them,

(01:44:00):
the elder two, with his faceall damaged and scarred with hard weather,
as the figure of an old shipmight be, struck up a sturdy
song that was like a gale initself. Again, the ghost sped on
upon the black and heaving sea,on on until being far away, as
he told Scrooge from any shore.They lighted on the ship, they stood

(01:44:20):
beside, the helmsman at the wheel, the lookout in the bow, the
officers who had the watch dark ghostlyfigures in their several stations. But every
man among them hummed at Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or
spoke below his breath to his companionof some by gone Christmas Day, with
homeward hopes belonging to it. Andevery man on board, waking or sleeping,

(01:44:42):
good or bad, had had akinder word for another on that day
than on any day in the year. And they had cheered to some extent
in their festivities, and had rememberedthose he cared for at a distance,
and had known that they delighted toremember him. It was a great i
surprise to Scrooge, while listening tothe moaning of the wind and thinking but

(01:45:02):
a solemn thing it was, tomove on through a lonely darkness over an
unknown abyss, whose depths were secretsas profound as death. It was a
great surprise to Scrooge while thus engaged, to hear a hearty laugh. It
was a much greater surprise to Scroogeto recognize it as his own nephews,
and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room with a spirit

(01:45:23):
standing smiling by his side, andlooking at that same nephew with approving affability.
Ha ha, laughed Scrooge's nephew.Ha ha ha. If you should
happen, by any unlikely chance toknow a man more blessed in a laugh
than Scrooge's nephew, all I cansay is I should like to know him
too. Introduce him to me,and I'll cultivate his acquaintance. It is

(01:45:45):
a fair, even hand noble adjustmentof things. That there is infection in
disease and sorrow. There is nothingin the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter
and good humor. When Scrooge's nephewlaughed in this way, holding his side,
rolling his head, and twisting hisface into the most extravagant contortions,
Scrooge's niece by marriage laughed as hardlyas he, and their assembled friends,

(01:46:09):
not being a bit behindhand, roaredout lustily. Ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha. He said that Christmaswas a humbug as I live, said
Scrooge's nephew. He believed it domore shame for him, Fred, said
Scrooge's niece, indignantly blest those women. They never do anything by hers.
They are always in earnest. Shewas very pretty, exceedingly pretty, with

(01:46:30):
a dimpled, surprised looking capital face, a ripe little mouth that seemed to
be made to be kissed as nodoubt, it was all kinds of good
little dots about her chin that meltedinto one another when she laughed, and
the sunniest pair of eyes you eversaw in any little creature's head. Altogether,
she was what you would have calledprovoking, you know, but satisfactory

(01:46:51):
too, Oh, perfectly satisfactory.He's a comical old fellow, said Scrooge's
nephew, that's the truth, butnot so pleasant as he might be.
However, his offenses carry their ownpunishment, and I have nothing to say
against him. I'm sure he's veryrich, Red hinted Scrooge's niece. At
least you always tell me so.What of that, my dear, said

(01:47:13):
Scrooge's nephew. His wealth is ofno use to him. He don't do
any good with it. He don'tmake himself comfortable with it. He hasn't
the satisfaction of thinking ha ha,that he is ever going to benefit us
with it. I have no patiencewith him, observed Scrooge's niece. Scrooger's
nieces, sisters, and all theother ladies express the same opinion. Oh
I have, said Scrooge's nephew.I'm sorry for him. I couldn't be

(01:47:36):
angry with him if I tried.Who suffers by his ill whims himself always
here. He takes it into hishead to dislike us, and he won't
come and dine with us. What'sthe consequence. He don't lose much of
a dinner. Indeed, I thinkhe loses a very good dinner, interrupted
Scrooge's niece. Everyone else said thesame, And they must be allowed to
have been competent judges, because theyhad all just had dinner, and with

(01:47:59):
the dessert upon the table, wereclosely round the fire by lamplight. Well,
I'm very glad to hear it,said Scrooge's nephew, because I haven't
great faith in these young housekeepers.What do you say? Tapa Tarpa had
clearly caught his eye upon one ofScrooger's niece's sisters, for he answered that
a bachelor was a wretched outcast whohad no right to express an opinional subject.
Whereas Scrooge's niece's sister, the plumpone with the lace tucker, not

(01:48:21):
the one with the roses blushed.Do go on, fred, said Scrooge's
niece, clapping her hands. Henever finishes what he begins to say.
He's such a ridiculous fellow, Scrooge'snephew reveled in another laugh. And as
it was impossible to keep the infectionoff, though the plump sister tried hard
to do it with an aromatic vinegar, his example was unanimously followed. I

(01:48:45):
was only going to say, saidScrooge's nephew, that the consequence of his
taking a dislike to us and notmaking merry with us is as I think
that he loses some pleasant moments whichcould do him no harm. I'm sure
he loses pleasanter comparisons than he canfind in his own thoughts, either in
his moldy old office or his dustychambers. I mean to give him the
same chance every year, whether helikes it or not, for I pity

(01:49:09):
you. He may rail at Christmastill he dies, but I can't help
thinking better of it. I defyhim if he finds me going there in
good temper year after year and saying, Uncle Scrooge, how are you if
it only puts him in the veinto leave his poor clerk fifty pounds.
That's something, And I think Ishook him yesterday. It was there turned

(01:49:30):
to laugh now the notion of shakingScrooge pumping thoroughly, good natured, and
not caring much what they laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate.
He encouraged them in their merriment andpassed the bottle joyously. After teeth
they had some music, for theywere a musical family, and knew what
they were about when they sung aglee or catch. I can assure you,
especially Topper, who would growl awayin the bass like a good one,

(01:49:54):
and never swelled the large veins inhis forehead or get ridd in the
face over it. Scrooge's niece playedwell upon the harp, and played,
among other tunes, a simple littleair, a mere nothing. He might
learn to whistle it in two minutes, which had been familiar to the child
who fetched Scrooge from the boarding school, as he had been reminded by the
ghost of Christmas past. When thisstrain of music sounded, all the things

(01:50:15):
the ghost had shown him came uponhis mind. He softened more and more,
and thought, if he could listento it often years ago, he
might have cultivated the kindness of lifeor his own happiness with his own hands,
without resorting to the sexton spade thatburied Jacob Marley. But they didn't
devote the whole evening to music.After a while they played forfeits. For

(01:50:36):
it is good to be children sometimes, it never better at Christmas when its
mighty founder was a child himself.Stop. There was first a game at
blind Man's Bluff, of course therewas, And I no more believe Topper
was really blind than I believe hehad eyes in his boots. My opinion
is that it was a dumb thingbetween him and Scrooge's nephew, and that

(01:50:56):
the ghost of Christmas Present knew it. The way he went out of that
plump sister in the night's tucker wasan outrage on the credulity of human nature,
knocking down the fire irons, tumblingover chairs, bombing against the piano,
smothered himself among the curtains, wherevershe went, there went he.
He always knew where the plump sisterwas. He wouldn't catch anybody else.
If you had fallen up against him, as some of them did on purpose,

(01:51:18):
he would have made a feint ofendeavoring to seize you, which would
have been an affront to your understanding, and would instantly have sidled off in
the direction of the plump sister.She often cried out, it wasn't fair,
It really was not. But whenat last he caught her, when
in spite of all the silken rustlingsand rapid flutterings past him, he got
her into a corner, and whencethere was no escape, then his conduct

(01:51:42):
was the most exorable. For hispretending not to know her, his pretending
that it was necessary to touch herhead dress, and further to assure himself
of her identity by pressing a certainring upon her finger and a certain chin
about her neck, was vile,monstrous, no doubt, she told her
opinion of it. When another blindman being in office, there were so

(01:52:03):
many confidential together behind the curtain.Scrooge's niece was not one of the blind
men's bluff party, but made comfortablewith the large chair and a footstool in
a snug corner, where the ghostsand Scrooge were close behind her. But
she joined in the forefeitds and lovedher love to admiration with all the letters
of the alphabet. Likewise, atthe game of how, when and where,

(01:52:24):
she was very great, and tothe secret joy of Scrooge's nephew,
beat her sister's hollow. Though theywere sharp girls too, As Toppa would
have told you, there might havebeen twenty people there, young and old,
but they all played, And sodid Scrooge, for wholly forgetting in
the interest he had in what wasgoing on, that his voice made no
sound in their ears. He sometimescame out with his guests quite loud,

(01:52:47):
and very often guess quite right too. For the sharpest needle, best white
chapel warranted not to cut in theeye, was not sharper than Scrooge blunt,
as he took it in his headto be. The ghost was greatly
pleased to find him in this mood, and looked upon him with such favor
that he begged like a boy tobe allowed to stay until the guests departed.

(01:53:08):
But this, the spirit said,could not be done. Here's a
new game, said Scrooge, onehalf hour spirit only one. It was
a game called yes or No,where Scrooge's nephew had to think of something
and the rest must find out whathe only answering to their questions yes or
no, as the case was,the risk fire of questioning to which he

(01:53:28):
was exposed, elicited from him thathe was thinking of an animal, a
live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that
growled and grunted sometimes, and talkedsometimes, and lived in London, and
walked about in the streets, andwasn't made a show of, and wasn't
led by anybody, and didn't livein a menagerie, and was never killed

(01:53:49):
in a market. And it wasnot a horse or an ass, or
a cow, or a bull ora tiger, or a dog or a
pig, or a cat or abear. At every fresh question that was
put to him, this nephew burstinto a fresh roar of laughter, and
was so inexpressively tickled that he wasobliged to get off off the sofa and

(01:54:10):
stamp. At last, the plumpsister, falling into a similar stink,
cried out, I've found it.I know what it is Fred, I
know what it is? What isit? Said Fred? It's your uncle
Scrooge, which it certainly was.Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some
objected that the reply to is ita bear ought to have been yes,

(01:54:31):
inasmuch as an answer in the negativewas sufficient to have diverted their thoughts from
mister Scrooge, supposing they never hadany tendency that way. He has given
us plenty of merryment, I'm sure, said Fred, And it would be
ungrateful not to drink his health.Here is a glass of buled while ready
to our hand at the moment,and I say, Uncle Scrooge. Well,
Uncle Scrooge. They cried a merryChristmas and a happy New Year to

(01:54:56):
the old man wherever he is,said Scrooge's nephew. He wouldn't take it
from me, but he may haveit. Nevertheless, Uncle Scrooge. Uncle
Scrooge had imperceptibly became so gay andlight of heart that he would have pledged
the unconscious company in return, andthanked them in an inaudible speech if the
ghost had given him time. Butthe whole scene passed off in the breath

(01:55:19):
of the last words spoken by hisnephew, and he and the Spirit were
again upon their travelers. Much theysaw, and far they went, and
many homes they visited, but alwayswith a happy end. The spirits stood
beside sick beds, and they werecheerful on foreign lands, and they were
close at home by struggling men,and they were patient with their greater hope

(01:55:43):
by poverty. And it was richin almshouse, hospital, in jail,
in miseries, every refuge where avain man and his little brief authority had
not made fast the door and barredthe spirit out. He left his blessing
and taught Scrooge his cresips. Itwas a long night if it were only
a night. But Scrooge had hisdoubts about this, because Christmas holidays appeared

(01:56:06):
to be condensed into a space oftime they passed together. It was strange,
too, that while Scrooge remained unalteredin his outward form, the Ghost
grew older, clearly older. Scroogehad observed this change, but never spoke
of it until they had left achildren's twelfth Night party. When looking at
the Spirit as they stood together inan open place, he noticed that his

(01:56:26):
hair was gray. Are spirit's liveso short, asked Scrooge. My life
upon this globe is very brief,replied the ghost. It ends to night
to night, cried Scrooge, tonight at midnight. Hark, the time
is drawing near. The chimes wereringing three quarters past eleven at the moment.

(01:56:49):
Forgive me if I am not justifiedin what I ask, said Scrooge,
looking intently at the spirit's robe.But I see something strange and not
belonging to yourself protruding from your skirts. Is that a foot or a claw?
It might be a claw for theflesh there is upon it was the
spirit's sorrowful reply. Look here,from the foldings of his robe, he

(01:57:12):
brought two children, wretched, abject, frightful, hit is miserable. They
knelt down at his feet and clungupon the outside of his garment. Oh
man, look here, look lookdown here, exclaimed the ghost. They
were a boy and girl, yellow, meager, ragged, scowling, wolfish,

(01:57:33):
but prostrate tune their humility, wheregraceful youth should have filled their features
out and touched them with its freshesttints, a stale and shrilled hand like
that of age, and pinched andtwisted them and pulled them into shreds where
angels might have sat and thrown devils, lurked and glared out menacing no change,

(01:57:55):
no degradation, no perversion of humanityin any grade, through all theies
of wonderful creation, as monsters halfso horrible in dread. Scrooge started back,
appalled having them shown to him inthis way. He tried to say
they were fine children, but thewords choked themselves. Rather than be parties
to a lie of such enormous magnitude, Spirrit, are they yours? Scrooge

(01:58:21):
could say no more. They areman's, said the Spirit, looking down
upon them, and they cling tome, appealing from their fathers the boy's
ignorance. The girl is wont bewarethem both and all of their degree,
But most of all beware the boy, for on his brow I see written

(01:58:44):
witches doom unless the writing be erased, deny it, cried the Spirit,
stretching out his hat towards the city. Stand of those who tell it,
ye admit it for your facetious purposes, and make it worse. And by
the end have they no refuge orresource? Cried Scrooge. Are there no
prisons? Said the Spirrit, turningon him for the last time with his

(01:59:08):
own words, are there no workhouses? The bell struck twelve. Scrooge looked
about him for the ghost, andsought not. As the last stroke ceased
to vibrate, he remembered the predictionof old Jacob Barley, and lifting up
his eyes, beheld a solemn phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a

(01:59:30):
mist along the ground towards him.End of Stave three of A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens. This is aLibraryvox recording. All Library of Ox recordings

(01:59:56):
are in the public domain. Formore information or to volunteer, please visit
libravox dot org. That's l IB R I v o X dot org.
Recorded by me Glenn Halserm, alsoknown as Smokestack Jones Smokestack Jones at
gmail dot com. You'll also findmy blog at too much Johnson dot blogspot
dot com. A Christmas Carol byCharles Dickens, Stay four, the last

(02:00:19):
of the three spirits, The phantomslowly, gravely, silently approached. When
it came near him, Scrooge bentdown upon his knee, for in the
very air through which the spirit moved, it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
It was shrouded in a deep blackgarment, which concealed its head,

(02:00:41):
its face, its form, andleft nothing of it visible save one outstretched
hand. But for this it wouldhave been difficult to detach its figure from
the night and separated from the darknessby which it was surrounded. He felt
that it was tall and stately whenit came beside him, and that its
mysterious presence filled him with a solemndread. He knew no more, for

(02:01:08):
the spirit neither spoke nor moved.Am I in the presence of the ghost
of Christmas yet to come? SaidScrooge. The Spirit answered not, but
pointed onward with its hand. Youare about to show me shadows of things
that have not happened, but willhappen in the time before us. Scrooge

(02:01:29):
pursued, Is that so, spirit? The upper portion of the garment was
contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its
head. That was the only answerhe received. Although well used to ghostly
company by this time, Scrooge fearedthe silent shape so much that his legs
trembled beneath him, and he foundthat he could hardly stand. When he

(02:01:54):
prepared to follow it, the spiritpaused a moment, as observing his condition
and giving him time to recover.But Scrooge was all the worse for this.
It thrilled him with a vague,uncertain horror to know that behind the
dusky shroud there were ghostly eyes intentlyfixed upon him, while he, though

(02:02:15):
he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand
and one great heap of black ghirstof the future, he exclaimed, I
fear you more than any specter Ihave seen. But as I know your
purpose is to do me good,and as I hope to live to be

(02:02:38):
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 handwas pointed straight before them. Laid on,
said Scrooge. Laid on. Thenight is wading fast, and it
is precious time to me. Iknow, Lay down, Spirit. The

(02:03:01):
phantom moved away as it had cometowards him. Scrooge followed in the shadow
of its dress, which bore himup, he thought, and carried him
along. They scarcely seemed to enterthe city, for the city rather seemed
to spring up about them and encompassedthem of its own act. But there
they were, in the heart ofit, on change amongst the merchants,

(02:03:21):
who hurried up and down, andchinkled the money in their pockets, and
conversed in groups, and looked attheir watchers, and trifled thoughtfully with the
great old seals, and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them. Often,
the spirit stopped beside one little knottedbusiness men. Observing that the hand
was pointed to them, Scrooge advancedto listen to their talk. No,

(02:03:44):
said a great fat man with amonstrous chin. I don't know much about
it either way. I only knowhe is dead. When did he die?
Inquired another last night? I believewhy? What's the matter with him,
asked, taking a vast quantity ofsnuff out of a very large snuff
box. I thought he'd never die, God knows, said the first,

(02:04:06):
with a yawn. What had hedone with his money? Asked a red
faced gentleman with a pengeous excretions onthe end of his nose that shook like
the gills of a turkey cock.I haven't heard, said the man with
a large chin, yawning again leftit to his company. Perhaps he hasn't
left it to me. That's allI know. This pleasantry was received with

(02:04:28):
a general laugh. It's very likelyto be a very cheap funeral, said
the same speaker. For upon mylife, I don't know of anybody to
go to it. Suppose we makeup a party and volunteer. I don't
mind going if lunch is provided,observed the gentleman with the excretionents on his
nose. But I must be fedif I make one another laugh. Well,
I am the most disinterested among you, after all, said the first

(02:04:50):
speaker. For I never wear blackgloves, and I never eat lunch.
But I'll offer to go if anybodyelse will. When I come to think
of it, I'm not at allsure that I was his most particular friend,
who used to stop and speak wheneverwe meant by by speakers and listeners
strolled away and mixed with other groups. Scrooge knew the men and looked towards

(02:05:10):
the spirit for an explanation. Thepatom glided on into a street. Its
finger pointed to two persons meeting.Scrooge listened again, thinking that the explanation,
I lie here. He knew thesetwo men also perfectly. There were
men of business, very wealthy,and of great importance. He had made
a point always of standing well intheir esteem in a business point of view,

(02:05:30):
that is, strictly in a businesspoint of view. Oh how are
you, said one, Oh howare you? Returned the other? Well,
said the first old scratch has gothis own at last, Hey,
so I am told, returned thesecond gold. Isn't it seasonable for Christmas
time? You're not a skater?I suppose, no, No, something
else to think of? Good morning, not another word. That was their

(02:05:55):
meeting, their conversation, and theirparting. Scrooge a first inclined to be
surprised that the spirit should attach importanceto conversations apparently so trivial, but feeling
assured that they must have some hiddenpurpose, he set himself to consider what
it was likely to be. Theycould scarcely be supposed to have any bearing
on the death of Jacob, hisown partner, for that was past,

(02:06:18):
and the ghost province was of thefuture. Nor could he think of any
one immediately connected with himself to whomhe could apply them, But nothing doubting
that to whomever they applied, theyhad some late and moral for his own
improvement. He resolved to treasure upevery word he heard, at everything he
saw, and especially to observe theshadow of himself when it appeared, for

(02:06:41):
he in an expectation that the conductof his future self would give him the
clue he missed and would render theresolution of these riddles easy. He looked
about in the very place for hisown image. But another man stood at
his accustomed corner, And though theclerk poured in to his usual time of
day, for being there, hesaw no likenesses of himself among the multitudes
that poured in through the porch.It gave him little surprise, however,

(02:07:05):
for he had been revolving in hismind a change of life, had thought
and hoped. He saw his newbornresolutions carried out in this quiet and dark
Beside him stood the phantom with itsoutstretched hand. When he roused himself from
his thoughtful quest, he fancied fromthe turn of the hand and its situation
in reference to himself, that theunseen eyes were looking at him keenly.

(02:07:29):
It made him shudder and feel verycold. They left the busy scene and
went into an obscure part of townwhere Scrooge had never penetrated before, although
he recognized its situation and its badrepute. The ways were foul and narrow,
the shops and houses are wretched,the people half naked, drunken,
slipshod, Ugly alleys and archways,like so many cesspools, disgorged their offenses

(02:07:56):
of smell and dirt and life uponthe straggling, and the whole quarter reeked
with crime, with filth and misery. Far in this den of infamous resort,
there was a low browed beetling shopbelow a penthouse roof, where iron,
old rags, bottles, bones,and greasy oval were brought upon the

(02:08:20):
floor. Within were pil of heapsof rusty keys, nails, chains,
hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds.
Secrets that few would like to scrutinizewere bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly
rags, masses of corrupted fat,and sepulchers of bones. Sitting in among

(02:08:41):
the wares he dealt in by acharcoal stove made of bricks, was a
gray haired rascal nearly seventy years ofage, who had screened himself from the
cold air without by a frowsy curtainingin miscellaneous tatters, hung up in a
line, and smoked his pipe inall the luxury of calm retirement. Scrooge
and the Phantom came into the presenceof this man just as a woman with

(02:09:01):
a heavy bundle slung into the shop, but she had scarcely entered with another
woman similarly laden, came in two, and she was closely followed by a
man and faded black, who wasno less startled by the sight of them
than they had been upon the recognitionof each other. After a short period
of blake astonishment, in which theold man with the pipe enjoined them,
the all three burst into a laugh. Let the child woman allowed to be

(02:09:24):
the first, cried she who hadentered first. Let the lordresses allowed to
be a second, and let theundertaker's men alone to be the third.
Look here, old Joe, here'sa chance. If we haven't all free,
bet they would at meaning it.You couldn't have met in a better
place, said old Joe, removingthe pipe from his mouth. Come into
parlor. You were made free forit long ago, you know. And

(02:09:46):
the other two ain't strangers. Shoptill I shut the door in the shop.
Ah, how it's streaked. Theyain't at a roughly bit of metal
in the place. Into own ages, I believe, And I'm sure there's
no such ol boned hair of mine. We're all suitable for our calling,
well matched. Come in into theparlor. Coming in the parlor. The

(02:10:07):
parlor was the space behind the screenof rags. The old man raked the
fire together with an old stare on, and, having trimmed his smoky lamp
for it was night, with thestem of his pipe, put it in
his mouth again. While he didthis, the woman, who had already
spoken through her bundle on the floorand sat down in a floating manner on
a stool, crossing her elbows onher knees, and looking with bold defiance

(02:10:30):
at the other two. What odds? What odds, missus dinver, said
the woman. Every person had theright to take care of himselves. He
always did. Now that's true,indeed, said the laundress. No more,
man, So why then, don'tstand staring as if you are afraid?
Woman, who's the wiser? We'renot going to pick holes in each
other as coats, I suppose,no, indeed, said Missus Dillibur and

(02:10:54):
the man together. We should hopenot very well, then cried the woman.
That's an who's the worst for theloss of a few things like deed.
No a dead man, I supposeno, indeed, said Missus Dilber,
laughing. I wish it was alittle heavy a judgment, replied the
woman. And it shouldn't have been. You may depend on it if I
could have laid my hands on anythingelse. Open the budle, oad,

(02:11:16):
Joe, and let me know thevalue of it. Speak out plane.
I'm not afraid to be the first, not afraid for Ndam to see it.
We know pretty well what we're helpin our shelves for bet here.
I believe it's no sin. Opena bundle, Joe. But the country
of her friends would not allow this. And the man in faded black,
mounting the breech first produced his plunder. It was not extensive. A seal

(02:11:39):
or two or a pencil case,a pair of sleeve buttons, and a
brooch of no great value were all. They were severally examined in the praise
by old Joe, who chucked thesums as he was supposed to give for
each upon the wall and added themup to a total when he found there
was nothing more to come. Butthat's your account, said Joe, and
I wouldn't give another sixpence if Iwere to be he bore for not doing

(02:12:01):
it. Oo's next missus, Dilbowas next, sheets and towels, a
little wearing apparel, two old fashionedsilver teaspoons, a pair of sugar tongs,
and a few boots. Her accountwas staved on the wall in the
same manner. I always give youmuch to the lady. It's a weaknessher
morne, and it's the way Iruined my shelf, said old Joe.
That's your account. If you askme for another penny and made it an

(02:12:22):
open question, I'd repent of beingso liberal and knock off after ground.
And now one do my bundle,Joe, said the first woman. Joe
went down on his knees for thegreater convenience of opening it, and,
having unfastened a great many knots,dragged out a large and heavy roll of
some dark stuff. What are youcall rage, said Joe. Big curtains,

(02:12:43):
Ah, returned the woman, laughingand leaning forward in her crossed arms.
Big Curtains, you don't mean tosay you took'em down, rigged
and all with him lion there,said Joe. Yes, I do,
replied the woman. Why not youwere bored to make your fortune, said
Joe, and you'll certainly do it. I certainly shan't hold my hand when
I can get anything in it byreaching it out. For the sake of

(02:13:05):
such a man as he was,I promise you, Joe, don't drop
that all upon a Blanket's now it'sblanket, asked Joe. Well, who's
else do you think, replied thewoman. Is it likely you take over
that him? I dare say.Well, hope he didn't die of aen
it they'd catching, eh, saidold Joe, stopping in his work and
looking up. Don't you be afraidof that, returned the woman. I

(02:13:28):
ain't so fond of his company andorder about him for such things if he
did. Ah, you may lookthrough that shirt to your eyes, ech,
but you won't find a hole init, not a threadbare place.
It's the best. He had afine one too. They've wasted if it
hadn't been for me. Well youcall wasted it, asked Old Joe.
Put it on him to be buriedin for sure, replied the old woman
with a laugh. Somebody was fooledenough to do it, but I took

(02:13:52):
it off again. If kalighery ain'tgood enough for such a purpose, it
isn't good enough for anything quite asbecoming to the body. It can't look
ugly. He didn't that one.Scrooge listened to this dialog in horror.
As they sat grouped about their spoiland the scanty light afforded by the old
man's lamp. He viewed them witha detestation and disgust which could hardly have

(02:14:13):
been greater, though they had beenobseen demons marketing the corpse itself. Ha
ha, laughed the woman. WhenOld Joe, producing a flannel bag with
money in it, told out thereseveral games upon the ground. It's the
end of it, you see.He frightened every one away from him when
he's allied to profit us when hewas dead. Spit it, said Scrooge,

(02:14:33):
shuddering from head to foot. Isee, I see the case of
this unhappy man might be my own. My left tens that way. Now,
merciful Heaven, what is this?He recoiled in horror, for the
scene had changed, and now healmost touched a bed a bear uncurtained bed,
on which, beneath a ragged sheet, there lay something covered up,

(02:14:56):
which, though it was dumb,announced itself in awful language. The room
was very dark, too dark tobe observed with any accuracy, though Scrooge
glanced rounded in obedience to a secretimpulse, anxious to know what kind of
room it was. A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell
straight upon the bed, and onit plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept,

(02:15:20):
uncared for was the body of thisman? Scrooge glanced toward the phantom.
Its steady hand was pointed to thehead. The cover was so carelessly
adjusted that the slightest raising of it, the motion of a finger upon Scrooge's
part, would have disclosed the face. He thought of it, felt how
easy it would be to do so, and longed to do it, but

(02:15:43):
had no more power to withdraw theveil than to dismiss the specter at his
side, Oh, cold, cold, rigid, dreadful death. Set up
thine altar hair, and dress itwith such tears as thou hast at thy
command. For this is thy dominion, but of the loved, revered and

(02:16:03):
honored head thou canst not turn onehair to any dread purposes, or make
one feature odious. It is notthat the hand is heavy or will fall
down when released. It is notthat the heart and pulse are still,
But the hand was open, generousand true. The heart brave, warm
and tender, and the pulse areman's strike, shadow strike, and see

(02:16:28):
his good deeds springing from the wound, to sow the world with life immortal.
No voice pronounced these words and Scrooge'sears, and yet he heard them.
When he looked upon the bed,he thought, if this man could
be raised up now, what wouldbe his foremost thoughts? Avarice, hard

(02:16:50):
dealing, griping cares. They havebrought him to a rich end. Truly,
he lay in the dark, emptyhouse, with not a man,
a woman, or a child tosay that he was kind to me in
this or that. And for thememory of one kind word, I will
be kind to him. A catwas tearing at the door, and there

(02:17:11):
was a sound of gnawing rats beneaththe hearth stone. What they wanted in
the room of death, and whythey were so restless and disturbed? Scrooge
dare not think spirit. He saidthis is a fearful place. In leaving
it, I shall not leave itslesson. Trust me, let us go
still. The ghost pointed with anunmoved finger to the head. I understand

(02:17:37):
you, Scrooge returned, and Iwould do it if I could. But
I have not the power. Spirit, I have not the power. Again,
it seemed to look at him.If there is any person in the
town who feels emotion caused by thisman's death, said Scrooge, quite agonized,
show that person to me, Spirit, I beat you. The phantom

(02:18:01):
spread its stark robe before him fora moment like a wing, and withdrawing
it revealed a room by daylight,where a mother and her children were.
She was expecting some one, andwith anxious eagerness for she walked up and
down the room, started at everysound, looked out from the window,
glanced at the clock, tried butin vain to work with her needle,

(02:18:22):
and could hardly bear the voices ofthe children in their play. At length,
the long expected knock was heard.She hurried to the door and met
her husband, a man whose facewas careworn and depressed. Though he was
young, there was a remarkable expressionin it, now, a kind of
serious delight, of which he feltashamed, and which he struggled to repress.

(02:18:46):
He sat down to the dinner thathad been hoarding for him by the
fire, and when she asked himfaintly, what news, which was not
until after a long silence, heappeared embarrassed. How to answer? Is
it good? She said? Oh? Bad? To help him bad,
he answered, we are quite ruined. No, there is hope yet,

(02:19:07):
Caroline. If he relents, shesaid, amazed, there is nothing is
past hope. If such a miraclehas happened, is past relenting? Said
her husband. He is dead.She was a mild, impatient creature if
her face spoke truth, but shewas thankful in her soul to hear it,

(02:19:28):
and she said so with clasped hands. She prayed forgiveness the next moment,
and was sorry. But the firstwas the emotion of the heart.
What the half drunken woman whom Itold you of last night said to me
when I tried to see him andobtain a week's delay, and what I
thought was a mere excuse to avoidme, turns out to be of been

(02:19:48):
quite true. He was not onlyvery ill, but dying. Then to
whom will our dat be translated,I don't know, but before that time
we shall be ready with the money. And even though we were not,
it would be a bad fortune indeedto find so merciless a creditor in his
successor. We may sleep to nightwith light hearts, Caroline, Yes,

(02:20:09):
soften it as they would. Theirhearts were lighter. The children's faces hushed
and cloister around to hear what theyso little understood, were brighter, and
it was a happier house for thisman's death. The only emotion that the
ghosts could show him caused by theevent was what of pleasure? Let me
see some tenderness connected with the death, said Scrooge. Oh, that dark

(02:20:31):
chamber spirit which we left just now, would be ever present to me.
The ghosts conducted him through several streetsfamiliar to his feet, and as they
went along, Scrooge looked here andthere to find himself, But nowhere was
he to be seen. They enteredpoor Bob Cratchitt's house, the dwelling he
had visited before, and found themother and the children seated around the fire,

(02:20:52):
quiet, very quiet. The noisylittle Cratchets were as still as statues
in one corner, and sat lookingup at Peter, who had a book
before him. The mother and herdaughters were engaged in sewing, but surely
they were very quiet, and hetook a child and set him in the
midst of them. Where hath Scroogeheard those words? He had not dreamed

(02:21:16):
them. The boy must have readthem out as he and the spirit crossed
the threshold. Why did he notgo on? The mother laid her work
upon the table and put her handup to her face. The color hurts
my eyes, she said, Thecolor a poor tiny tim. They are

(02:21:39):
better now, again, said Cragitt'swife. It makes them weak by candlelight.
And I wouldn't show weak eyes toyour father when he comes home for
the world. It must be nearhis time passed it rather, Peter answered,
shutting up his book. But Ithink you WoT a little slower than
he used to these past few evenings, Mother, they were very quiet again

(02:22:00):
at last, she said, ina steady, cheerful voice that only faltered
once. I've known him to walkwith a I've known him to walk with
tiny tim upon his shoulder very fast, indeed, And so have I cried
Peter often, And so have Iexclaimed another. So had all but he
was very light to carry. Sheresumed intent upon her work, and his

(02:22:24):
father loved him so, and itwas no trouble, no trouble. And
there is your father at the door. She hurried out to meet him,
and little Bob in his comforter.He had need of it. Poor fellow
came in. His tea was readyfor him on the harp, and they
all tried who should help him toit most. Then the two young Crotchets
got up on his knees and laideach a child a little cheek against his

(02:22:45):
face, and they said, don'tmind it, father, don't be grieved.
He was very cheerful with them,and spoke pleasantly to all the family.
He looked at the work upon thetable and praised the industry in speed
of missus Cratchett and the girls.They would be done long before Sunday,
he said, Sunday you went today? Then Robert asked his wife.
Yes, my dear, returned Bob. I wish you could have gone.

(02:23:11):
It would have done you good tosee how green a place it is.
But you'll see it often. Ipromised him that I would walk there on
a Sunday. My little little childcried, Bob, my little child.
He broke down all at once.He couldn't help it. If he could
have helped it, he and hischild would have been farther apart, perhaps

(02:23:33):
than they were. He left theroom and went upstairs into the room above,
which was lighted cheerfully and hung withChristmas. There was a chair set
close beside the child, and therewere signs of some one having been there
lately. Poor Bob sat down init, and when he had thought a

(02:23:54):
little and composed himself, he kissedthe little face. He was wrecked child
to what had happened, and wentdown again. Quite happy. They drew
about the fire and talked, thegirls and mother working still. He told
him the extraordinary kindness of mister Scrooge'snephew, whom he had scarcely seen but
once, and who meeting him inthe street that day, and seeing that

(02:24:16):
he looked a little, just alittle down, you know, said Bob,
inquired what had happened to distress him? On which said Bob, for
he is the pleasantest spoken gentleman you'veever heard, I told him, I
am heartily sorry for it, misterCratchett, he said, and heartily sorry
for your good wife, by thebye. How he ever knew that,
I don't know knew what, mydear, why that you were a good

(02:24:41):
wife, replied Bob. Everybody knowsthat, said Peter. Very well observed
my boy, cried Bob. Ihope they do heartily sorry, he said,
for your good wife. If Ican be of service to you in
any way, he said, givingme his card, that's where I live,
pray to me now. It wasn't, cried Bob, for the sake

(02:25:03):
of anything he might be able todo for us, so much as for
his kind way. That this wasquite delightful. He really seemed as if
he had known our tiny tim andfelt with us. I'm sure he's good,
so said missus Cratchitt. You wouldbe surer of it, my dear,
returned Bob, if you saw andspoke to him, I shouldn't be
at all surprised. Mark what Isay, if he got Peter a better

(02:25:26):
situation, only hear that, Peter, said Missus Cratchitt, and then cried
one of the girls. Peter willbe keeping company with some one and setting
up for himself. Get along withyou, retorted Peter, grinning. It's
just as likely as not said Bob, What of these days, though there's
plenty of time for that, mydear. But however, and whenever we

(02:25:46):
part from one another, I'm surewe shall none of us forget poor tiny
Tim, shall we? Or hisfirst parting that there was among us?
Never Father, cried they all.And I know, said Bob, I
know, my DearS, that whenwe recollect our patience, how mild he
was, though he was a littlelittle child, we shall not quarrel easily

(02:26:11):
among ourselves and forget poor tiny Timin doing it. No, Never,
Father, they all cried again.I am very happy, said little Bob.
I am very happy. Missus Cratchackkissed him, his daughter's kissed him.
The two young Cratches kissed him withPeter, and him himself shook hands.
Spirit of tiny Tim, Thy childishessence was from God, specter,

(02:26:37):
said Scrooge. Something informs me thatour parting moment is at hand. I
know it, but I know nothow. And tell me what man that
was whom we saw lang dead?The ghost of Christmas yet to come,
conveyed him as before, though ata different time, he thought. Indeed,
there seemed no order to these lattervisions, save that they were of

(02:27:00):
the future into the resorts of businessmen, but showed him not himself.
Indeed, the spirit did not stayfor anything, but went straight on as
to the end just now desired,until besought by Scrooge to tarry for a
moment. This court, said Scrooge, through which we hurry, now is
where my place of occupation is,and has been for a length of time.

(02:27:22):
I see the house, Let mebehold what I shall be in days
to come. The spirit stopped,the hand was pointed elsewhere the house is
yonder. Scrooge exclaimed, why doyou point away the inexorb of finger?
And when no change, Scrooge hastenedto the window of his office and looked

(02:27:45):
in. It was an office still, but not his. The furniture was
not the same, and the figurein the chair was not himself. The
phantom pointed as before he joined itonce again, in wondering why and whither
he had gorne accompanied it. Untilthey reached an iron gate. He paused
to look round before entering. Itwas a worthy place, wallden by houses,

(02:28:09):
overrun by grass and weeds, thegrowth of vegetation's death, not life,
choked up with too much bearing fat, with repleted appetite a worthy place.
The spirit stood among the graves andpointed down to one. He advanced
toward it, trembling. The featherwas exactly as it had been, but
he dreaded that he saw new meaningin its solemn shape. Before I draw

(02:28:33):
nearer to that stone in which youpoint, said Scrooge, Answer me one
question. Are these the shadows ofthings that will be? Or the shadows
of things that may be? Only? Still? The ghost pointed downward to
the grave by which it stood.Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to
which, if preserved in they mustlead, said Scrooge. But if the

(02:28:56):
courses be departed from the ends,would change? Say? It is thus
with what you show me. Thespirit was as immovable as ever. Scrooge
crept towards it, trembling as hewent, and following the finger read upon
the stone of the neglected grave hisown name, Ebenezer Scrooge, I who

(02:29:26):
lay upon the bend. He criedupon his knees. The finger pointed from
the grave to him and back again. No, spirrit, oh no,
no, the finger was still there, spirt, he cried, tight,
clutching at his robe. Hear me, I am not the man I was.

(02:29:48):
I will not be the man Imust have been for this intercourse?
Why show me this? If Iam past all hope? For the first
time, the hand appeared to shakegood spirit. He pursued as down on
the ground he fell before it.Your nature proceeds for me and pities me.
Assure me that I may yet changethe shadows you showed me. By

(02:30:11):
an altar fly, the kind handtrembled. I will put a crispmas in
my heart and try and keep itall the year. I believe in the
past, the present, and thefuture. The spirits of all three will
strive within me. I will notshut out the lessons that they teach.
Oh tell me, I may spongeaway the writing of this stone. In

(02:30:33):
his agony, he caught the spectralhand. It sought to free itself,
but he was strong in his entreatyand detained it. The spirit stronger yet
repulsed him. Holding up his handsin a last prayer to have his fate
reversed. He saw an alteration inthe phantom's hood in dress. It shrunk,
collapsed, and woodled down into abedpost. The end of Stay four

(02:31:00):
of a Christmas carol by Charles Dickens. This is a LibriVox recording. All
librvox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,

(02:31:22):
please visit LibriVox dot org. That'sl I B R I v o x
dot org. Recorded by me,Glenn Halstrom, also known as Smokestack Jones
Smokestack Jones at gmail dot com.You'll also find my blog at too much
Johnson dot blogspot dot com. AChristmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Stay five
the end of it, Yes,And the bedpost was his own. The

(02:31:43):
bed was his own, the roomwas his own, best and happiest of
all. The time before him washis own to make amends in. I
would live in the past, thepresent, and the future, Scrooge repeated
as he scrambled out of bed.The spins of oulvery shall strive within me,
Oh, Jacob Molly, ever didthe Christmas time be praised for this?
I see it on my knees,Old Jacob, on my knees.

(02:32:05):
He was so fluttered and so glowingin his good intentions that his broken voice
could scarcely answer to his call.He had been sobbing violently in his conflict
with the spirit and his face waswet with tears. They are not torn
down, cried Scrooge, folding oneof his bed curtains in his arms.
They are not torn down. Rings, and all day I hear, I
am here, the shadows of thethings that would have been made be dispelled.

(02:32:28):
They will be, I know theywill. His hands were busy with
his garments all this time, turningthem inside out, putting them on upside
down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of
extravagance. I don't know what todo, cried Scrooge, laughing and crying
in the same breath, making aperfect lococin of himself with his stockings and

(02:32:48):
miss light is a feather. I'mas happy as an angel, I'm as
maddy as a schoolboy. I'm asgiddy as a drunken man. I'm merry
Christmas to everybody, A happy doingat all the way world. Hell,
there, Pello. He had friskedinto the living room, and he was
now standing there, perfectly winded.There's the saucepan that the grou was he
in, cried Scrooge, starting offagain and going around the fireplace. There's

(02:33:11):
the door by which the ghost ofChingabali entered. There's the corner where the
ghost of Christmas Presents sat. There'sthe window where I saw the wandering spirits.
It's all right, it's all true. It all happened, really for
a man who had been out ofpractice for so many years. It was
a splendid laugh, a most illustriouslaugh, the father of a long,
long, lighter, brilliant laughs.I don't know what day of the month

(02:33:33):
it is, said Scrooge. Idon't know how long I've been among the
spirits. I don't know anything.I'm quite a baby. Never mind,
I don't care. I'd rather bea baby. Hello with pellow. There
he was checked in his transports bythe churches, ringing out the lustiest peals
he had ever heard. Clash,clang, hammer, ding dong, bell
dong, ding hammer, clang,crash, Oh glorious, glorious. Running

(02:33:58):
to the window, he opened itand put out his hair, no fog,
no mist, clear, bright,jovial, stirring, cold, cold,
piping for the blood to dance to. Golden sun, night, heavenly
sky, sweet fresh air, manybells. Oh, glorious, glorious,
what's to day? Cried Scrooge,calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes

(02:34:20):
who perhaps had loitered in to lookabout him. I returned the boy with
all his might of wonder. What'sto day, my fine fellow, said
Scrooge to day, replied the boy, Well, Christmas day. It's Christmas
Day, said Scrooge to himself.I haven't missed it. The spirits have
done it all in one, andI didn't do anything that like. Of

(02:34:41):
course it can, of course itcan. Hello, my fine fellow,
Hello, returned the boy. Doyou know the Poulters in the next streetment
right at the corner? Scrooge required, I should help. I did,
replied the lad. An intelligent boy, said Scrooge. A remarkable boy.
Do you know whether they've sold theprize turkey that was hanging up there?

(02:35:01):
Not the little prize turkey, thebig one? What? What? As
big as me? Returned the boy. What a delightful boy, said Scrooge.
It's a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck, it's
hanging there now, replied the boy. Is it, said Scrooge, going
by it? Walkker, exclaimed theboy. No, No, said Scrooge.
I am in earnest. Go buyit and tell him to bring it

(02:35:24):
here that I may give them thedirection where to take it. Come back
with the man and I'll give youa shilling. Come back with him in
less than five minutes, and I'llgive you half a crown. The boy
was off like a shot. Hemust have had a steady handed a trigger.
Who had got a shot off halfso fast? I said it to
Bob Critch, and whispered Scrooge,rubbing his hands and splitting with laugh.
He shat know who says it.It's twice the size of Teddy Tim Joe

(02:35:46):
Miller never made such a joke asayingit. The bombs will be. The
hand in which he wrote the addresswas not a steady one. But ride
it he did, somehow, andwent downstairs to open the street door,
ready for the coming of the Poulters. As he stood there waiting his arrival,
the knocker caught his eye. Ishall love it as long as I
live, cried Scrooge, patting itwith his hand. I scarcely ever looked

(02:36:09):
at it before. What an honestexpression it has on its face. It's
a wonderful knocker. Here's the turkeyyellow, How are you merry Christmas?
It was a turkey it never couldhave stood upon his legs that bird.
He would have snapped him short offin a minute, like sticks of sealing
wax. Why it's it possible tocare that to cab do it down,
said Scrooge, you must have acab. The chuckle with which he said

(02:36:31):
this, and the chuckle with whichhe paid for the turkey, and the
chuckle with which he paid for thecab, and the chuckle with which he
recompensed the boy, were only tobe exceeded by the chuckle in which he
sat down breathless in his chair againand chuckled till he cried. Shaving was
not an easy task, for hishand continued to shake very much, and
shaving requires attention even when you don'tdance, swallow or rat it. But

(02:36:52):
if he had cut the end ofhis nose off, he would have put
a piece of sticking plaster over itand been quite satisfied it. Dressed himself
all his best, and at lastgot out into the streets. The people
were by this time pouring forth ashe had seen them. With the ghost
of Christmas present, and walking withhis hands behind him, Scrooge regarded every
one with a delighted smile. Helooked so irresistibly pleasant in a word.

(02:37:15):
The three or four good humored fellowssaid, good morning, sir, A
merry Christmas to you, And Scroogesaid often afterwards that of all the blithe
sounds he had ever heard, thosewere the blithest. In his ears.
He had not gone far when comingon towards him, he beheld the portly
chairperman who had walked into his countinghouse the day before, and said,
Scrooge and Marley's I believe it senta pang across his heart to think how

(02:37:37):
this old gentleman would look upon himwhen they met. But he knew what
path lay straight before, and hetook it. My dear sir, said
Scrooge, quickening his pace, andtaking the old gentleman by both his hands.
How do you do? I hopeyou succeeded yesterday? It was very
kind of you. I've merry Christmasto you, sir, mister Scrooge.
Yes, said Scrooge, that ismy name. And I fear it may

(02:38:00):
not be pleasant to you. Allowme to ask your pardon, But will
you have the goodness here? Scroogewhispered in his ear. Lord bless me,
cried the gentleman as his breath weretaken away. My dear Scrooge,
are you serious, if you please, said Scrooge, And not a farthing
less a great many back payments areincluded in it. I assure you,
will you do me that favor,my dear sir, said the other,

(02:38:24):
shaking hands with him. I don'tknow what to say to such munific Don't
say anything, please, retorted Scrooge. Come and see me, will you
come and see me? I will, cried the old gentleman, And it
was clear he meant to do it. Thank'e, said Scrooge. I am
much obliged to you. Thank youfifty times bless you. He went to
church and walked about the streets andwatched the people hurrying to and fro and

(02:38:46):
patted children on the head, andquestioned beggars, and looked down in the
kitchens of houses and up to thewindows, and found that everything could yield
him pleasure. He had never dreamedthat any walk, that anything, could
give him so much happiness. Inthe afternoon, he turned his steps towards
his nephew's house. He passed thedoor a dozen times before he had the
courage to go up and knock,but he made a dash and did it

(02:39:09):
is your master at home, mydear, said Scrooge to the girl.
Nice girl, very yes, sir. Where is he, my love?
Said Scrooge. He's in the diningroom, sir, along with mistress.
I'll show your upstairs if you pleasethink ye, he knows me, said
Scrooge, with his hand already onthe dining room. Luck, I'll go
in there, my dear. Heturned it gently and sidled his face in
round the door. They were lookingat the table, which was spread out

(02:39:33):
in great array. For these younghousekeepers were always nervous on such points,
and liked to see that everything isright. Fred, said Scrooge, dear
heart alive, How his niece bymarriage started. Scrooge had forgotten for the
moment about her sitting in the cornerwith the footstool, or he wouldn't have
done it on any account. Why, bless my soul, cried Fred,
Who is that? It is?I, your uncle, Scrooge, I've

(02:39:58):
come to Will you let me in? Fred? Let him? It is
a mercy. He didn't shake hisarm off. He was at home in
five minutes. Nothing could be heartier. His niece looked just the same.
So did Toppa when he came.So did the plumb sister when she came.
So did every one when they came. Wonderful party, wonderful games,
wonderful unanimity, wonderful happiness. Buthe was early at the office next morning,

(02:40:22):
Oh, he was early there.If he could only be there first
and catch Bob Cratch a coming date. That was the thing he had set
his heart upon. And he didit, Yes, he did it.
The clock struck nine, No Bob. A quarter passed, no Bob.
He was full eighteen minutes and ahalf behind his time. Scrooge sat with
his door wide open that he mightsee him come into the tank. His

(02:40:46):
hat was off before he opened thedoor. His comforted too. He was
on a stool and Jiffy, drivingaway with his pen as if he were
trying to overtake nine o'clock. Hello, growled Scrooge in his accustomed voice,
as near as he could feign it. What do you mean by coming in
here at this time of day?I'm very sorry, sir, said Bob.
I am behind my time, youare, repeated Scrooge. Yes,

(02:41:11):
I think you are. Step thisway, sir, if you please.
It's only once a year, sir, pleaded Bob, appearing from the tank.
It shall not be repeated. Iwas making rather merry yesterday, sir.
Now I'll tell you what my friendsaid, Scrooge. I am not
going to stand this sort of thingany longer. And therefore he continued leaping

(02:41:35):
from his stool and giving Bob sucha dig in the waistcoat that he staggered
back into the tank again. Andtherefore I am about to raise your salary.
Bob trembled, and he got alittle nearer to the ruler. He
had a momentary idea of knocking Scroogedown with it, holding him and calling
to the people in the court forhelp. And a strait waistcoat. A
merry Christmas, Bob said Scrooge,with an earnestness that could not be mistaken,

(02:41:58):
as he leaped him on the back. A merrier Christmas, Bomber,
good fellow than I have given youfor many a year. I'll raise your
sirry and endeavored to assist your strugglingfamily, and will discuss your affairs this
very afternoon over a Christmas bowl ofsmoking Bishop, Bob, make up the
fires and buy another cold scull beforeyou dot another eye Bob Cratchit Scrooge was

(02:42:20):
better than his word. He didit all and infinitely more. And to
Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He
became as good a friend, asgood 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 oldworld. Some people laughed to see the

(02:42:41):
alteration in him, but he letthem laugh, and little heeded them,
for he was wise enough to knowthat nothing ever happened in this globe for
good, at which some people didnot have their fill of laughter at the
outset, And knowing that such asthese would be blind anyway, he thought
it quite as well they should wrinkleup their eyes and grew means as have
the malady and less attractive forms.His own heart laughed, and that was

(02:43:05):
quite enough for him. He hadno further intercourse with spirits, but lived
on the total abstinence principle ever afterwards. And it was always said of him
that he knew how to keep Christmaswell. If any man alive possessed the
knowledge, may that truly be saidof us and all of us. And

(02:43:26):
so as tiny Tim observed, Godbless us, every one and of Stay
of five, of a Christmas Carolby Charles Dickens, and a book