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diff --git a/41894-8.txt b/41894-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 709ed9b..0000000 --- a/41894-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5876 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas-Tide, by Elizabeth Harrison - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Christmas-Tide - -Author: Elizabeth Harrison - -Release Date: January 21, 2013 [EBook #41894] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS-TIDE *** - - - - -Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - -A little boy in Miss Harrison's kindergarten heard the story of the -legend of the Christ Child, told just prior to his going to Europe for -a three months trip with his father and mother. While there his mother -took him one day with her to see a collection of art photographs. He -looked at them quietly and thoughtfully for a time, and then picking -up a copy of the above picture he said, "Mamma, you told me I might -take a present home to Miss Harrison, and I would like to take her -this picture, because it looks just as I think the little Christ Child -that she read us about must have looked." - -So beautiful was the thought embodied in the story that it left the -same impression upon the mind of the child that the great artist -Murillo had left upon canvas. This is but one instance that great -thoughts do make impressions upon the mind of the child. - - - - -CHRISTMAS-TIDE - - - -BY - -ELIZABETH HARRISON - -CO-PRINCIPAL OF THE CHICAGO KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE - - - -PUBLISHED BY -CHICAGO KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE -10 VAN BUREN STREET -CHICAGO - -COPYRIGHTED 1902 -BY -ELIZABETH HARRISON - - - - - DEDICATED TO MY FATHER - FROM WHOSE HEART AND LIFE AGE CANNOT - BANISH THE - PERPETUAL CHRISTMAS-TIDE - - --E. H. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - I. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS 9 - - II. THE PLACE OF TOYS IN THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD 25 - - III. HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS 41 - - IV. SANTA CLAUS 49 - - V. A CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE 55 - - VI. A CHRISTMAS CAROL 81 - - VII. CHRISTMAS STORIES FOR THE CHILDREN 219 - -VIII. A CHRISTMAS STORY FOR GROWN-UPS 237 - - IX. A CHRISTMAS SONG 247 - - X. BIBLE STORY OF CHRISTMAS 251 - - - - -I. - -CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. - - -Many mothers are sorely perplexed as the Christmas-tide approaches by -the problem of how to select such presents for their children as will -help them rather than hinder them in their much-needed self-activity. -Let the toys be _simple, strong, and durable, that your child may not -gain habits of reckless extravagance and destruction_ which flimsy -toys always engender. Remember a few good toys, like a few good books, -are far better than many poor toys. Toys in which the child's own -creative power has full play are far better than the finished toys -from the French manufacturers. In fact, too complex a toy is like too -highly seasoned food, too elaborately written books, too old society, -or any other mature thing forced upon the immature mind. Your choice -should be based, not so much on _what the toy is, as on what the child -can do with it_. The instinctive delight of putting their own thought -into their play-things instead of accepting the thought of the -manufacturer explains why simple toys are often more pleasing to -children than expensive ones. - -The following list has been compiled from such toys as have delighted -as well as have helped the children of kindergarten-trained mothers. - - - TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM ONE TO TWO YEARS OF AGE. - - Linen picture-books, rubber animals, cotton-flannel animals, rubber - rings, worsted balls, strings of spools, knit dolls, rag dolls, - rubber dolls, wooden animals (unpainted), new silver dollars. - -The kindergarten materials helpful at this period of the child's -development are the soft worsted balls of the first gift. When the -child begins to listen to sounds and to attempt to articulate, the -sphere, cube, and cylinder of the second gift may be given to him. -These two gifts, when rightly used, assist the clear, distinct, and -normal growth of the powers of observation and aid the little one in -expressing himself, even before he has language at his command. Songs -and games illustrative of the various ways in which these gifts can be -used with a young child, are to be found in the Kindergarten Guides -now published. Some very good ones are included in the first year's -course of study for mothers of the Kindergarten College. However, -almost any mother can invent plays with them for her child. - - -The kindergarten materials found most helpful for this period of the -average child's growth are the second gift and the divided cubes of -the third gift. With the latter the child can early be trained into -habits of _constructive_ play, rather than _destructive_ play. As all -children like to transform and rearrange their toys, this gift is -particularly adapted to that purpose. It is simple and easy to handle. -Much logical training can be given the child by teaching him to change -one form made with his blocks into another, without scattering, or -entirely destroying the first form. Many suggestive forms may also be -found in the various Kindergarten Guides already published. A series -of these are now being prepared by the College for general sale. -However, the child himself will oftentimes name the forms made by some -name of his own, which should be accepted by the mother. The wooden -tablets, sticks, rings, and points of the kindergarten can also be -used with a child from three to four years of age though they are, as -a rule, less satisfactory than the blocks. The second gift beads -furnish an almost exhaustless amusement for some children at this -stage of their growth. A long linen shoe-string with a firm knot tied -at one end has been found to be the most serviceable kind of a string -on which to string the beads. Knowledge of color, form, and number are -also incidentally taught the child by these beads. - -Low sand tables are an almost endless pleasure to small children, as -sand is one of the most easily mastered of the materials of nature, -and can serve as a surface for the first efforts at drawing, or can be -the beginning of the childish attempts to mold the solid forms about -him. When lightly dampened it serves as an excellent substance on -which to leave the impress of various objects of interest. In fact, -there is scarcely any play in which the sand may not take part. The -child should be taught from the very beginning that he must not spill -the sand upon the floor nor throw it at any one. In case he violates -these laws of neatness and safety, the sand table may be removed for a -time. - -A blackboard and chalk are usually a source of much keen and innocent -enjoyment to three and four year old children, especially if the -mother sometimes enters into the making of pictures, or story-telling -by means of pictures, no matter how crudely drawn. Various other -kindergarten "occupations" may be used by the trained mother--but the -untrained mother often finds them confusing and of little use. - -Whenever it is possible the back yard should have a sand pile, a load -of kindling, and a swing in it, that the child in his instinctive -desire to master material, to construct, and to be free, may find -these convenient friends to help him in his laudable aspirations. The -street has less temptations for children thus provided for. - - - TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM THREE TO FIVE YEARS OF AGE. - - Blackboard and crayon, building blocks, balls, train of cars, doll - and cradle, wooden beads to string, small glass beads to string, - rocking-chair, doll's carriage, books with pictures of trade life, - flowers, vegetables, etc., tracing cards and paper dolls, toy - poultry yard with fences, trees, a woman, and a dozen ducks and - chickens. - -The more advanced gifts of the kindergarten now interest the child. -Clay modeling and paper folding can easily be taught him, and many of -the simpler formulas for the mat weaving, also some of the sewing. A -good kindergarten is the best play ground for a child at this stage of -his development, as he _needs_ comrades of his own age and ability. If -a kindergarten cannot be had the mother must be as nearly a child -herself as she knows how to be. Good, simple, wholesome stories now -become a part of the child's life. They form the door by which he is -later to be led into the great world of literature. Therefore, -story-books may be numbered among the suitable toys for four and five -year old children, though stories _told_ to the child are better. -Almost any mother who has her child's best interests at heart can -simplify the old Greek myths as retold by Hawthorne in his "Wonder -Book," or the Norse legends as given us by Hamilton Mabie in "Norse -Stories," or the rich, pithy experience of the Teutonic peoples as -collected in Grimm's "Fairy Tales." All of these contain the seeds of -wisdom which the early child races stored away in childish forms, and -therefore, they delight the heart of the child of to-day and aid -materially in cultivating his imagination in the right way. - - - TOYS FOR CHILDREN FROM FIVE TO SIX YEARS OF AGE. - - Kitchen, laundry and baking sets, balls, building blocks, picture - puzzles, dissecting maps, historical story-books, outline - picture-books to color with paint or crayon, trumpet, music-box, - desk, blackboard, wagon, whip, sled, kite, pipe for soap bubbles, - train of cars, carpenter tools, jackstraws, hobby-horses, - substantial cook-stove, sand table, skates, rubber boots, broom, - Richter's stone blocks, shovel, spade, rake and hoe, marbles, - tops, swing and see-saw, strong milk-wagon equipped with cylinder - cans, substantial churn, a few bottles filled with water, spices, - coffee, sugar, etc., for a drug store. - -Ordinarily children of this age still love their kindergarten tools, -and can be led to do really pretty work with their mats, folding, -pasting, etc. The fifth and sixth gifts[1] now come into use and aid -the child in more definite expression of his ideas. More stories -should be told, and the beginning made of collections of pictures for -scrap-books, also collections of stones, leaves, curios for his own -little cabinet. Many references may from time to time be made to the -books to be read by and by, which will tell him wonderful things about -these treasures. In this way a desire to learn to read is awakened, -and soon the world of nature and of books takes the place of toys, -except of course, those by means of which bodily skill is gained and -tested. These later belong in general to the period of boyhood and -girlhood. - - [1] See "The Kindergarten Building Gifts" by Elizabeth - Harrison and Belle Woodson. - -To this list of Christmas toys is added a list of books suitable for -Christmas gifts. Very handsome books are to be avoided, as the child -delights in handling his own books almost as much as his own toys. The -value of the right kind of books cannot be too much emphasized. Is not -the food which you give to your child's mind of as much importance as -that which you give to his body? - -When your boy stops questioning you, he has not stopped questioning -concerning life and its problems; he has turned to those silent -companions which you have placed upon his bookshelf or on the library -table. Shall heroes and prophets be his counselors, or shall "Peck's -Bad Boy" and the villain of the dime novel teach him how to look at -life? _It rests with you._ - -There is a great difference between books which are to be read _to_ -children, those which are to be read _with_ children, and those which -are to be read _by_ children. - -The second kind, which are more profitable than the first, require the -mother's sympathetic and genuine interest in the subject-matter in -hand; and frequent stops for little talks about what has been read are -necessary. - -The third class are books for older children who can read well enough -to peruse them alone; but, if the mother will take time to read them -before giving them to the child, she will strengthen the bonds of -intellectual sympathy between herself and him. - - - LIST No. 1. - - FOR CHILDREN UNDER SIX YEARS OF AGE. - - Mother-play and Nursery Song, by Frederick Froebel. - - Nursery Finger Plays, by Emile Poulsson. - - Mother Goose, in one syllable. - - Songs for Little Ones, by Eleanor Smith. - - Æsop's Fables, in one syllable, by Mary Mapes Dodge. - - Boley's Own Æsop; illustrated by Walter Crane. - - Baby World, by Mary Mapes Dodge. - - Rhymes and Jingles. - - Little People of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller. - - Nonsense Book, by Edward Sears. - - - LIST No. 2. - - FOR CHILDREN FROM SIX TO EIGHT YEARS OF AGE. - - Doll World, by Mrs. O. Reilly. - - Sparrow the Tramp, by Wesselhoeft. - - The Joyous Story of Toto, by L. E. Richards. - - Doings of the Bodley Family, by H. E. Scudder. - - Bodleys Telling Stories, by H. E. Scudder. - - The Bird's Christmas Carol, by K. D. Wiggin. - - Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by H. S. Brackstad. - - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. - - Bible Stories from the Old Testament, by Richard G. Moulton. - - Moon Folks, by Jane Austin. - - Mopsa the Fairy, by Ingelow. - - Evenings at Home, by Barbould and Aiken. - - Posies for Children, by Anna Lowell. - - Shanny and Light House. - - - LIST No. 3. - - STORY-BOOKS.--FOR CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHT AND FOURTEEN. - - Seven Little Sisters, by Miss Jane Andrews. - - Each and All, by Miss Jane Andrews. - - Ten Little Boys on the Way from Long Ago to Now, by Miss Jane - Andrews. - - Story of a Short Life, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing. - - Mary's Meadow, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing. - - Jackanapes, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing. - - Dandelion Clocks, by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing. - - The Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard - Pyle. - - Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne; illustrated by Howard - Pyle. - - True Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. - - Fairy Tales, by Jean Macé. - - Grimm's Household Tales. - - Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. - - Two Grey Girls, by Ellen Haile. - - Three Brown Boys, by Ellen Haile. - - Chivalric Days. - - Robinson Crusoe, by De Foe. - - Hans Brinker, by Mary Mapes Dodge. - - Arabian Nights; illustrated by A. H. Houghton. - - Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; illustrated by John Flaxman. - - Shakespeare's Tempest and Two Gentlemen of Verona; illustrated by - Walter Crane. - - Gulliver's Travels, by Dean Swift; illustrated by Gordon Browne. - - Legends of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving; illustrated by A. - H. Houghton. - - Christmas Stories, by Dickens; illustrated by E. A. Abbey. - - Child's Dream of a Star, by Dickens. - - Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley. - - A Child Garden of Verse, by Robert Louis Stevenson; illustrated by - Charles Robinson. - - The Boy with an Idea, Putnam & Sons, publishers. - - Young Merchants, Putnam & Sons, publishers. - - Boy Engineer, Putnam & Sons, publishers. - - Story of the Nations (8 vols.), Putnam & Sons, publishers. - - Adventures of Ulysses, by Charles Lamb. - - Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles Lamb. - - Stories from Greek Tragedians, by Rev. A. J. Church. - - The Golden Age, by James Baldwin. - - The Vision of Dante, by Elizabeth Harrison; illustrated by Walter - Crane. - - Æsop's Fables (without the moral explanations attached). - - Swiss Family Robinson. - - The Lame Prince, by Miss Mulock. - - Parables from Nature, by Margaret Gattey. - - Child Life, by J. G. Whittier. - - Child's History of England, by Charles Dickens. - - In Storyland, by Elizabeth Harrison. - - Bible Stories from the New Testament, by Richard G. Moulton. - - Nonsense Books, by Edward Lear. - - The Monkey that Would Not Kill, by Henry Drummond. - - The Heroes, by Charles Kingsley. - - At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald. - - Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris. - - Tom Brown at Rugby, by Thomas Hughes. - - Nehe, by Anna Pierpont Siviter; illustrated by Chase Emerson. - - The Princess Story Book. - - The Cruise of the Cachalot, by Frank Bullen. - - The American Boys' Handy Book, by D. C. Beard. - - The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling. - -Boyhood is pre-eminently the period of perception. Hence all books on -scientific subjects are helpful, if they are simple enough to aid the -child in seeing nature and her marvels. The mother should be careful -that the child does not rest in mere perception of the objects of -nature, but that he compares and classifies them, and above all, that -he is led to trace a purpose in created things, in order that he may -learn "to look through nature up to nature's God." - - - LIST OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS. - - The Story Mother Nature Told, by Jane Andrews. - - Child's Book of Nature (3 vols.), by Worthington Hooper. - - Among the Stars, by Agnes Giberne. - - History of a Mouthful of Bread, by Jean Macé. - - Overhead, by Laura and Anna Moore. - - Life and Her Children, by Arabella Buckley. - - Winners in Life's Race, by Arabella Buckley. - - Fairyland of Science, by Arabella Buckley. - - Little Folks in Feathers and Furs, by Olive Thorne Miller. - - Queer Pets. - - Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe, by Charlotte M. Yonge. - - Four Feet, Two Feet, and No Feet. - - Odd Folks at Home, by C. L. Mateaux. - - Tenants of an Old Farm Yard, by McCook. - - Home Studies in Nature, by Mary Treat. - -Many other valuable books might be added to this list. However, a few -good books are better than many less good ones. It is well to lead a -child to the world's _great books_ as soon as possible. Enough have -been given to show the kinds of books which are not hurtful to -children. Each book on the above list has been personally inspected. - -After all, it is not so important what your child reads as what you -read. If the father reads _nothing_ but the newspapers and the mother -_nothing_ but novels, what then? Children are taught as much by the -general tone of conversation of their parents as by the books they are -given to read. - - - A LIST OF BOOKS HELPFUL TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS IN THEIR STUDY OF - CHILD NATURE. - - Mother-play and Nursery Song, by Frederick Froebel. - - Letters to a Mother, by Susan E. Blow. - - Symbolic Education, by Susan E. Blow. - - Commentaries of Froebel's Mother-play Songs, by Denton J. Snider. - - A Study of Child Nature, by Elizabeth Harrison. - - The Child, by Madam Marenholtz von Bulow. - - Household Education, by Harriet Martineau. - - Levana, by Jean Paul Richter. - - Christian Nurture, by Horace Bushnell. - - Conscious Motherhood, by Emma Marwedel. - - Bits of Talk about Home Matters, by H. H. - - Reminiscences of Froebel, by Madam Marenholtz von Bulow. - - The Children for Christ, by Rev. Andrew Murray. - - From the Cradle to the School, by Bertha Meyer. - - Gentle Measures in Training the Young, by Jacob Abbott. - - Emil, by Jean Paul Rousseau. - - Leonard and Gertrude, by Pestalozzi. - - Hints on Early Education, Anonymous. - - For Boys, a Special Physiology, by Mrs. E. R. Shepherd. - - For Girls, a Special Physiology, by Mrs. E. R. Shepherd. - - - LIST OF BOOKS HELPFUL TO MOTHERS AND TEACHERS IN SCIENCE. - - Steps in Scientific Knowledge, by Paul Bert. - - History of a Mouthful of Bread, by Jean Macé. - - Ministry of Nature, by Hugh Macmillan. - - Bible Teachings in Nature, by Hugh Macmillan. - - Sabbath in the Fields, by Hugh Macmillan. - - Elementary Book of Zoölogy, by Packard. - - Little Folks in Feathers and Furs, by Olive Thorne Miller. - - The Geological Story Briefly Told, by Dana. - - Science Primer--Geology, by Archibald Geikie. - - Science Primer--Botany, by F. D. Hooker. - - Science Primer--Chemistry, by H. E. Roscoe. - - Madam How and Lady Why, by Charles Kingsley. - - Principles of Geology, by Lyell. - - How Plants Grow, by Gray. - - How Plants Behave, by Gray. - - Child's Book of Nature, by Hooker. - - Elementary Botany, by Bessey. - - Revised Manual of Botany, by Gray. - - Plant Relations, by John M. Coulter. - - - - -II. - -THE PLACE OF TOYS IN THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD. - - -As Christmas is peculiarly the season for toy-giving and -toy-receiving, it may be well for the mother to consider this subject. - -Old Homer, back in the past ages, shows us a charming picture of -Nausicaa and her maidens, after a hard day's washing, resting -themselves with a game of ball. Thus we see this most free and -graceful plaything connected with that free and beautifully developed -nation which has been the admiration of the world ever since. Plato -has said, "The plays of children have the mightiest influence on the -maintenance or non-maintenance of laws"; and again, "During earliest -childhood, the soul of the nursling should be made cheerful and kind, -by keeping away from him sorrow and fear and pain, by soothing him -with sound of the pipe and of rhythmical movement." He still further -advised that the children should be brought to the temples, and -allowed to play under the supervision of nurses, presumably trained -for that purpose. Here we see plainly foreshadowed the Kindergarten, -whose foundation is "education by play"; as the study of the -Kindergarten system leads to the earnest, thoughtful consideration of -the office of play, and the exact value which the plaything or toy has -in the development of the child, when this is once understood, the -choice of what toys to give to children is easily made. - -In the world of nature, we find the blossom comes before the fruit; in -history, art arose long before science was possible; in the human -race, the emotions are developed sooner than the reason. With the -individual child it is the same; the childish heart opens -spontaneously in play, the barriers are down, and the loving mother or -the wise teacher can find entrance into the inner court as in no other -way. The child's _sympathies_ can be attracted towards an object, -person, or line of conduct much earlier than his reason can grasp any -one of them. His emotional nature can and does receive impressions -long before his intellectual nature is ready for them; in other words, -he can _love_ before he can _understand_. - -One of the mistakes of our age is, that we begin by educating our -children's _intellects_ rather than their _emotions_. We leave these -all-powerful factors, which give to life its coloring of light or -darkness, to the oftentimes insufficient training of the ordinary -family life--insufficient, owing to its thousand interruptions and -pre-occupations. The results are, that many children grow up cold, -hard, matter-of-fact, with little of poetry, sympathy, or ideality to -enrich their lives--mere Gradgrinds in God's world of beauty. We -starve the healthful emotions of children in order that we may -overfeed their intellects. Is not this doing them a great wrong? When -the sneering tone is heard, and the question "Will it pay?" is the -all-important one, do we not see the result of such training? Possibly -the unwise training of the emotional nature may give it undue -preponderance, producing morbid sentimentalists, who think that the -New Testament would be greatly improved if the account of Christ -driving the money-changers from the temple, or his denunciation of the -Pharisees, could be omitted. Such people feed every able-bodied tramp -brought by chance to their doors, and yet make no effort to lighten -the burden of the poor sewing-woman of our great cities, who is -working at almost starvation prices. This is a minor danger, however. -The education of the heart must advance along with that of the head, -if well-balanced character is to be developed. - -Pedagogy tells us that "_the science of education is the science of -interesting_"; and yet, but few pedagogues have realized the -importance of _educating the interest of the child_. In other words, -little or no value has been attached to the likes and dislikes of -children; but in reality they are very important. - -A child can be given any quantity of information, he can be made to -get his lessons, he can even be crowded through a series of -examinations, but that is not _educating_ him. Unless his interest in -the subject has been awakened, the process has been a failure. _Once -get him thoroughly interested and he can educate himself, along that -line, at least._ - -Hence the value of toys; they are not only promoters of play, but they -appeal to the sympathies and give exercise to the emotions; in this -way a hold is gotten upon the child, by interesting him before more -intellectual training can make much impression. The two next great -obstacles to the exercise of the right emotions are _fear_ and _pity_; -these do not come into the toy-world, hence we can see how toys, -according to their own tendencies, help in the healthful education of -the child's emotions, through his emotions the education of his -thoughts, through his thoughts the education of his will, and hence -his character. One can readily see how this is so. By means of their -dolls, wagons, drums, or other toys, children's thoughts are turned in -certain directions. They play that they are mothers and fathers, or -shop-keepers, or soldiers, as the case may be. Through their dramatic -play, they become interested more and more in those phases of life -which they have imitated, and that which they watch and imitate they -become like. - -The toy-shops of any great city are to him who can read the signs of -the times, prophecies of the future of that city. They not only -predict the future career of a people, but they tell us of national -tendencies. Seguin, in his report on the educational exhibit at Vienna -a few years ago, said: "The nations which had the most toys had, too, -more individuality, ideality, and heroism." And again: "The nations -which have been made famous by their artists, artisans, and idealists -supplied their infants with toys." It needs but a moment's thought to -recognize the truth of this statement. Children who have toys exercise -their _own_ imagination, put into action their _own ideals_. Ah me, -how much that means! What ideals have been strangled in the breasts of -most of us because others did not think as we did! With the toy, an -outline only is drawn; the child must fill in the details. On the -other hand, in story-books the details are given. Both kinds of -training are needed: individual development, and participation in the -development of others--of the world, of the past, of the _All_. With -this thought of the influence of toys upon the life of nations, a -visit to any large toy-shop becomes an interesting and curious study. -The following is the testimony, unconsciously given, by the shelves -and counters in one of the large importing establishments which gather -together and send out the playthings of the world. The _French_ toys -include nearly all the pewter soldiers, all guns and swords; surely, -such would be the toys of the nation which produced a Napoleon. All -Punch and Judy shows are of French manufacture; almost all miniature -theaters; all doll tea-sets which have wine-glasses and finger-bowls -attached. The French _dolls_ mirror the fashionable world, with all -its finery and unneeded luxury, and hand it down to the little child. -No wonder Frances Willard made a protest against dolls, if she had in -mind the _French_ doll. - -"You see," said the guileless saleswoman, as she handed me first one -and then another of these dolls, thinking doubtless that she had a -slow purchaser whom she had to assist in making a selection, "you can -dress one of these dolls as a lady, or as a little girl, just as you -like." And sure enough, the very baby dolls had upon their faces the -smile of the society flirt, or the deep, passionate look of the woman -who had seen the world. I beheld the French Salons of the eighteenth -century still lingering in the nineteenth-century dolls. All their -toys are dainty, artistic, exquisitely put together, but lack strength -and power of endurance, are low or shallow in aim, and are oftentimes -inappropriate in the extreme. For instance, I was shown a Noah's Ark -with a rose-window of stained glass in one end of it. Do we not see -the same thing in French literature? Racine's Orestes, bowing and -complimenting his Iphigenia, is the same French adornment of the -strong, simple, Greek story that the pretty window was of the Hebrew -Ark. - -The _German_ toys take another tone. They are heavier, stronger, and -not so artistic, and largely represent the home and the more primitive -forms of trade-life. From Germany we get all our ready-made -doll-houses, with their clean tile floors and clumsy porcelain stoves, -their parlors with round iron center-tables, and stiff, ugly chairs -with the inevitable lace tidies. Here and there in these miniature -houses we see a tiny pot of artificial flowers. All such playthings -tend to draw the child's thoughts to the home life. Next come the -countless number of toy butcher shops, bakers, blacksmiths, and other -representations of the small, thrifty, healthful trade-life which one -sees all over Germany. Nor is the child's love attracted toward the -home and the shops alone. Almost all of the better class of toy horses -and carts are of German manufacture. The "woolly sheep," so dear to -childish heart, is of the same origin. Thus a love for simple, -wholesome out-of-door activities is instilled. - -And then the German dolls! One would know from the dolls alone that -Germany was the land of Froebel and the birthplace of the -Kindergarten, that it was the country where even the beer-gardens are -softened and refined by the family presence. All the regulation -ornaments for Christmas trees come from this nation, bringing with -them memories of Luther; of his breaking away from the celibacy -enjoined by the church; of his entering into the joyous family life, -and trying to bring with him into the home life all that was sacred in -the church--Christmas festivals along with the rest. Very few firearms -come from this nation, but among them I saw some strong cast-iron -cannons from Berlin; they looked as if Bismarck himself might have -ordered their manufacture. - -The _Swiss_ toys are largely the bluntly carved wooden cattle, sheep -and goats, with equally blunt shepherds and shepherdesses, reminding -one forcibly of the dull faces of those much-enduring beasts of burden -called Swiss peasants. I once saw a Swiss girl who had sold to an -American woman, for a few francs, three handkerchiefs, the -embroidering of which had occupied the evenings of her entire winter; -there was no look of discontent or disgust as the American tossed them -into her trunk with a lot of other trinkets, utterly oblivious of the -amount of human life which had been patiently worked into them. What -kind of toys could come from a people among whom such scenes are -accepted as a matter of course? - -The _English_ rag doll is particularly national in its placidity of -countenance. The British people stand pre-eminent in the matter of -story-books for children, but, so far as I have been able to observe, -are somewhat lacking in originality as to toys; possibly this is due -to the out-of-door life encouraged among them. - -When I asked to see the _American_ toys, my guide turned, and with a -sweep of her hand, said: "These _trunks_ are American. All doll-trunks -are manufactured in this country." Surely our Emerson was right when -he said that "the tape-worm of travel was in every American." Here we -see the beginning of the restless, migratory spirit of our people; -even these children's toys suggest, "How nice it would be to pack up -and go somewhere!" All tool-chests are of domestic origin. Seemingly, -all the inventions of the Yankee mind are reproduced in miniature form -to stimulate the young genius of our country. - -The _Japanese_ and _Chinese_ toys are a curious study, telling of -national traits as clearly as do their laws or their religion. They -are endurable, made to last unchanged a long time; no flimsy tinsel is -used which can be admired for the hour, then cast aside. If "the hand -of Confucius reaches down through twenty-four centuries of time still -governing his people," so, too, can the carved ivory or inlaid wooden -toy be used without injury or change by at least one or two successive -generations of children. - -Let us turn to the study of the development of the race as a whole, -that we may the better grasp this thought. The toy not only directs -the emotional activity of the child, but also forms a bridge between -the great realities of life and his small capacities. To man was given -the dominion over the earth, but it was a potential dominion. He had -to conquer the beasts of the field; to develop the resources of the -earth; by his _own effort_ to subordinate all things else unto -himself. We see the faint foreshadowing, or presentiment, of this in -the myths and legends of the race. The famous wooden horse of Troy, -accounts of which have come down to us in a dozen different channels -of literature and history, seems to have been the forerunner of the -nineteenth-century bomb, which defies walls and leaps into the enemy's -camp, scattering death and destruction in every direction. At least, -the two have the same effect; they speedily put an end to physical -resistance, and bring about consultation and settlement by -arbitration. The labors of Hercules tell the same story in another -form--man's power to make nature perform the labors appointed to him; -the winged sandals of Hermes, Perseus' cloak of invisibility, the -armor of Achilles, and a hundred other charming myths, all tell us of -man's sense of his sovereignty over nature. The old Oriental stories -of the enchanted carpet tell us that the sultan and his court had but -to step upon it, ere it rose majestically and sailed unimpeded through -the air, and landed its precious freight at the desired destination. -Is not this the dim feeling in the breasts of the childish race that -_man_ ought to have power to transcend space, and by his intelligence -contrive to convey himself from place to place? Are not our luxurious -palace cars almost fulfilling these early dreams? What are the fairy -tales of the Teutonic people, which Grimm has so laboriously collected -for us? They have lived through centuries of time, because they have -told of genii and giant, governed by the will of puny man and made to -do his bidding. Eagerly the race has read them, pleased to see -symbolically pictured forth man's power over elements stronger than -himself. In fact, the study of the race development is much like the -study of those huge, almost obliterated outlines upon the walls of -Egyptian temples--dim, vague, fragmentary, yet giving us glimpses of -insight and flashes of light, which aid much in the understanding of -the meaning of to-day. We find the instincts of the race renewed in -each new-born infant. Each individual child desires to master his -surroundings. He cannot yet drive a real horse and wagon, but his very -soul delights in the three-inch horse and the gayly painted wagon -attached; he cannot tame real tigers and lions, but his eyes dance -with pleasure as he places and replaces the animals of his toy -menagerie; he cannot at present run engines or direct railways, but he -can control for a whole half-hour the movement of his miniature train; -he is not yet ready for real fatherhood, but he can pet and play with, -and rock to sleep, and tenderly guard the doll baby. - -Dr. Seguin also calls attention to the fact that a handsomely dressed -lady will be passed by unnoticed by a child, whereas her counterpart -in a foot-long doll will call forth his most rapt attention; the one -is too much for the small brain, the other is just enough. - -The boy who has a toy gun marches and drills and camps and fights many -a battle before the real battle comes. The little girl who has a toy -stove plays at building a fire and putting on a kettle long before -these real responsibilities come to her. - -A young mother, whose daughter had been for some time in a -Kindergarten, came to me and said, "I have been surprised to see how -my little Katherine handles the baby, and how sweetly and gently she -talks to him." I said to the daughter, "Katherine, where did you learn -how to talk to baby, and to take care of one so nicely?" "Why, that's -the way we talk to the dolly at Kindergarten!" she replied. Her powers -of baby-loving had been developed definitely by the toy baby, so that -when the real baby came, she was ready to transfer her tenderness to -the larger sphere. Thus, as I said before, toys form a bridge between -the great realities and possibilities of life, and the small -capacities of the child. If wisely selected, they lead him on from -conquering yet to conquer. Thus he enters ever widening and increasing -fields of activity, until he stands as God intended he should stand, -the master of all the elements and forces about him, until he can bid -the solid earth, "Bring forth thy treasures"; until he can say unto -the great ocean, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther"; until he can -call unto the quick lightning, "Speak thou my words across a -continent"; until he can command the fierce fire, "Do thou my -bidding"; and earth, and air, and fire, and water, become the servants -of the divine intelligence which is within him. - - - - -III. - -HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. - -SUGGESTIONS FOR MOTHERS AND KINDERGARTNERS. - - -All festival occasions, when rightly used, have a unifying effect upon -the family, neighborhood, Sunday-school, church, state, or nation, in -that they direct all minds, for the time being, away from self, and in -one direction, toward one central thought. The family festivals are an -enormous power in the hands of the mother who knows how to use them -aright. By means of the birthday anniversaries, Fourth of July, -Thanksgiving, and above all, Christmas, she can direct her children's -activities into channels of unselfish endeavor. - -Of all festivals of the year the Christmas festival is perhaps the -least understood, that is, if one is to judge by the manner in which -the day is generally observed. _Why do we celebrate Christmas? What -are we celebrating?_ Is it not the greatest manifestation of love, -unselfish love, that has ever been revealed to man? And how, as a -rule, are children taught to observe it? Usually by expecting an undue -amount of attention, an unlimited amount of injudicious feeding, and a -selfish exaction of unneeded presents; thus egotism, greed, and -selfishness are fostered, where love, generosity, and self-denial -should be exercised. - -The Christmas season is the season in which _the joy of giving_ should -be so much greater than that of receiving, that the child, through his -own experiences, is prepared somewhat to comprehend that great truth, -"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." - -For weeks beforehand the mother can lay her plans by means of which -each child in the family may be led to make something, or may do -without something, or may earn money for the purchase of something, -which is to add to his Christmas joy by enabling him to give to those -he loves, and also to some less fortunate child who, but for his -thoughtfulness, would be without any Christmas "cheer." In this -endeavor, of course, the mother must join with heart and soul, else -the giving is liable to become a mere formal fulfillment of a taxing -obligation. - -Little children, when rightly dealt with, enjoy putting _themselves_ -into the preparations with which they are to surprise and please -others fully as much, if not more, than they enjoy receiving presents. -So near as yet are they to the hand of God that unselfish love is an -easy thing to inculcate. Let me contrast two preparations for -Christmas which have passed under my own eye. In the first case I -chanced to be in one of those crowded toy-shops where hurried, tired -women are trying to fill out their lists of supposed obligations for -the Christmas season. All was confusion and haste, impatience, and -more or less ill-humor. My attention was directed towards a handsomely -dressed mother, leading by the hand an over-dressed little girl of -about eight years of age. The tones of the woman's voice struck like a -discord through my soul. "Come on!" said she petulantly to the child -who had stopped for a moment to admire some new toy. "Come on, we have -to give her something and we may as well buy her a couple of dolls. -They'll be broken to pieces in three weeks' time, but that's no matter -to us. Come on, I've no time to wait." This last was accompanied by an -impatient jerk of the loitering child's arm. Thus what _should have -been the joy of Christmas-giving was made to that child a -disagreeable, unwilling and useless expenditure of money_. What part -of the real Christmas spirit, the God spirit "which so loved the -world," could possibly come to a child from such a preparation for -Christmas as this? Nor is it an unusual occurrence. Go into any of our -large stores and shops just before Christmas and you will see scores -of women checking off their lists in a way which shows the relief of -having "one more present settled." All the great, true, and beautiful -spirit of Christmas joy is gone and a mere commercial transaction, -oftentimes a vulgar display of wealth, has taken its place. - -On the other hand, go with me into one of our quiet Kindergartens, -where the sunshine without is rivaled by the sunshine within. See the -white-aproned teacher seat herself and gather around her the group of -eager children. Listen to the tones of her voice when she says, "Oh, -children, children! You don't know what a happy time I am going to let -you have this Christmas! Just guess, each one of you, what we are -going to do to make this the gladdest, brightest, happiest Christmas -that ever was!" Look into the eager little faces anticipating a new -joy, knowing from past experience that the joy means effort, endeavor, -self-control, and self-denial; nevertheless, that it means happiness -too. Listen to the eager questions and plans of the children. Some of -them, alas, are showing their past training in selfishness, by their -"You're going to give each of us a present," or "You're going to have -a party!" Then hear her gleeful answer, "No, guess again, it is better -than that!--better even than that!" Then, after a pause, during which -expectation stands on tiptoe, "I am going to let each one of you be a -little Santa Claus. We are going to make not only mamma and papa -happy, but also some dear little child who might not have a happy -Christmas unless we gave one to him!" Listen, as I have listened, to -the clapping of hands after such an announcement. Look at the light -which comes into the eyes. Notice the eager look of interest upon each -childish face as all seat themselves at the work-table and the plan of -work is more definitely laid out. Go, as I have gone, morning after -morning, and see these same children working patiently, earnestly, and -continuously upon the little gifts which are to make Christmas happier -for some one else. Will you then need to ask the question as to which -is the truer way of celebrating the holy Christmas time? Not that I -would have any mother deprived of the pleasure of giving to her -children, any more than I would have her children robbed of their -pleasure of giving to others. Let us be careful that our gifts are not -gifts of useless profusion, of such articles as cultivate -self-indulgence, vanity, or indolence. Gifts for children should be -few and simple, such as are suggestive and will aid them in the future -drawing out of their own inner thoughts or ideals. Above all let the -joy of having given of his best to some one else be the chief thought -of the glad Christmas time. - - - - -IV. - -SANTA CLAUS. - - -All little children are poets if not marred by the prosaic parent or -teacher who unintentionally dulls the imaginative faculties by -insisting upon their minds dwelling exclusively on _facts_ which can -be verified by the five senses. - -Much innocent pleasure as well as much development of intellectual -power is lost by this misapprehension of a child's needs. _All great -truth must come to the immature mind in an embodied form_ or by means -of a symbol. In fact, we of more mature culture still cling to the -sacred symbols of the church by means of which communion with the -Divine and the regenerating power of the spirit of God are expressed. -The spire of a church, the flag of our nation, the medal with which we -decorate the breast of a hero, are but a few of the symbols with which -we are all familiar. Indeed, if symbols were banished from our daily -lives much of pleasure and beauty would be lost. - -Again, when we insist upon mere facts being presented to our children -we rob them of the great heirloom which has come down to them from the -past in the form of those inexhaustible mythical stories by means of -which the race has learned its most beautiful lessons of the true -nobility and grandeur of life; stories so rich and full and -significant that two or three thousand years have not dimmed their -luster, nor lessened their power to hold and impress the childish -mind. - -As the Christmas season approaches many honest, earnest parents are -perplexed as to what to do with the time-honored legend of Santa -Claus. They do not realize that he is but the poetic embodiment of the -Christian thought of great love manifesting itself through giving. The -joyous loving nature of the innocent Santa Claus brings closer to the -childish heart the realization of the willingness with which the -Divine Father gave to his children--mankind. The traditional fireplace -through which the beloved Santa Claus gains entrance into the house is -but a symbol of that center of light and warmth and cheer which love -lights in every true home. The mystery of the coming and going of this -great-hearted lover of good little children is but the embodied way of -expressing that mystery of love which makes labor light and sacrifice -a pleasure. The whole legend of Santa Claus, when rightly understood, -is but the necessarily crude--and therefore more easily -grasped--foreshadowing of the sacred thought of God's infinite love -which lies at the very center of the Christmas thought. No one can -deplore more than we Kindergartners do the coarse and oftentimes -grotesque representations of Santa Claus which are to be seen in many -advertisements and shop windows at this season of the year. - -Almost all children gradually outgrow the idea of Santa Claus as they -do other childish conceptions after they have served their purpose of -training the emotional nature in the right direction. The transition -is the more easily made if the child is gradually led to make and to -give Christmas gifts to those he loves. Thus, as I have tried to show -in a previous article, the mere material thought of Christmas as a -time for a jolly lot of fun is gradually changed into the higher -thought of a joyful festival, _through the child's own deeds_. - -No mother need expect her child to understand the Christian Christmas -by one celebration. His own experiences of the joy which arises from -unselfish giving must be repeated many times before he can enter into -the thought that God, in whose image he has been made, must have shown -his love to mankind by some such manifestation as that which the -celebration of Christmas commemorates. - - - - -V. - -CHRISTMAS TIME.[2] - - -A memory which will always remain with me comes up as I approach the -end of these chronicles. And although it did not arise from any one -picture or song of the "Mother-Play-Book," it was caused by the -Kindergarten study which had become part of our inmost life. - - [2] Reprinted, by request, from "Two Children of the - Foothills." - -The long, dry season was over. Half a dozen rains had refreshed the -land and caused it to blossom like a garden. It was hard to realize, -midst the roses and lilies, tender green foliage and fragrant -orange-blossoms, rippling streams and songs of mocking-birds, that -Christmas was approaching; our northern minds had always associated -the season with sleigh-bells and ice and snow, and yet it was amidst -just such semitropical surroundings as these, that in the faraway -Palestine was born the Babe, the celebration of whose returning -birthday each year fills all Christendom with the spirit of -self-sacrifice, love, and joy, and binds, as does no other festal day, -a multitude of the human race into one common brotherhood. - -Margaret and I decided that whatever else we did or did not do, during -the remainder of our sojourn among the hills, the children should have -a _real Christmas_. In order that we might make it an inner Christmas -as well as an outer one, we began at the approach of Advent to show -them how to make Christmas presents. It took no small amount of -patience to pin down to definite work, which must be neatly and -daintily done, the two little mortals who had lived almost as free -from tasks as the lilies of the field. However, we both realized that -the children must make a real effort to give genuinely to others -something which they themselves had made, if they were to have the -real joy which ought to come with the receiving of presents. - -Far too often children accept Christmas presents as so many added, -material possessions, not as expressions of love and service from -others. We had both long ago learned that only he who gives can truly, -spiritually receive, and that a gift without this comprehension of its -inner meaning is no gift at all, but merely something gained which -oftentimes awakens greed and selfishness. - -Therefore, by dint of raising up visions of _how surprised_ -grossmutter would be when Christmas morning came and she received two -presents made by four little hands she loved, by enacting in dramatic -detail the astonishment which their father would show when he too -should receive a present made by them, we succeeded in awakening in -them sufficient ambition to attempt what was to both of them a -disagreeable task. They had been willing enough to draw, cut, fold, -mold, or paste anything which would serve as an illustration of a -story in which they were interested, or which would revivify some -pleasant personal experience; but to sit down and deliberately draw, -or paint, or sew an object for somebody else, with the thought of -making it pleasant to that person rather than to themselves, was a new -idea. - -First one and then the other of us would occasionally sew a flower -upon a picture-frame when the little untrained fingers grew too tired; -or we would adroitly exchange work, letting them bring in a pail of -water from the spring while we put a strip or two in a gay -gold-and-scarlet mat which was to be worked over into a Christmas -present, thus bringing the end of the little task somewhat nearer. -Occasionally, of course, a story would be told of some loving little -child about whom even the fairies sang, because he or she worked hard -to make Christmas gifts for loved ones. Sometimes Margaret would -exclaim: "What do you suppose _the knights_ would say if they should -come riding up the road and see two dear children working away as hard -as they could on their Christmas presents?" - -The first two presents, for grossmutter and father, their two nearest -relatives, were finished and daintily folded away in colored tissue -paper, when Margaret had a whispered conversation with them and -suggested that they should surprise me also with a Christmas present, -and I, on a like occasion, proposed to them that they should surprise -her with something at Christmas time. Then followed days of whispered -talk; of sudden hiding of work, or of gleeful shouting: "Go away! You -mustn't come here now!" - -Often there would be delighted covering up of the hands and lap at my -approach, or at that of Margaret--scenes so common in the homes of -Kindergarten-trained children, but so delightfully new to these little -Arabs of the desert who had never, in all their short lives before, -felt the dignity of individual, personal possessions which they could -give away. - -Our presents finished and mysteriously laid away, the next step was to -lead to the thought of making presents for our next neighbor and his -good wife, whose ranch was about half a mile away. This, of course, -soon led on to the idea of having a Christmas present ready for -_everybody_. There were only about five families in all on the -foothills, but they constituted _everybody_ to the children, whose -world, dear souls, was bounded by the horizon which had its center in -their own home; saving of course, that boundless world into which -Margaret and I had introduced them through pictures and stories, where -lived the mighty kings and queens, giants and genii, fairies and -princesses, prophets and priests, and above all, _the knights_. This -latter world of the imagination was such a grand world that it did not -need presents. - -Soon the two happy little hearts were overflowing with the true -Christmas love; and the presents made by their own hands "for -_everybody_" were laid out upon my bed and examined and exclaimed -over. Each of these was again folded up in a bright piece of tissue -paper and tied with a bit of narrow, daintily colored ribbon and -labeled with the name of the person to whom it was to be given. All -these long, busy days were so full of Christmas talks and songs and -stories that they even yet bring back to me the feeling of having -lived them in the midst of a great musical festival. - -We had frequent occasion to cross the ranches belonging to our -different neighbors, in our daily tramps over the foothills, and often -met the men at their work or stopped to chat for a moment with the -women in their doorways. At such times, Georgie would look up with a -laughing face and sparkling eyes and say: "We've got somefin' for you -for Christmas, but you mustn't know what it is." - -And then, if the inquisitive neighbor would question, he would dance -about and clap his hands, and shake his little head, saying: "No, no, -no! Wait until Christmas comes, and then you shall see it; but we made -it all ourselves." - -"'Cept what _they_ did to help us," the more conscientious Lena would -add, as she pointed to Margaret or me. - -We had found, as is not uncommon in sparsely settled districts, where -there must necessarily be a struggle for a livelihood, that life among -our neighbors had somewhat narrowed itself down to the material -standpoint, and consequently, as always happens when this is the case, -various frictions had occurred among them, leaving them not always in -quite the neighborly attitude toward each other. But no one was able -to resist the children's joyful over-flowing Christmas love. - -In a short time it was settled among us all that the Christmas -celebration should take place at Georgie's and Lena's home, and that -all the neighbors should be present on Christmas Eve to see the -lighting of the Christmas tree, which Margaret and I had decided was -to be as gorgeous as our limited resources could make it. - -In a little while first one and then another neighbor volunteered to -help decorate the house; one offering to saw off and bring to us -branches from an unusually beautiful pepper-tree; another volunteered -his services in going to town for anything we might need; and a good -housewife recalled the days when she was young and asked if we would -like to have her make some ginger-bread boys and girls and animals to -hang on the tree, and so on. Before long the children's spirit of -enthusiasm and love for others had spread throughout our small -foothill world, and everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles, -significant nods, and occasional whispered conversations. - -A few days before Christmas came, one of our foothill neighbors -stopped us on the road to suggest that he should go down, on Christmas -Eve, to the mesa below and bring up two little English children whose -home had been saddened by the death of their father a few weeks -before, and whose mother, being a stranger in California, had no -friends to whom to go. Thus was the Christmas spirit overflowing the -foothills and spreading on to the farther districts. Then some one -else thought of a man and his wife and young baby who lived about six -miles up the cañon, and they, too, were invited. All small grudges -were forgotten and seemingly swallowed up in the coming festivities. - -The contagion of love is as great as the contagion of disease or -crime. Each time we finished a bit of trimming for the tree, which was -yet to be selected, it had now to be taken down to be shown to Mrs. -Middlin. As we passed the old wood-chopper he would make some light, -laughing remark, and we occasionally stopped at his side to sing to -him a new Christmas song which the children had just learned. He would -at such times lay down his axe, and his wrinkled old face would become -bright with the light of his far-away youth, as he looked down into -the children's happy, eager eyes; and he usually sent us on our way -with some such remark as, "Well, them children air great ones," or -else it would be, "Children will be children. I used to be that way -myself." The half-invalid woman, whom pain had made fretful and -nervous, and who had been in the habit of declaring that all children -were a nuisance and ought to be kept in their homes, could not resist -Georgie's roguish shout, "I got somefin' for you Christmas! You must -be sure to come up to see the Christmas tree." On the eventful day she -actually did come with all the rest and brought with her some -home-made candy, such as she used to make when she was a girl some -forty odd years before. - -This drawing together round the Christmas thought, each and every one -making an effort to add something to the joy of the occasion, proved -what every true lover of humanity believes, that deep down in each -human heart is love and a desire to be loved, is joy in seeing others -happy, and the greater joy of serving others. - -In return for this unexpected volunteer addition to our plans for the -children, Margaret and I contrived some trifle or joke for each man -member of the community. To one it was a bundle of toothpicks done up -in fancy tissue paper. To another it was a Mexican tamale. To a young -fellow who worked on one of the ranches it was a candy sweetheart. For -each of the women we made some trifle in the way of needle-book, -iron-holder, or the like, as we wanted the children to have the -pleasure of seeing their elders go up to the tree and receive gifts as -well as themselves. - -Three days before the Christmas Eve party the two children and their -father, Margaret and I, went up the cañon to let the children select a -small fir-tree for the Christmas tree. As we came triumphantly driving -through a neighbor's ranch on our way home with the little tree in the -back of the wagon, the children shouted out with great glee: "Come -out! Come out! and see the tree! See the tree! Here it is! Here it is! -The really, really Christmas tree!" And out came both gray-haired old -neighbors, almost as much pleased as the children. - -The tree was fastened between two boards, and then with great ceremony -we marched in a procession into the little best room which their -grandmother usually kept shut and unused, and placed it upon the table -in the center of the room. Then began the exciting, and to the -children most charming, work of decorating it with strings of popcorn -and cranberries; and fancy chains made with the scarlet and blue, gilt -and silver paper which loving hearts in the far-away Chicago had sent, -helped make gorgeous our little tree. Some fancy pink and pale blue -papers which had come from the drug store had been carefully saved for -the occasion. Onto these we pasted narrow strips of the gold and -silver paper, and "Chinese lanterns" were made, much to the delight of -the children. Each afternoon we decorated the tree with the work which -had been done in the morning, and then danced around it and sang songs -to it, and told it stories about other little Christmas trees which -had made other little children happy. - -One day Georgie improvised a song, and like the poet of old, danced in -rhythm to the melody which he himself created to the tune of -"Heigh-ho, the way we go." The words were as follows: - - "Miss Margaret and I - We wish we could fly, - Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, under the Christmas tree. - We sing now for joy, - The girl and the boy, - Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, under the Christmas tree." - -He had undoubtedly caught the rhythm, and perhaps the refrain, from -some verses which Margaret had written about our mountain home, and -whose refrain was "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, under the greenwood-tree." But -I was much pleased to see his original application of the idea, and -his feeling of the fitness of the festival occasion for improvised -verse. It seemed to bubble out of the fullness of his joy just as many -a refrain and love song of old was born on festival occasions; so -close is the child akin to the child race. - -Some time before this Margaret had brought from her mysterious trunk a -small and very beautiful copy of the Mother and Child which forms the -center of Correggio's great picture, "The Holy Night," and Lena had -sewed a round picture frame, designed by Margaret, with a gold star on -the upper corner and a modest little violet on the lower, symbolic, it -seemed to me, of the exaltation and humility which that picture so -marvelously portrays. It was to be a joint gift from Margaret and Lena -to the dear old grossmutter. The children had both sat and studied the -two beautiful faces, so luminous with light; and Margaret had -explained to them that the light came from the dear baby's face and -shone into that of the mother because this dear little Christ Child -had just come from God and the mother knew it. - -"That is what makes her so happy," said Georgie, and Margaret -answered, "Yes, that is what makes every good mother happy when she -looks into her baby's face," and Georgie had accepted this somewhat -broad interpretation of the picture with one of his significant nods. -So far as we could ascertain, the children had as yet no training -whatever in biblical lore, and our plan had been that we would speak -only in general terms of the Bible story of Christmas until after they -had experienced the love and joy of service and giving. Then we would -tell them why not only their little world, but the whole great big -world of Christendom celebrated the day with such joy. But suddenly -one evening, as we were returning from our hilltop scramble, Lena -said, "Grossmutter knows all about the dear little Christ Child, and -she says the angels knew that He was coming." - -"Let's sit down here by this rock," said Georgie, "and then you can -tell us all about it." He had implicit faith that Margaret could tell -him all about anything he wished to know, so he never hesitated to make -the demand. - -We sat down on the ground, with sky above us radiant and glowing in -sunset's splendor, and Margaret told, as I had never heard it told -before, of the watching of the shepherds and of the coming of the -angels, and when she came to the part, "and as the shepherds raised -their bodies up from the ground and listened and listened, the far-away -music came nearer and nearer, and then they saw that the music was the -singing of countless numbers of beautiful angels, and that the bright -light which had slowly spread over the whole heavens came from the -beauty of their faces; the whole sky seemed full of them, and they were -all singing joyfully the first Christmas song that was ever heard on -earth," Georgie rose from his half-reclining position and coming close -to Margaret placed his hands upon her shoulder and said, eagerly: "Sing -it! Sing it! Sing it just as the angels sang it!" - -She afterwards told me that she would have given five years of her life -to have had Patti's voice for just that one hour. She quietly replied: -"I cannot sing it, Georgie, as the angels sang it. No one on earth can -sing it as the angels sang it on the first glad Christmas night, but we -can know what they meant to tell the shepherds." - -He turned his face away from her with a look of disappointment, and his -eyes wandered far over the hills to the glowing sky, then quickly -turning toward us, he said, "Maybe the Christmas angels will come now. -Let us listen and see if we can hear them." - -Then we listened silently until the light began to fade out of the -evening sky, and Margaret said: "I can tell you what the words were -which the angels sang, and perhaps we can feel their song down in our -hearts." - -And then slowly and reverently she repeated the old, yet ever new, -message to mankind: "Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth, good -will to men!" And gently added, by way of explanation, that good will -to men meant that we were all brothers and sisters in God's sight, and -that this was one of the great things which the dear Christ Child came -to teach us. "And this," she added, "is why we celebrate His birthday -by making gifts for 'everybody.'" Both children nodded assent in a -matter-of-course way. They, dear little hearts, did not yet know the -schisms and discords that sometimes separate brothers and sisters, and -to them it was a matter of course, that men should accept the angelic -message. - -As we walked home, Georgie skipping and dancing along in front, sang, -"I love everybody! I love everybody! I am so happy! I am so happy! I -love everybody!" - -"So do I, Georgie," said Margaret, earnestly; and I think for the time -being, at least, all of us felt the true Christmas spirit. That motto -from Froebel's "Mother-Play-Songs" came into my mind with a new meaning: - - "Would'st thou unite the child for aye with thee, - Then let him with the Highest One thy union see - By every noble thought thy heart is fired, - The young child's soul will surely be inspired. - And thou can'st no better gift bestow, - Than union with the Eternal One to know." - -We quickened our steps as we neared home, and all four of us sang -softly-- - - "In another land and clime, - Long ago and far away." - -The morning of Christmas Eve brought to us our friend, Mrs. Brown, who -had a Kindergarten in a neighboring town. Her contribution to the -festive occasion was a box of fifty small wax candles, and we proceeded -at once to add the final touches for the evening entertainment. A -frieze had already been made around the walls of the room with branches -of the pepper-tree, whose feathery green leaves and coral-colored -branches of berries made a beautiful decoration. Large bunches of the -dark green eucalyptus had been sawed off and so arranged that they made -frames of the green around the two windows whose white curtains the -good grossmutter had washed and ironed the day before. In the center of -the room was the Christmas tree on which hung the treasures worked by -little hands. The red, green, and yellow candles were fastened in the -safer parts of the horizontal branches; others were placed around the -table on candlesticks made of ripe oranges; and a row of these golden -candlesticks was also placed upon the edge of a wooden shelf which had -held the grossmutter's German Bible. The ugly woolen cover of the shelf -was entirely concealed by soft green ferns. A pound or two of candy had -been purchased by the father, and this the dear old grandmother, with -trembling but eager hands, showed us how to tie up with strings of -worsted and fasten to the tree, "just as they used to do in the -faterland," she explained to the children. Her joy over the whole -affair was, if anything, greater than that of the little ones. She -insisted that Mrs. Brown, Margaret, and I should be her guests at the -noonday dinner; and her appreciation of our work was shown by the -killing of the fatted goose, and by boiling and baking and stewing, in -true German fashion, about three times the quantity of food which we -could possibly consume. During the getting ready of this dinner she -bustled in and out of the little parlor, sometimes throwing her arms -around the children and exclaiming, "Oh, Chorgie! Chorgie! Dis is just -like a Christmas in the old country! Just tink of it! Just tink of it! -Mine kinder are to have a German Christmas! A real German Christmas!" -Then, as if fearing that her emotions should be taken for weakness, she -buffeted them severely with her hand and pushed them to one side with -the words, "Keep out of de way! Don't talk so much! You are little -nuisances anyhow!" but with so much love in the tone that the rebuking -words were unheeded. Again, she would come into the room and stand with -her hands resting upon her hips and gaze silently, with unspeakable -satisfaction, at the busy scene before her. - -In making our plans for the evening, Margaret turned and said in a tone -of quiet respect: "Frau Zorn, we will, of course, expect you to stand -with the children and us, and receive the guests. It is your party, you -know, as well as the children's. We are merely helping to get it -ready." - -"Oh, mein dear! Mein dear!" exclaimed the old lady, evidently much -pleased with the unexpected prominence which was to be given to her. -Without further words she bustled out of the room, and in about a -half-hour called to Margaret and me to come up into the little attic -above. There we found her on her knees before an old horsehair trunk -out of which she had taken a black and gray striped silk gown of the -fashion of about twenty years before; also a soft white silk neck -handkerchief. In an embarrassed tone, looking half-ashamed, half-proud, -she said: "I had laid dem away for my burying clothes, but I can wear -dem to-night, if you tink it best." - -"Certainly," exclaimed Margaret; "that dress is just the thing, and the -pretty white handkerchief will make you look young again. I am so glad -you have them. I will come in time to arrange your hair and I have a -wee bit of a lace handkerchief which I know how to fix into a cap, just -such as my own grandmother used to wear, and you will be the handsomest -part of the whole Christmas entertainment." Then she added in great -glee: "Don't let the children see the dress until after you put it on. -It will be such a lovely surprise for them." - -The old woman's face showed how keen this simple pleasure was to her as -she softly patted the dress, straightening here and there a bit of its -old-fashioned trimming, and then laid it gently into the trunk until -the appointed hour should come. - -The morning work was at last ended, including our most conscientious -endeavors to do justice to the elaborate dinner. We locked the door of -the little parlor fearing that the temptation to meddle with the wax -candles might be too great to be resisted. Handing the key to Frau Zorn -and giving our "Christmas kiss" to each of the children, somewhat tired -we went back to our little cabin to rest until the evening. We had -promised to come early so as to be there before the first guests should -arrive, and just before starting out on our return Margaret quietly -gathered a basketful of beautiful La France roses which were blossoming -in bewildering profusion near our doorstep. - -"What are you going to do with those?" I asked. "Make every man and -woman who comes to-night feel that he or she is in true festival -attire," she answered, smiling. And sure enough as each guest came in, -Lena, by Margaret's instructions, asked the privilege of pinning a -Christmas rose upon the man's coat and the woman's dress. The smile -with which the unaccustomed decoration was accepted showed the wisdom -of Margaret's plan. An added festivity came over the scene, and each -individual felt himself or herself duly decorated for the occasion. - -When the man from the cañon beyond arrived with his wife and the little -three-months-old baby, Georgie's face was a study worthy of Raphael's -brush; confusion, surprise, pleasure, joy were all commingled, as -looking up to Margaret, he exclaimed, "Why, Miss Marg't! We are going -to have a _real, truly baby_ at our Christmas time!" Then, lowering his -voice, "Perhaps it will be like the Christ baby and we can see the -light shining from it just as the shepherds saw it." - -The guests had been invited into the little dining-room which was the -usual sitting-room of the family, and the parlor was kept closed. At a -signal from Margaret, the father of the two children walked forward, -and throwing the door open, invited the guests to walk in. It was -lighted entirely by the wax candles, which gave that peculiar mellow -light suggestive of silent and reverent feeling that the Roman Catholic -Church has been wise enough to seize upon and make use of. - -The hilarious laughter and somewhat awkward jokes which had been going -on ceased for the time being. When all were seated on the benches and -the improvised seats which had been brought in, Margaret and the -children sang two or three Christmas songs. Then, as a surprise to the -rest of us, they clustered around the dear old grossmutter and the -four, bowing, joined in a German hymn of praise and thanksgiving. This -was intended as a surprise to the father and to me, and was indeed a -surprise to all of us, as none of the neighbors had ever heard the dear -old woman sing. - -Then came the distribution of presents, and the laughter and jokes and -fun such as happy hearts improvise and enjoy. One neighbor had brought -an old-fashioned hat-box labeled "For Lena and Georgie." When opened, -out sprang two frisky little kittens that, in a frightened fashion, -scampered away under the protecting skirts of some of the women, but -were soon captured and caressed with delight by the little owners. The -same thoughtful neighbor had brought two little chickens for the little -English children from the mesa below. They were less lively, but were -tenderly cared for by the children. - -Finally, when all the presents had been distributed, including part of -the fruit and candy, two of the men laughingly disappeared from the -room, and on their return, brought between them a huge California -pumpkin, which measured five and one-half feet around its -circumference. This had previously been prepared into what they called -a "Christmas box," the top had been cut smoothly off, and into it had -been fastened the handle of a bucket. The lower part had been hollowed -out, washed, and dried; the pumpkin seemed almost large enough to have -served as a carriage for Cinderella. It was placed at Margaret's feet, -and the top lifted off amidst shouts of laughter and the clapping of -hands. Each guest present had stored away in it some loving little -gift, of no value whatever so far as the world considers value, but -rich indeed to one who prizes a gift according to the loving thought -which it shows. One woman had pasted upon several sheets of writing -paper some rare ferns and mosses which she had brought from the -mountains of New Mexico years before, and had sewed them together in -the form of a book. Another had embroidered Margaret's initials upon a -Chinese silk scarf, which had been one of her treasures in the days of -greater prosperity. Another had rounded off and polished a pin-cushion -of Yoca wood, sawed from a stalk in the higher mountain districts. The -fourth had made her a shell-box, of shells gathered on some past trip -to the Cataline Islands. A fifth had heard her express a desire to make -a collection of the different kinds of wood which grew in the -neighborhood and had brought carefully sawed and neatly polished -specimens of a half-dozen varieties, and so on; each showing that her -taste had been remembered, some wish expressed at an odd moment had -been recalled, or some pleasant surprise anticipated. - -Margaret's eyes filled with tears as one by one she unfolded these -gifts of love; then, realizing that such a time as the present needed -more joy than anything else, she laughingly brushed away the unshed -tears and proposed that they should all enter into some games together. -This was heartily agreed to by the others, and the evening ended in -almost a romp. Hands were shaken, good bys were said, the last joke -uttered, and wagon and gig and buggy drove away. - -Margaret, Mrs. Brown, and I remained to help put the children to bed -and somewhat straighten up the little house. Then bidding the -happy-faced old woman "Good by," we started out, alone, for a quiet -walk across the hill, under the Christmas stars. As we prepared for bed -Margaret exclaimed, "What a happy, happy day we have had!" I looked -into her radiant face, and said, softly, to myself: "_Blessed be -motherhood, even if it must be the mothering of other women's -children_!" - - - - -VI. - -A CHRISTMAS CAROL. - - -STAVE ONE. - -MARLEY'S GHOST. - - [We hardly know of anything better to recommend than the following - exquisite masterpiece of Dickens, for hearts that have grown dull - to the real joy of Christmas tide.] - -Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. -The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the -undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's -name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. - -Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. - -Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there -is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, -myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in -the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my -unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the country's done for. You -will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as -dead as a door-nail. - -Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? -Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge -was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his -sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even -Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event but that he was -an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and -solemnized it with an undoubted bargain. - -The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started -from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly -understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to -relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet's father died -before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his -taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, -than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning -out after dark in a breezy spot--say Saint Paul's churchyard, for -instance--literally to astonish his son's weak mind. - -Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name. There it stood, years -afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was -known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business -called Scrooge, Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both -names. It was all the same to him. - -Oh, but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a -squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old -sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck -out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an -oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed -nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his -thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty -rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He -carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his -office in the dog-days, and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas. - -External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could -warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than -he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain -less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The -heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the -advantage over him in only one respect--they often "came down" -handsomely, and Scrooge never did. - -Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, "My -dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?" No beggars -implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was -o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to -such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared -to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners -into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though -they said, "No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!" - -But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his -way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep -its distance, was what the knowing ones call "nuts" to Scrooge. - -Once upon a time--of all the good days in the year, on Christmas -Eve--old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, -biting weather, foggy withal, and he could hear the people in the court -outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their -breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. -The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark -already--it had not been light all day--and candles were flaring in the -windows of the neighboring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable -brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and key-hole, and was -so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the -houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come -drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that nature -lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale. - -The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his -eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, -was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's -fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he -couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; -and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master -predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the -clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the -candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he -failed. - -"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It -was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that -this was the first intimation he had of his approach. - -"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!" - -He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this -nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and -handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again. - -"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean -that, I am sure." - -"I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be -merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough." - -"Come, then," returned the nephew, gayly. "What right have you to be -dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough." - -Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said -"Bah!" again; and followed it up with "Humbug!" - -"Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew. - -"What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world -of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's -Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time -for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for -balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen -of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will," said -Scrooge, indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry -Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and -buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!" - -"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew. - -"Nephew!" returned the uncle, sternly, "keep Christmas in your own way, -and let me keep it in mine." - -"Keep it," repeated Scrooge's nephew, "but you don't keep it." - -"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge. "Much good may it do you! -Much good it has ever done you!" - -"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I -have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew, "Christmas among -the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when -it has come round--apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and -origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good -time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I -know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by -one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people -below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and -not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, -uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, -I believe that it _has_ done me good, and _will_ do me good; and I say, -God bless it!" - -The clerk in the tank involuntarily applauded. Becoming immediately -sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the -last frail spark forever. - -"Let me hear another sound from _you_," said Scrooge, "and you'll -keep your Christmas by losing your situation! You're quite a powerful -speaker, sir," he added, turning to his nephew. "I wonder you don't go -into Parliament." - -"Don't be angry, uncle. Come dine with us to-morrow." - -Scrooge said that he would see him--yes, indeed he did. He went the -whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that -extremity first. - -"But why?" cried Scrooge's nephew. "Why?" - -"Why did you get married?" said Scrooge. - -"Because I fell in love." - -"Because you fell in love!" growled Scrooge, as if that were the only -one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. "Good -afternoon!" - -"Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why -give it as a reason for not coming now?" - -"Good afternoon," said Scrooge. - -"I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be -friends?" - -"Good afternoon," said Scrooge. - -"I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never -had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the -trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humor to the -last. So, a merry Christmas, uncle!" - -"Good afternoon!" said Scrooge. - -"And a happy New Year!" - -His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding. He -stopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on the -clerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returned -them cordially. - -"There's another fellow," muttered Scrooge, who overheard him: "my -clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking -about a merry Christmas. I'll retire to Bedlam." - -This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people -in. They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with -their hats off, in Scrooge's office. They had books and papers in their -hands, and bowed to him. - -"Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentlemen, referring -to his list. "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. -Marley?" - -"Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years," Scrooge replied. "He died -seven years ago, this very night." - -"We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving -partner," said the gentleman, presenting his credentials. - -It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous -word "liberality," Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the -credentials back. - -"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, -taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make -some provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the -present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; -hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir." - -"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge. - -"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen 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." - -"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?" said Scrooge. - -"Both very busy, sir." - -"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had -occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very -glad to hear it." - -"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of -mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us -are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink, -and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all -others, when want is keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. What shall I -put you down for?" - -"Nothing!" Scrooge replied. - -"You wish to be anonymous?" - -"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, -gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, -and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the -establishments I have mentioned--they cost enough; and those who are -badly off must go there." - -"Many can't go there, and many would rather die." - -"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and -decrease the surplus population. Besides--excuse me--I don't know -that." - -"But you might know it," observed the gentleman. - -"It's not my business," Scrooge returned. "It's enough for a man to -understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. -Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!" - -Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the -gentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labors with an improved opinion -of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him. - -Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so that people ran about with -flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in -carriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a -church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge -out of a gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the -hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards -as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold -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 in -a brazier, round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered, -warming their hands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. -The water-plug being left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly -congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice. The brightness of the shops -where holly sprigs and berries crackled in the lamp heat of the windows -made pale faces ruddy as they passed. Poulterers' and grocers' trades -became a splendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to -impossible to believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had -anything to do. The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion -House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as -a Lord Mayor's household should; and even the little tailor, whom he -had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and -bloodthirsty in the streets, stirred up to-morrow's pudding in his -garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef. - -Foggier yet, and colder! Piercing, searching, biting cold. If the good -Saint Dunstan had but nipped the evil spirit's nose with a touch of -such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then -indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. The owner of one scant -young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed -by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to regale him with a -Christmas carol; but at the first sound of - - "God bless you, merry gentleman! - May nothing you dismay!" - -Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer -fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial -frost. - -At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived. With an -ill will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the -fact to the expectant clerk in the tank, who instantly snuffed his -candle out, and put on his hat. - -"You'll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?" said Scrooge. - -"If quite convenient, sir." - -"It's not convenient," said Scrooge, "and it's not fair. If I was to -stop half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill used, I'll be -bound?" - -The clerk smiled faintly. - -"And yet," said Scrooge, "you don't think me ill used when I pay a -day's wages for no work." - -The clerk observed that it was only once a year. - -"A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of -December!" said Scrooge, buttoning his greatcoat to the chin. "But I -suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next -morning." - -The clerk promised that he would; and Scrooge walked out with a growl. -The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends -of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no -greatcoat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of -boys, twenty times, in honor of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran -home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at -blindman's-buff. - -Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and -having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening -with his banker's-book, went home to bed. He lived in chambers which -had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of -rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little -business to be that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run -there when it 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 but Scrooge, the other rooms -being all let out as offices. The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, -who knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. The fog and -frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house that it seemed -as if the Genius of the Weather sat in mournful meditation on the -threshold. - -Now, it is a fact that there was nothing at all particular about the -knocker on the door, except that it was very large. It is also a fact -that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence -in that place; also that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy -about him as any man in the city of London, even including--which is a -bold word--the corporation, aldermen, and livery. Let it also be borne -in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley since his -last mention of his seven-years' dead partner that afternoon. And then -let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge, -having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its -undergoing any intermediate process of change--not a knocker, but -Marley's face. - -Marley's face. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the other objects -in the yard were, but had a 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 to look, with ghostly spectacles turned up on its -ghostly forehead. The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or -hot air; and though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly -motionless. That, and its livid color, made it horrible; but its horror -seemed to be in spite of the face and beyond its control, rather than a -part of its own expression. - -As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again. - -To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious of -a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy, -would be untrue. But he put his hand upon the key he had relinquished, -turned it sturdily, walked in, and lighted his candle. - -He _did_ pause, with a moment's irresolution, before he shut the door; -and he _did_ look cautiously behind at first, as if he half-expected to -be terrified with the sight of Marley's pigtail sticking out into the -hall. But there was nothing on the back of the door, except the screws -and nuts that held the knocker on, so he said, "Pooh, pooh!" and closed -it with a bang. - -The sound resounded through the house like thunder. Every room above, -and every cask in the wine-merchant's cellars below, appeared to have a -separate peal of echoes of its own. Scrooge was not a man to be -frightened by echoes. He fastened the door and walked across the hall, -and up the stairs, slowly too, trimming his candle as he went. - -You may talk vaguely about driving a coach-and-six up a good old flight -of stairs, or through a bad young act of Parliament; but I mean to say -you might have got a hearse up that stair-case, and taken it broadwise, -with the splinter-bar towards the wall and the door towards the -balustrades, and done it easy. There was plenty of width for that, and -room to spare; which is perhaps the reason why Scrooge thought he saw a -locomotive hearse going on before him in the gloom. Half-a-dozen -gas-lamps out of the street wouldn't have lighted the entry too well, -so you may suppose that it was pretty dark with Scrooge's dip. - -Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for that. Darkness is cheap, and -Scrooge liked it. But before he shut his heavy door, he walked through -his rooms to see that all was right. He had just enough recollection of -the face to desire to do that. - -Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber-room. All as they should be. Nobody under -the table; nobody under the sofa; a small fire in the grate; spoon and -basin ready; and the little sauce-pan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in -his head) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; -nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious -attitude against the wall. Lumber-room as usual. Old fire-guard, old -shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and a poker. - -Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in; -double-locked himself in, which was not his custom. Thus secured -against surprise, he took off his cravat; put on his dressing-gown and -slippers, and his night-cap, and sat down before the fire to take his -gruel. - -It was a very low fire indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. He was -obliged to sit close to it, and brood over it before he could extract -the least sensation of warmth from such a handful of fuel. The -fireplace was an old one, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and -paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the -Scriptures. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of -Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like -feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles 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 the ancient Prophet's rod, -and swallowed up the whole. If each smooth tile had been a blank at -first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the -disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of -old Marley's head on every one. - -"Humbug!" said Scrooge, and walked across the room. - -After several turns, he sat down again. As he threw his head back in -the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell that -hung in the room, and communicated, for some purpose now forgotten, -with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great -astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he -looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the -outset that it scarcely made a sound, but soon it rang out loudly, and -so did every bell in the house. - -This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an -hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, together. They were succeeded -by a clanking noise, deep down below, as if some person were dragging a -heavy chain over the casks in the wine merchant's cellar. Scrooge then -remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described -as dragging chains. - -The cellar door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the -noise much louder on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then -coming straight towards his door. - -"It's humbug, still!" said Scrooge. "I won't believe it." - -His color changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the -heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. Upon its coming -in the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, "I know him; Marley's -Ghost!" and fell again. - -The same face; the very same. Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, -tights, and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his -pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he -drew was clasped about his 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, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in -steel. His body was transparent: so that Scrooge, observing him, and -looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat -behind. - -Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had -never believed it until now. - -No, nor did he believe it even now. Though he looked the phantom -through and through, and saw it standing before him, though he felt the -chilling influence of his death-cold eyes, and marked the very texture -of the folded 'kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he -had not observed before, he was still incredulous, and fought against -his senses. - -"How now!" said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. "What do you want -with me?" - -"Much!"--Marley's voice, no doubt about it. - -"Who are you?" - -"Ask me who I _was_." - -"Who _were_ you, then?" said Scrooge, raising his voice. "You're -particular, for a shade." He was going to say "_to_ a shade," but -substituted this, as 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." - -Scrooge asked the question because he didn't know whether a ghost so -transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair; and felt -that in the event of its being impossible, it might involve the -necessity of an embarrassing explanation. But the Ghost sat down on the -opposite side of the fireplace, as if he were quite used to it. - -"You don't believe in me," observed the Ghost. - -"I don't," said Scrooge. - -"What evidence would you have of my 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 the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit -of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an -underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, -whatever you are." - -Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, -in his heart, by any means waggish then. The truth is, that he tried to -be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention and keeping down -his terror; for the Specter's voice disturbed the very marrow in his -bones. - -To sit staring at those fixed, glazed eyes in silence for a moment -would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him. There was something -very awful, too, in the Specter's being provided with an infernal -atmosphere of its own. Scrooge could not feel it himself, but this was -clearly the case; for though the Ghost sat perfectly motionless, its -hair, and skirts, and tassels were still agitated as by the hot vapor -from an oven. - -"You see this toothpick?" said Scrooge, returning quickly to the -charge, for the reason just assigned, and wishing, though it were only -for a second, to divert the vision's stony gaze from himself. - -"I do," replied the Ghost. - -"You are not looking at it," said Scrooge. - -"But I see it," said the Ghost, "notwithstanding." - -"Well," returned Scrooge, "I have but to swallow this, and be for the -rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own -creation. Humbug, I tell you! Humbug!" - -At this the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with -such a dismal and appalling noise that Scrooge held on tight to his -chair to save himself from falling in a swoon. But how much greater was -his horror when the phantom taking off the bandage round its head, as -if it were too warm to wear indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon -its breast! - -Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face. - -"Mercy!" he said. "Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?" - -"Man of the worldly mind," replied the Ghost, "do you believe in me or -not?" - -"I do," said Scrooge. "I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and -why do they come to me?" - -"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit -within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and -wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do -so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world--oh, woe is -me!--and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, -and turned to happiness!" - -Again the Specter raised a cry and shook its chain and wrung its -shadowy hands. - -"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?" - -"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link -by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of -my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to _you_?" - -Scrooge trembled more and more. - -"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the -strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this -seven Christmas Eves ago. You have labored on it since. It is a -ponderous chain!" - -Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding -himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable; but he -could see nothing. - -"Jacob," he said, imploringly, "old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak -comfort to me, Jacob!" - -"I have none to give," the Ghost replied. "It comes from other regions, -Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of -men. Nor can I tell you what I would. A very little more is all -permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger -anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house--mark -me!--in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our -money-changing hole, and weary journeys lie before me!" - -It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he became thoughtful, to put his -hands in his breeches pockets. Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he -did so now, but without lifting up his eyes or getting off his knees. - -"You must have been very slow about it, Jacob," Scrooge observed, in a -business-like manner, though with humility and deference. - -"Slow!" the Ghost repeated. - -"Seven years dead," mused Scrooge, "and traveling all the time!" - -"The whole time," said the Ghost. "No rest, no peace. Incessant torture -of remorse." - -"You travel fast?" said Scrooge. - -"On the wings of the wind," replied the Ghost. - -"You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years," -said Scrooge. - -The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanked its chain -so hideously in the dead silence of the night that the Ward would have -been justified in indicting it for a nuisance. - -"Oh, captive, bound and double-ironed!" cried the phantom, "not to know -that ages of incessant labor, by immortal creatures, for this earth -must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is -all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in -its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too -short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of -regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was -I! Oh, such was I!" - -"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, -who now began to apply this to himself. - -"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my -business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, -forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my -trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my -business!" - -It held up its chain at arm's-length, as if that were the cause of all -its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again. - -"At this time of the rolling year," the Specter said, "I suffer most. -Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned -down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men -to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have -conducted _me_?" - -Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the Specter going on at this -rate, and began to quake exceedingly. - -"Hear me!" cried the Ghost. "My time is nearly gone." - -"I will," said Scrooge. "But don't be hard upon me! Don't be flowery, -Jacob, pray!" - -"How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may -not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day." - -It was not an agreeable idea. Scrooge shivered and wiped the -perspiration from his brow. - -"That is no light part of my penance," pursued the Ghost. "I am here -to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping -my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer." - -"You were always a good friend to me," said Scrooge. "Thank'ee!" - -"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "by three spirits." - -Scrooge's countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost's had done. - -"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?" he demanded, in a -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 -path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls one." - -"Couldn't I take 'em all at once and have it over, Jacob?" hinted -Scrooge. - -"Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon -the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. -Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember -what has passed between us!" - -When it had said these words the Specter took its wrapper from the -table and bound it round its head as before. Scrooge knew this by the -smart sound its teeth made when the jaws were brought together by the -bandage. He ventured to raise his eyes again, and found his -supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect attitude, with its -chain wound over and about its arm. - -The apparition walked backward from him and at every step it took the -window raised itself a little, so that when the Specter reached it, it -was wide open. - -It beckoned Scrooge to approach which he did. When they were within two -paces of each other, Marley's Ghost held up its hand, warning him to -come no nearer. Scrooge stopped. - -Not so much in obedience as in surprise and fear; for on the raising of -the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent -sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and -self-accusatory. The Specter, after listening for a moment, joined in -the mournful dirge, and floated out upon the bleak, dark night. - -Scrooge followed to the window, desperate in his curiosity. He looked -out. - -The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in -restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains -like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were -linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to -Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost -in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, -who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an -infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all -was clearly that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, -and had lost the power forever. - -Whether these creatures faded into mist, or mist enshrouded them, he -could not tell. But they and their spirit voices faded together, and -the night became as it had been when he walked home. - -Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had -entered. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, -and the bolts were undisturbed. He tried to say "Humbug!" but stopped -at the first syllable. And being--from the emotion he had undergone, or -the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the invisible world, or the -dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour--much in -need of repose, went straight to bed without undressing, and fell -asleep upon the instant. - - -STAVE TWO. - -THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS. - -When Scrooge awoke it was so dark that, looking out of bed, he could -scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of -his chamber. He was endeavoring to pierce the darkness with his ferret -eyes when the chimes of a neighboring church struck the four quarters. -So he listened for the hour. - -To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, and -from seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped. Twelve! -It was past two when he went to bed. The clock was wrong. An icicle -must have got into the works. Twelve! - -He touched the spring of his repeater to correct this most preposterous -clock. Its rapid little pulse beat twelve, and stopped. - -"Why, it isn't possible," said Scrooge, "that I can have slept through -a whole day and far into another night. It isn't possible that anything -has happened to the sun, and this is twelve at noon!" - -The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and groped his -way to the window. He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeve -of his dressing-gown before he could see anything; and could see very -little then. All he could make out was, that it was still very foggy -and extremely cold, and that there was 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 taken possession of the -world. This was a great relief, because "three days after sight of this -First of Exchange pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order," and so -forth, would have become a mere United States' security if there were -no days to count by. - -Scrooge went to bed again and thought and thought, and thought it over -and over and over, and could make nothing of it. The more he thought, -the more perplexed he was; and the more he endeavored not to think, the -more he thought. - -Marley's Ghost bothered him exceedingly. Every time he resolved within -himself, after mature inquiry, that it was all a dream, his mind flew -back again, like a strong spring released to its first position, and -presented the same problem to be worked all through, "Was it a dream or -not?" - -Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had gone three-quarters more, -when he remembered, on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of a -visitation when the bell tolled one. He resolved to lie awake until the -hour was passed; and considering that he could no more go to sleep than -go to heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power. - -The quarter was so long that he was more than once convinced he must -have sunk into a doze unconsciously, and missed the clock. At length it -broke upon his listening ear. - -"Ding, dong!" - -"A quarter past," said Scrooge, counting. - -"Ding, dong!" - -"Half-past!" said Scrooge. - -"Ding, dong!" - -"A quarter to it," said Scrooge. - -"Ding, dong!" - -"The hour itself," said Scrooge, triumphantly, "and nothing else!" - -He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep, -dull, hollow, melancholy ONE. Light flashed up in the room upon the -instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn. - -The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not -the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to -which his face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; -and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself -face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them, as close to it -as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow. - -It was a strange figure--like a child; yet not so like a child as like -an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the -appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a -child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its -back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in -it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long -and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon -strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those -upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; and round its -waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It -held a branch of fresh, green holly in its hand, and in singular -contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer -flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of -its head there sprung a bright, clear jet of light, by which all this -was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its -duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under -its arm. - -Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing -steadiness, was _not_ its strangest quality. For as its belt sparkled -and glittered now in one part and now in another, and what was light -one instant, at another time was dark, so the figure itself fluctuated -in its distinctness; being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, -now with twenty legs, now a pair of legs without a head, now a head -without a body, of which dissolving parts no outline would be visible -in the dense gloom wherein they melted away. And in the very wonder of -this, it would be itself again; distinct and clear as ever. - -"Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?" 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. - -"Who and what are you?" Scrooge demanded. - -"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past." - -"Long past?" inquired Scrooge, observant of its dwarfish stature. - -"No; your past." - -Perhaps Scrooge could not have told anybody why if anybody could have -asked him, but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap, -and begged him to be covered. - -"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "would you so soon put out, with worldly -hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those -whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of -years to wear it low upon my brow!" - -Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledge -of having willfully "bonneted" the Spirit at any period of his life. He -then made bold to inquire what business brought him there. - -"Your welfare!" said the Ghost. - -Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking -that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that -end. The Spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately, -"Your reclamation, then. Take heed!" - -It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and clasped him gently by the -arm. - -"Rise, and walk with me!" - -It would have been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and -the hour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes; that the bed was -warm, and the thermometer a long way below freezing; that he was clad -but lightly in his slippers, dressing-gown, and night-cap; and that he -had a cold upon him at that time. The grasp, though gentle as a woman's -hand, was not to be resisted. He rose; but finding that the Spirit made -towards the window, clasped his robe in supplication. - -"I am a mortal," Scrooge remonstrated, "and liable to fall." - -"Bear but a touch of my hand _there_," said the Spirit, laying it -upon his heart, "and you shall be upheld in more than this!" - -As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon -an open country road, with fields on either hand. The city had entirely -vanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen. The darkness and the mist -had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow -upon the ground. - -"Good heaven!" said Scrooge, clasping his hands together as he looked -about him. "I was bred in this place. I was a boy here!" - -The Spirit gazed upon him mildly. Its gentle touch, though it had been -light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man's sense -of feeling. He was conscious of a thousand 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 upon your -cheek?" - -Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a -pimple; and begged the Ghost to lead him where he would. - -"You recollect the way?" inquired the Spirit. - -"Remember it!" cried Scrooge, with fervor; "I could walk it blindfold." - -"Strange to have forgotten it for so many years!" observed the Ghost. -"Let us go on." - -They walked along the road. Scrooge recognizing every gate, and post, -and tree, until a little market-town appeared in the distance, with its -bridge, its church, and winding river. Some shaggy ponies now were seen -trotting towards them with boys upon their backs, who called to other -boys in country gigs and carts, driven by farmers. All these boys were -in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields -were so full of merry music that the crisp air laughed to hear it. - -"These are but shadows of the things that have been," said the Ghost. -"They have no consciousness of us." - -The jocund travelers came on; and as they came, Scrooge knew and named -them every one. Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them! Why -did his cold eye glisten, and his heart leap up as they went past! Why -was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry -Christmas, as they parted at cross-roads and by-ways, for their several -homes! What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! -What good had 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 high-road by a well-remembered lane and soon approached a -mansion of dull red brick, with a little weather-cock-surmounted cupola -on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. It was a large house, but one of -broken fortunes, for the spacious offices were little used, their walls -were damp and mossy, their windows broken, and their gates decayed. -Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables, and the coach-houses and -sheds were overrun with grass. Nor was it more retentive of its ancient -state within; for entering the dreary hall, and glancing through the -open doors of many rooms, they found them poorly furnished, cold, and -vast. There was an earthy savor in the air, a chilly bareness in the -place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by -candle-light, and not too much to eat. - -They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the -back of the house. It opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare, -melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and -desks. At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire, and -Scrooge sat down upon a form, and 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 the mice -behind the paneling, not a drip from the half-thawed water-spout in the -dull yard behind, not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one -despondent poplar, not the idle swinging of an empty store-house door, -no, not a clicking in the fire, but fell upon the head of Scrooge with -a softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears. - -The Spirit touched him on the arm, and pointed to his younger self, -intent upon his reading. Suddenly a man, in foreign garments--wonderfully -real and distinct to look at--stood outside the window, with an axe -stuck in his belt, and leading by the bridle an ass laden with wood. - -"Why, it's Ali Baba!" Scrooge exclaimed, in ecstasy. "It's dear old -honest Ali Baba! Yes, yes, I know! One Christmas time, when yonder -solitary child was left here all alone, he _did_ come, for the first -time, just like that. Poor boy! And Valentine," said Scrooge, "and his -wild brother, Orson; there they go! And what's his name, who was put -down in his drawers, asleep, at the Gate of Damascus; don't you see -him? And the Sultan's Groom turned upside down by the Genii; there he -is upon his head! Serve him right. I'm glad of it. What business had -_he_ to be married to the Princess!" - -To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on such -subjects, in a most extraordinary voice between laughing and crying, -and to see his heightened and excited face, would have been a surprise -to his business friends in the city, indeed. - -"There's the parrot!" cried Scrooge. "Green body and yellow tail, with -a thing like a lettuce growing out of the top of his head; there he is! -Poor Robin Crusoe, he called him, when he came home again after sailing -round the island. 'Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been, Robin -Crusoe?' The man thought he was dreaming, but he wasn't. It was the -parrot, you know. There goes Friday, running for his life to the little -creek! Halloa! Hoop! Halloo!" - -Then, with a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual -character, he said, in pity for his former self, "Poor boy!" and cried -again. - -"I wish," Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking -about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff, "--but it's too late -now." - -"What is the matter?" asked the Spirit. - -"Nothing," said Scrooge. "Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas -carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something; -that's all." - -The Ghost smiled, thoughtfully, and waved its hand, saying as it did -so, "Let us see another Christmas!" - -Scrooge's former self grew larger at the words, and the room became a -little darker and more dirty. The panels shrunk, the windows cracked; -fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling, and the naked laths were -shown instead; but how all this was brought about, Scrooge knew no more -than you do. He only knew that it was quite correct; that everything -had happened so; that there he was, alone again, when all the other -boys had gone home for the jolly holidays. - -He was not reading now, but walking up and down despairingly. Scrooge -looked at the Ghost, and with a mournful shaking of his head, glanced -anxiously towards the door. - -It opened, and a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting -in, and putting her arms about his neck, and often kissing him, -addressed him as her "Dear, dear brother." - -"I have come to bring you home, dear brother!" said the child, clapping -her tiny hands, and bending down to laugh. "To bring you home, home, -home!" - -"Home, little Fan?" returned the boy. - -"Yes!" said the child, brimful of glee. "Home for good and all. Home, -forever and ever. Father is so much kinder than he used to be that -home's like heaven! He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was -going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might -come home; and he said yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring -you. And you're to be a man," said the child, opening her eyes, "and -are never to come back here; but first, we're to be together all the -Christmas long, and have the merriest time in all the world." - -"You are quite a woman, little Fan!" exclaimed the 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. -Then she began to drag him, in her childish eagerness, towards the -door; and he, nothing loth to go, accompanied her. - -A terrible voice in the hall cried, "Bring down Master Scrooge's box, -there!" and in the hall appeared the school-master himself, who glared -on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, 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 a shivering best parlor -that ever was seen, where the maps upon the wall, and the celestial and -terrestrial globes in the windows, were waxy with cold. Here he -produced a decanter of curiously light wine and a block of curiously -heavy cake, and administered instalments of those dainties to the young -people; at the same time sending out a meager servant to offer a glass -of "something" to the post-boy, who answered that he thanked the -gentleman, but if it was the same tap as he had tasted before, he had -rather not. Master Scrooge's trunk being by this time tied onto the top -of the chaise, the children bade the school-master good by right -willingly, and getting into it drove gayly down the garden sweep; the -quick wheels dashing the hoar-frost and snow from off the dark leaves -of the evergreens like spray. - -"Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered," said -the Ghost. "But she had a large heart!" - -"So she had," cried Scrooge. "You're right. I will not gainsay it, -Spirit. God forbid!" - -"She died a woman," said the Ghost, "and had, as I think, children." - -"One child," Scrooge returned. - -"True," said the Ghost. "Your nephew!" - -Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind, and answered, briefly, "Yes." - -Although they had but that moment left the school behind them, they -were now in the busy thoroughfares of a city, where shadowy passengers -passed and repassed; where shadowy carts and coaches battled for the -way, and all the strife and tumult of a real city were. It was made -plain enough, by the dressing of the shops, that here, too, it was -Christmas time again; but it was evening, and the streets were lighted -up. - -The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he -knew it. - -"Know it!" said Scrooge. "Was I apprenticed here!" - -They went in. At sight of an old gentleman in a Welsh wig, sitting -behind such a high desk that if he had been two inches taller he must -have knocked his head against the ceiling, Scrooge cried in great -excitement, "Why, it's old Fezziwig! Bless his heart; it's Fezziwig -alive again!" - -Old Fezziwig laid down his pen and looked up at the clock, which -pointed to the hour of seven. He rubbed his hands; adjusted his -capacious waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shoes to his -organ of benevolence; and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, -jovial voice, "Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" - -Scrooge's former self, now grown a young man, came briskly in, -accompanied by his fellow-'prentice. - -"Dick Wilkins, to be sure!" said Scrooge to the Ghost. "Bless me, yes. -There he is. He was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor Dick! -Dear, dear!" - -"Yo ho, my boys!" said Fezziwig. "No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, -Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up," cried old -Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, "before a man can say Jack -Robinson!" - -You wouldn't believe how those two fellows went at it! They charged -into the street with the shutters--one, two, three--had 'em up in their -places--four, five, six--barred 'em and pinned 'em--seven, eight, -nine--and came back before you could have got to twelve, panting like -race-horses. - -"Hilli-ho!" cried old Fezziwig, skipping down from the high desk, with -wonderful agility. "Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room -here! Hilli-ho, Dick! Chirrup, Ebenezer!" - -Clear away! There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away, or -couldn't have cleared away, with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done -in a minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from -public life forevermore, the floor was swept and watered, the lamps -were trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire; and the warehouse was as -snug, and warm, and dry, and bright a ball-room as you would desire to -see upon a winter's night. - -In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk, and -made an orchestra out of it, and tuned like fifty stomachaches. In came -Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast, substantial smile. In came the three Miss -Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose -hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women employed in the -business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin, the baker. In came -the cook, with her brother's particular friend, the milkman. In came -the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough -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, some boldly, some -gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling; in they all -came, anyhow and everyhow. Away they all went, twenty couple at once; -hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up -again; round and round in various stages of affectionate grouping; old -top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple -starting off again, as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, -and not a bottom one to help them! When this result was brought about, -old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop the dance, cried out, "Well -done!" and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter -especially provided for that purpose. But scorning rest, upon his -reappearance, he instantly began again--though there were no dancers -yet--as if the other fiddler had been carried home, exhausted, on a -shutter, and he were a brand-new man, resolved to beat him out of sight -or perish. - -There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and -there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of -cold roast, and there was a great piece of cold boiled, and there were -mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening -came after the roast and boiled, when the fiddler (an artful dog, mind! -The sort of man who knew his business better than you or I could have -told it him!) struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Fezziwig -stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too, with a good, -stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of -partners; people who were not to be trifled with; people who _would_ -dance, and had no notion of walking. - -But if they had been twice as many--ah, four times--old Fezziwig would -have been a match for them, and so would Mrs. Fezziwig. As to _her_, -she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term. If that's -not high praise, tell me higher and I'll use it. A positive light -appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of -the dance like moons. You couldn't have predicted, at any given time, -what would have become of them next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs. -Fezziwig had gone all through the dance--advance and retire, both hands -to your partner, bow and curtsey, cork-screw, thread-the-needle, and -back again to your place--Fezziwig "cut"--cut so deftly that he -appeared to wink with his legs, and came up on his feet again without a -stagger. - -When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs. -Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and -shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, -wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the -two 'prentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices -died away, and the lads were left to their beds, which were under a -counter in the back shop. - -During the whole of this time Scrooge had acted like a man out of his -wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. -He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, -and underwent the strangest agitation. It was not until now, when the -bright faces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that he -remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full -upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear. - -"A small matter," said the Ghost, "to make these silly folks so full of -gratitude." - -"Small!" echoed Scrooge. - -The spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were -pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig; and when he had done -so, said, "Why, is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal -money--three or four, perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this -praise?" - -"It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking -unconsciously like his former, not his latter self. "It isn't that, -Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our -service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power -lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it -is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he -gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune." - -He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped. - -"What is the matter?" asked the Ghost. - -"Nothing particular," said Scrooge. - -"Something, I think?" the Ghost insisted. - -"No," said Scrooge, "No. I should like to be able to say a word or two -to my clerk just now. That's all." - -His former self turned down the lamps as he gave utterance to the wish; -and Scrooge and the Ghost again stood side by side in the open air. - -"My time grows short," observed the Spirit. "Quick!" - -This was not addressed to Scrooge, or to any one whom he could see, but -it produced an immediate effect. For again Scrooge saw himself. He was -older now; a man in the prime of life. His face had not the harsh and -rigid lines of later years, but it had begun to wear the signs of care -and avarice. There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, -which showed the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of -the growing tree would fall. - -He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl in a -mourning dress, in whose eyes there were tears which sparkled in the -light that shone out of the Ghost of Christmas Past. - -"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another -idol has displaced me, and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to -come as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve." - -"What idol has displaced you?" he rejoined. - -"A golden one." - -"This is the even-handed dealing of the world!" he said. "There is -nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it -professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth!" - -"You fear the world too much," she answered, gently. "All your other -hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its -sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by -one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?" - -"What then?" he retorted. "Even if I have grown so much wiser, what -then? I am not changed towards you." - -She shook her head. - -"Am I?" - -"Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and -content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly -fortune by our patient industry. You _are_ changed. When it was made, -you were another man." - -"I was a boy," he said, impatiently. - -"Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are," she -returned. "I am. That which promised happiness when we were one in -heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. How often and how -keenly I have thought of this, I will not say. It is enough that I -_have_ thought of it, and can release you." - -"Have I ever sought release?" - -"In words. No, never." - -"In what, then?" - -"In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of -life; another hope as its great end. In everything that made my love of -any worth or value in your sight. If this had ever been between us," -said the girl, looking mildly, but with steadiness upon him, "tell me, -would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!" - -He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition, in spite of -himself. But he said, with a struggle, "You think not." - -"I would gladly think otherwise if I could," she answered, "heaven -knows! When _I_ have learned a truth like this, I know how strong -and irresistible it must be. But if you were free to-day, to-morrow, -yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless -girl--you who, in your very confidence with her, weigh everything by -gain; or choosing her, if for a moment you were false enough to your -one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your repentance and -regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you, with a full heart, -for the love of him you once were." - -He was about 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--have -pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the -recollection of it gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it -happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have -chosen!" - -She left him and they parted. - -"Spirit!" said Scrooge, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you -delight to torture me?" - -"One shadow more!" exclaimed the Ghost. - -"No more!" cried Scrooge. "No more. I don't wish to see it. Show me no -more!" - -But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him -to observe what happened next. - -They were in another scene and place; a room, not very large or -handsome, but full of comfort. Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful -young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same, -until he saw _her_, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter. -The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more -children there than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; -and unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, there were not forty -children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting -itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but -no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed -heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter, soon beginning to -mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the young brigands most -ruthlessly. What would I not have given to be one of them. Though I -never could have been so rude, no, no! I wouldn't for the wealth of all -the world have crushed that braided hair and torn it 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 in sport, as they did, -bold young brood, I couldn't have done it; I should have expected my -arm to have grown round it for a punishment, and never come straight -again. And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched her -lips; to have questioned her, that she might have opened them; to have -looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes, and never raised a blush; -to have let loose waves of hair, an inch of which would be a keepsake -beyond price; in short, I should have liked, I do confess, to have had -the lightest license of a child, and yet to have been man enough to -know its value. - -But now a knocking at the door was heard, and such a rush immediately -ensued that she, with laughing face and plundered dress, was borne -towards it, the center of a flushed and boisterous group, just in time -to greet the father, who came home attended by a man laden with -Christmas toys and presents. Then the shouting and the struggling, and -the onslaught that was made on the defenseless porter! The scaling him -with chairs for ladders to dive into his pockets, despoil him of brown -paper parcels, hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round his neck, -pommel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection! The -shouts of wonder and delight with which the development of every -package was received! The terrible announcement that the baby had been -taken in the act of putting a doll's frying-pan into his mouth, and was -more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey glued on a -wooden platter! The immense relief of finding this a false alarm! The -joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy! They are all indescribable alike. It -is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of -the parlor, and by one stair at a time, up to the top of the house, -where they went to bed, and so subsided. - -And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master -of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with -her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such -another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have -called him father, and been a springtime in the haggard winter of his -life, his sight grew very dim indeed. - -"Belle," said the husband, turning to his wife, with a smile, "I saw an -old friend of yours this afternoon." - -"Who was it?" - -"Guess!" - -"How can I? Tut, don't I know," she added, in the same breath, laughing -as he laughed. "Mr. Scrooge." - -"Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window, and as it was not shut -up and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His -partner lies upon the point of death, I hear, and there he sat alone. -Quite alone in the world, I do believe." - -"Spirit!" said Scrooge, in a broken voice, "remove me from this place." - -"I told you these were shadows of the things that have been," said the -Ghost. "That they are what they are, do not blame me!" - -"Remove me!" Scrooge exclaimed, "I cannot bear it!" - -He turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a -face, in which in some strange way there were fragments of all the -faces it had shown him, wrestled with it. - -"Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!" - -In the struggle, if that can be called a struggle in which the Ghost -with no visible resistance on its own part was undisturbed by any -effort of its adversary, Scrooge observed that its light was burning -high and bright, and dimly connecting that with its influence over him, -he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down -upon its head. - -The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its -whole form; but though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he -could not hide the light which streamed from under it in an unbroken -flood upon the ground. - -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 squeeze, in which his hand relaxed, and had barely time to reel -to bed before he sank into a heavy sleep. - - -STAVE THREE. - -THE SECOND OF THE THREE SPIRITS. - -Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, and sitting up in -bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told -that the bell was again upon the stroke of one. He felt that he was -restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the especial -purpose of holding a conference with the second messenger despatched to -him through Jacob Marley's intervention. But finding that he turned -uncomfortably cold when he began to wonder which of his curtains this -new specter would draw back, he put them every one aside with his own -hands, and lying down again, established a sharp lookout all round the -bed. For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its -appearance, and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and made nervous. - -Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being -acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time of -day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by -observing that they are good for anything from pitch-and-toss to -manslaughter, between which opposite extremes, no doubt, there lies a -tolerably wide and comprehensive range of subjects. Without venturing -for Scrooge quite as hardily as this, I don't mind calling on you to -believe that he was ready for a good, broad field of strange -appearances, and that nothing between a baby and rhinoceros would have -astonished him very much. - -Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means -prepared for nothing; and consequently, when the bell struck one, and -no shape appeared, he was taken with a violent fit of trembling. Five -minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour went by, yet nothing came. -All this time he lay upon his bed, the very core and center of a blaze -of ruddy light which streamed upon it when the clock proclaimed the -hour, and which, being only light, was more alarming than a dozen -ghosts, as he was powerless to make out what it meant, or would be at, -and was sometimes apprehensive that he might be that very moment an -interesting case of spontaneous combustion, without having the -consolation of knowing it. At last, however, he began to think--as you -or I would have thought at first, for it is always the person not in -the predicament who knows what ought to have been done in it, and would -unquestionably have done it, too--at last, I say, he began to think -that the source and secret of this ghostly light 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 slippers to the door. - -The moment Scrooge's hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him -by his name, and bade him enter. He obeyed. - -It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had -undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so -hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part -of which bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, -mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light as if so many little -mirrors had been scattered there, and such a mighty blaze went roaring -up the chimney as that dull petrifaction of a hearth had never known in -Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone. -Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, -game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths -of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot -chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, -immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the -chamber dim with their delicious steam. In easy state upon this couch, -there sat a jolly giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch, in -shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its -light on Scrooge as he came peeping round the door. - -"Come in!" exclaimed the Ghost. "Come in! and know me better, man!" - -Scrooge entered, timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit. He was -not the dogged Scrooge he had been, and though the Spirit's eyes were -clear and 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 robe, or -mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the -figure that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be -warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the -ample folds of the garment, were also bare, and on its head it wore no -other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with shining -icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free--free as its genial -face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its -unconstrained demeanor, and its joyful air. Girded round its middle was -an antique scabbard, but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was -eaten up with rust. - -"You have never seen the like of me before!" exclaimed the Spirit. - -"Never!" Scrooge made answer to it. - -"Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family, meaning -(for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these later years?" -pursued the Phantom. - -"I don't think I have," said Scrooge. "I am afraid I have not. Have you -had many brothers, Spirit?" - -"More than eighteen hundred," said the Ghost. - -"A tremendous family to provide for!" muttered Scrooge. - -The Ghost of Christmas Present rose. - -"Spirit," said Scrooge, submissively, "conduct me where you will. I -went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is -working now. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by -it." - -"Touch my robe!" - -Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast. - -Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkeys, geese, game, poultry, -brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch -all vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the ruddy glow, the -hour of night, and they stood in the city streets on Christmas morning, -where (for the weather was severe) the people made a rough, but brisk -and not unpleasant kind of music in scraping the snow from the pavement -in front of their dwellings, and from the tops of their houses, whence -it was mad delight to the boys to see it come plumping down into the -road below, and splitting into artificial little snow-storms. - -The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, -contrasting with the smooth, white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and -with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which last deposit had been -ploughed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and -wagons--furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other hundreds of -times where the great streets branched off, and made intricate channels -hard to trace in the thick, yellow mud and icy water. The sky was -gloomy and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half -thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of -sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one -consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts' -content. There was nothing very cheerful in the climate of the town, -and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest -summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavored to diffuse in -vain. For the people who were shoveling away on the housetops were -jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, -and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball--better-natured -missile far than many a wordy jest--laughing heartily if it went right, -and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulterers' shops were -still half open, and the fruiterers' were radiant in their glory. There -were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the -waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling -out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, -brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of -their growth like Spanish friars, and winking from their shelves in -wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at -the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples clustered high in -blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes made, in the -shopkeepers' benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that -people's mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of -filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks -among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered -leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the -yellow of the oranges and lemons, and in the great compactness of their -juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in -paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold and silver fish, set -forth among these choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and -stagnant blooded race, appeared to know that there was something going -on, and to a fish went gasping round and round their little world in -slow and passionless excitement. - -The grocers'! oh the grocers'! nearly closed, with perhaps two shutters -down, or one; but through those gaps such glimpses! It was not alone -that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that -the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters -were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended -scents of tea and coffee were so grateful to the nose, or even that the -raisins were so plentiful and pure, the almonds so extremely white, the -sticks of cinnamon so long and straight, the other spices so delicious, -the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make -the coldest lookers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious. Nor was it -that the figs were moist and pulpy, or that the French plums blushed in -modest tartness from their highly decorated boxes, or that everything -was good to eat and in its Christmas dress; but the customers were all -so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that they -tumbled up against each other at the door, crashing their wicker -baskets wildly, and left their purchases upon the counter, and came -running back to fetch them, and committed hundreds of the like -mistakes, in the best humor possible; while the grocer and his people -were so frank and fresh that the polished hearts with which they -fastened their aprons behind might have been their own, worn outside -for general inspection, and for Christmas daws to peck at if they -chose. - -But soon the steeples called good people all to church and chapel, and -away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and -with their gayest faces. At the same time there emerged from scores of -by-streets, lanes, and nameless turnings, innumerable people, carrying -their dinners to the bakers' shops. The sight of these poor revelers -appeared to interest the Spirit very 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 their dinners from his torch. And -it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were -angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he -shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humor was -restored directly, for they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon -Christmas Day. And so it was! God love it, so it was! - -In time the bells ceased and the bakers were shut up; and yet there was -a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners and the progress of their -cooking in the thawed blotch of wet above each baker's oven, where the -pavement smoked as if the stones were cooking, too. - -"Is there a peculiar flavor in what you sprinkle from your torch?" -asked Scrooge. - -"There is; my own." - -"Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge. - -"To any kindly given. To a poor one most." - -"Why to a poor one most?" asked Scrooge. - -"Because it needs it most." - -"Spirit," said Scrooge, after a moment's thought, "I wonder you, of all -the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these -people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment." - -"I!" cried the Spirit. - -"You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, -often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all," said -Scrooge, "wouldn't you?" - -"I!" cried the Spirit. - -"You seek to close these places on the seventh day," said Scrooge, "and -it comes to the same thing." - -"_I_ seek!" exclaimed the Spirit. - -"Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least -in that of your family," said Scrooge. - -"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who -lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, -ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are -as strange to us and all our kith and kin as if they had never lived. -Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us." - -Scrooge promised that he would, and they went on, invisible, as they -had been before, into the suburbs of the town. It was 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 a low roof quite as -gracefully and like a supernatural creature as it was possible he could -have done in any lofty hall. - -And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit had in showing off this -power of his, or else it was his own kind, generous, hearty nature, and -his sympathy with all poor men, that led him straight to Scrooge's -clerk's; for there he went, and took Scrooge with him, holding to his -robe; and on the threshold of the door the Spirit smiled, and stopped -to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling with the sprinklings of his torch. -Think of that! Bob had but fifteen "Bob" a-week himself; he pocketed on -Saturdays but fifteen copies of his Christian name; and yet the Ghost -of Christmas Present blessed his four-roomed house! - -Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit's wife, dressed out but poorly in -a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a -goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda -Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master -Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and -getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private -property, conferred upon his son and heir in honor of the day) into his -mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to -show his linen in the fashionable parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, -boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they -had smelt the goose and known it for their own, and basking in -luxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced -about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while -he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire -until the slow potatoes bubbling up knocked loudly at the saucepan lid -to be led out and peeled. - -"What has ever got your precious father then?" said Mrs. Cratchit. "And -your brother, Tiny Tim! And Martha warn't as late last Christmas Day by -half an hour." - -"Here's Martha, mother!" said a girl, appearing as she spoke. - -"Here's Martha, mother!" cried the two young Cratchits. "Hurrah! -There's _such_ a goose, Martha!" - -"Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are!" said Mrs. -Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and -bonnet for her with officious zeal. - -"We'd a deal of work to finish up last night," replied the girl, "and -had to clear away this morning, mother!" - -"Well, never mind so long as you are come," said Mrs. Cratchit. "Sit ye -down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye!" - -"No, no! There's father coming," cried the two young Cratchits, who -were everywhere at once. "Hide, Martha, hide!" - -So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, the father, with at -least three feet of comforter, exclusive of the fringe, hanging down -before him, and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed to look -seasonable, and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore -a little crutch and had his limbs supported by an iron frame! - -"Why, where's our Martha?" cried Bob Cratchit, looking round. - -"Not coming," said Mrs. Cratchit. - -"Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden declension in his high spirits, -for he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and had come -home rampant; "not coming upon Christmas Day!" - -Martha didn't like to see him disappointed, if it were only a joke, so -she came out prematurely from behind the closet door and ran into his -arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim and bore him off -into the wash-house, that he might hear the pudding singing in the -copper. - -"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had -rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his -heart's content. - -"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, -sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever -heard. He told me coming home that he hoped the people saw him in the -church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to -remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men -see." - -Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more -when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty. - -His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny -Tim before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister -to his stool before the fire, and while Bob, turning up his cuffs--as -if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabby--compounded -some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and -round and put it on the hob to simmer, Master Peter and the two ubiquitous -young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned -in high procession. - -Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of -all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter -of course--and in truth it was something very like it in that house. -Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) -hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigor; -Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce; Martha dusted the hot -plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table; the -two young Cratchits set chairs for everybody, not forgetting -themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into -their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came -to be helped. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It -was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly -all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but -when she did, and when the long-expected gush of stuffing issued forth, -one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, -excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle -of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! - -There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't believe there ever was -such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, -were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple sauce and -mashed potatoes it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; -indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small -atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all at last! Yet -every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular were -steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows! But now, the plates being -changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone--too nervous -to bear witnesses--to take the pudding up and bring it in. - -Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in -turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back -yard and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition -at which the two young Cratchits became livid! All sorts of horrors -were supposed. - -Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A -smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an -eating-house and a pastry-cook's next door to each other, with a -laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding. In half a minute -Mrs. Cratchit entered--flushed, but smiling proudly--with the pudding, -like a speckled canon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half -a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck -into the top. - -Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly, too, that he -regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since -their marriage. Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her -mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of -flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or -thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have -been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at -such a thing. - -At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth -swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted and -considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a -shovelful of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Cratchit family drew -round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a -one, and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass: two -tumblers and a custard-cup without a handle. - -These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden -goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, -while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob -proposed: "A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!" - -Which all the family re-echoed. - -"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all. - -He sat very close to his father's side upon his little stool. Bob held -his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished -to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. - -"Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, -"tell me if Tiny Tim will live." - -"I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, -and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows -remain unaltered by the future, the child will die." - -"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit! say he will be spared." - -"If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, none other of my -race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be -like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." - -Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and -was overcome with penitence and grief. - -"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear -that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and -Where is it. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? -It may be that, in the sight of heaven, you are more worthless and less -fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh, God, to hear -the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his -hungry brothers in the dust!" - -Scrooge bent before the Ghost's rebuke, and trembling, cast his eyes -upon the ground. But he raised them speedily on hearing his own name. - -"Mr. Scrooge!" said Bob; "I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the -feast!" - -"The founder of the feast, indeed!" cried Mrs. Cratchit, reddening. "I -wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and -I hope he'd have a good appetite for it." - -"My dear," said Bob, "the children! Christmas Day." - -"It should be Christmas Day, I am sure," said she, "on which one drinks -the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. -Scrooge. You know he is, Robert! Nobody knows it better than you do, -poor fellow!" - -"My dear," was Bob's mild answer, "Christmas Day." - -"I'll drink his health for your sake and the day's," said Mrs. -Cratchit, "not for his. Long life to him! A Merry Christmas and a Happy -New Year! He'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!" - -The children drank the toast after her. It was the first of their -proceedings which had no heartiness. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but -he didn't care twopence for it. Scrooge was the Ogre of the family. The -mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not -dispelled for full five minutes. - -After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier than before, from -the mere relief of Scrooge the baleful being done with. Bob Cratchit -told them how he had a situation in his eye for Master Peter, which -would bring in, if obtained, full five-and-sixpence weekly. The two -young Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea of Peter's being a man -of business; and Peter himself looked thoughtfully at the fire from -between his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular -investments he should favor when he came into the receipt of that -bewildering income. Martha, who was a poor apprentice at a milliner's, -then told them what kind of work she had to do, and how many hours she -worked at a stretch, and how she meant to lie abed to-morrow morning -for a good long rest; to-morrow being a holiday she passed at home. -Also how she had seen a countess and a lord some days before, and how -the lord "was much about as tall as Peter"; at which Peter pulled up -his collars so high that you couldn't have seen his head if you had -been there. All this time the chestnuts and the jug went round and -round, and by and by they had a song, about a lost child traveling in -the snow, from Tiny Tim, who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it -very well indeed. - -There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome -family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being -waterproof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and -very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker's. But they were happy, -grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time; and -when they faded and looked happier yet in the bright sprinklings of the -Spirit's torch at parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and -especially on Tiny Tim, until the last. - -By this time it was getting dark and snowing pretty heavily, and as -Scrooge and the Spirit went along the streets, the brightness of the -roaring fires in kitchens, parlors, and all sorts of rooms was -wonderful. Here the flickering of the blaze showed preparations for a -cozy dinner, with hot plates baking through and through before the -fire, and deep red curtains, ready to be drawn to shut out cold and -darkness. There all the children of the house were running out into the -snow to meet their married sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, -and be the first to greet them. Here, again, were shadows on the -windowblind of guests assembling; and there a group of handsome girls, -all hooded and fur-booted, and 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 had judged from the numbers of people on their way to -friendly gatherings, you might have thought that no one was at home to -give them welcome when they got there, instead of every house expecting -company, and piling up its fires half-chimney high. Blessings on it, -how the Ghost exulted. How it bared its breadth of breast, and opened -its capacious palm, and floated on, outpouring, with a generous hand, -its bright and harmless mirth on everything within its reach! The very -lamplighter, who ran on before, dotting the dusky street with specks of -light, and who was dressed to spend the evening somewhere, laughed out -loudly as the Spirit passed, though little kenned the lamplighter that -he had any company but Christmas! - -And now, without a word of warning from the Ghost, they stood upon a -bleak and desert moor, where monstrous masses of rude stone were cast -about, as though it were the burial-place of giants, and water spread -itself wheresoever it listed, or would have done so, but for the frost -that held it prisoner; and nothing grew but moss and furze, and coarse, -rank grass. Down in the west the setting sun had left a streak of fiery -red, which glared upon the desolation for an instant like a sullen eye, -and frowning lower, lower, lower yet, was lost in the thick gloom of -darkest night. - -"What place is this?" asked Scrooge. - -"A place where miners live, who labor in the bowels of the earth," -returned the Spirit. "But they know me. See!" - -A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced -towards it. Passing through the wall of mud and stone, they found a -cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and -woman, with their children and their children's children, and another -generation beyond that, all decked out gayly in their holiday attire. -The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind -upon the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas 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 surely as they raised their voices, the old man got -quite blithe and loud, and so surely as they stopped, his vigor sank -again. - -The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold his robe, and -passing on above the moor, sped--whither? Not to sea? To sea. To -Scrooge's horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a -frightful range of rocks behind them, and his ears were deafened by the -thundering of water, as it rolled and roared, and raged among the -dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely tried to undermine the -earth. - -Built upon a dismal reef of sunken rocks, some league or so from shore, -on which the waters chafed and dashed, the wild year through, there -stood a solitary lighthouse. Great heaps of seaweed clung to its base, -and storm birds--born of the wind one might suppose, as seaweed of the -water--rose and fell about it, like the waves they skimmed. - -But even here, two men who watched the light had made a fire, that -through the loophole in the thick stone wall shed out a ray of -brightness on the awful sea. Joining their horny hands over the rough -table at which they sat, they wished each other Merry Christmas in -their can of grog; and one of them--the elder, too, with his face all -damaged and scarred with hard weather, as the figurehead of an old ship -might be--struck up a sturdy song that was like a gale in itself. - -Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea--on, -on--until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they -lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the -lookout in the bow, the officers who had the watch--dark, ghostly -figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a -Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath -to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes -belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or -bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in -the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had -remembered those he cared for at a distance; and had known that they -delighted to remember him. - -It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while listening to the moaning of -the wind, and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through -the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss, whose depths were secrets as -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 -Scrooge to recognize it as his own nephew's and to find himself in a -bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his -side, and looking at that same nephew with approving affability! - -"Ha, ha!" laughed Scrooge's nephew. "Ha, ha, ha!" - -If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest -in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I should like to -know him, too. Introduce him to me, and I'll cultivate his -acquaintance. - -It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there -is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so -irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor. When Scrooge's -nephew laughed in this way--holding his sides, rolling his head, and -twisting his face into the most extravagant contortions--Scrooge's -niece, by marriage, laughed as heartily as he, and their assembled -friends being not a bit behindhand, roared out lustily. - -"Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" - -"He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live!" cried Scrooge's -nephew. "He believed it, too!" - -"More shame for him, Fred!" said Scrooge's niece, indignantly. Bless -those women; they never do anything by halves, they are always in -earnest. - -She was very pretty, exceedingly pretty. With a dimpled, -surprised-looking, capital face; a ripe little mouth that seemed made -to be kissed, as no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about -her chin that melted into one another when she laughed; and the -sunniest pair of eyes you ever saw in any little creature's head. -Altogether she was what you would have called provoking, you know; but -satisfactory, too. Oh, perfectly satisfactory. - -"He's a comical old fellow," said Scrooge's nephew, "that's the truth, -and not so pleasant as he might be. However, his offenses carry their -own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him." - -"I'm sure he is very rich, Fred," hinted Scrooge's niece. "At least you -always tell _me_ so." - -"What of that, my dear!" said Scrooge's nephew. "His wealth is of no -use to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't make himself -comfortable with it. He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking--ha, ha, -ha!--that he is ever going to benefit us with it." - -"I have no patience with him," observed Scrooge's niece. Scrooge's -niece's sisters and all the other ladies, expressed the same opinion. - -"Oh, I have!" said Scrooge's nephew. "I am sorry for him; I couldn't be -angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims! Himself, -always. Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won't -come and dine with us. What's the consequence? He don't lose much of a -dinner." - -"Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner," interrupted Scrooge's -niece. Everybody else said the same, and they must be allowed to have -been competent judges, because they had just had dinner, and with the -dessert upon the table, were clustered round the fire, by lamplight. - -"Well, I'm very glad to hear it," said Scrooge's nephew, "because I -haven't great faith in these young housekeepers. What do _you_ say, -Topper?" - -Topper had clearly got his eye upon one of Scrooge's niece's sisters, -for he answered that a bachelor was a wretched outcast, who had no -right to express an opinion on the subject. Whereas Scrooge's niece's -sister--the plump one with the lace tucker; not the one with the -roses--blushed. - -"Do go on, Fred," said Scrooge's niece, clapping her hands. "He never -finishes what he begins to say; he is such a ridiculous fellow!" - -Scrooge's nephew reveled in another laugh, and as it was impossible to -keep the infection off--though the plump sister tried hard to do it -with aromatic vinegar--his example was unanimously followed. - -"I was only going to say," said Scrooge's nephew, "that the consequence -of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I -think, that he loses some pleasant moments which could do him no harm. -I am sure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own -thoughts, either in his moldy old office or his dusty chambers. I mean -to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for -I pity him. He may rail at Christmas till he dies, but he can't help -thinking better of it--I defy him--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 vein to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, -_that's_ something, and I think I shook him yesterday." - -It was their turn to laugh now, at the notion of his shaking Scrooge. -But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they -laughed at so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in -their merriment and passed the bottle joyously. - -After tea, they had some music, for they were a musical family, and -knew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch, I can assure -you, especially Topper, who could growl away in the bass like a good -one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the -face over it. Scrooge's niece played well upon the harp, and played -among other tunes a simple little air (a mere nothing--you 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 the strain of music sounded, all the -things that Ghost had shown him came upon his mind, he softened more -and more, and thought that if he could have listened to it often years -ago, he might have cultivated the kindness of life for his own -happiness with his own hands, without resorting to the sexton's spade -that buried Jacob Marley. - -But they didn't devote the whole evening to music. After a while they -played at forfeits, for it is good to be children sometimes, and never -better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. -Stop! There was first a game at blind-man's buff. Of course there was. -And I no more believe that Topper was really blind than I believe he -had eyes in his boots. My opinion is that it was a done thing between -him and Scrooge's nephew, and that the Ghost of Christmas Present knew -it. The way he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker was an -outrage on the credulity of human nature. Knocking down the fire-irons, -tumbling over the chairs, bumping against the piano, smothering himself -among the curtains, wherever she went, there went he! He always knew -where the plump sister was. He wouldn't catch anybody else. If you had -fallen up against him (as some of them did on purpose), he would have -made a feint of endeavoring 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 that it wasn't -fair, and it really was not. But when at last he caught her; when, in -spite of all her silken rustlings, and her rapid flutterings past him, -he got her into a corner whence there was no escape; then his conduct -was the most execrable. For his pretending not to know her, his -pretending that it was necessary to touch her head-dress, and further -to assure himself of her identity by pressing a certain ring upon her -finger, and a certain chain about her neck, was vile, monstrous! No -doubt she told him her opinion of it, when, another blind man being in -office, they were so very confidential together behind the curtains. - -Scrooge's niece was not one of the blind-man's buff party, but was made -comfortable with a large chair and a footstool, in a snug corner, where -the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her. But she joined in the -forfeits and loved her love to admiration with all the letters of the -alphabet. Likewise at the game of How, When, and Where, she was very -great, and to the secret joy of Scrooge's nephew, beat her sisters -hollow, though they were sharp girls, too, as Topper could have told -you. There might have been twenty people there, young and old, but they -all played, and so did Scrooge, for wholly forgetting, in the interest -he had in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their -ears, he sometimes came out with his guess quite loud, and very often -guessed quite right, too; for the sharpest needle, best Whitechapel, -warranted not to cut in the eye, was not sharper than Scrooge; blunt as -he took it in his head to 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 to be allowed to stay -until the guests departed. But this the Spirit said could not be done. - -"Here is a new game," said Scrooge. "One half-hour, Spirit, only one!" - -It was a game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's nephew had to think of -something, and the rest must find out what; he only answering to their -questions yes or no, as the case was. The brisk fire of questioning to -which he was exposed elicited from him that he was thinking of an -animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, -an animal that growled and grunted sometimes, and talked sometimes, and -lived in London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show -of, and wasn't led by anybody, and didn't live in a menagerie, and was -never killed in a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow, or -a bull, or a tiger, or a dog, or a pig, or a cat, or a bear. At every -fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar -of laughter, and was so inexpressibly tickled that he was obliged to -get up off the sofa and stamp. At last the plump sister, falling into a -similar state, cried out, "I have found it out! I know what it is, -Fred! I know what it is!" - -"What is it?" cried Fred. - -"It's your Uncle Scro-o-o-o-oge!" - -Which it certainly was. Admiration was the universal sentiment, though -some objected that the reply to "Is it a bear?" ought to have been -"Yes," inasmuch as an answer in the negative was sufficient to have -diverted their thoughts from Mr. Scrooge, supposing they had ever had -any tendency that way. - -"He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure," said Fred, "and it -would be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled -wine ready to our hand at the moment; and I say, 'Uncle Scrooge!'" - -"Well! Uncle Scrooge!" they cried. - -"A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he -is!" said Scrooge's nephew. "He wouldn't take it from me, but may he -have it, nevertheless. Uncle Scrooge!" - -Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay and light of heart that -he would have pledged the unconscious company in return, and thanked -them in an inaudible speech if the Ghost had given him time. But the -whole scene passed off in the breath of the last word spoken by his -nephew, and he and the Spirit were again upon their travels. - -Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but -always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they -were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by -struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by -poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's -every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made -fast the door and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing and -taught Scrooge his precepts. - -It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his -doubts of this, because the Christmas holidays appeared to be condensed -into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that -while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew -older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke -of it until they left a children's Twelfth-Night party, when, looking -at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that -its hair was gray. - -"Are spirits' lives so short?" asked Scrooge. - -"My life upon this globe is very brief," replied the Ghost. "It ends -to-night." - -"To-night!" cried Scrooge. - -"To-night at midnight. Hark! The time is drawing near." - -The chimes were ringing the three-quarters past eleven at that moment. - -"Forgive me if I am not justified in 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 it a foot or a -claw?" - -"It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it," was the Spirit's -sorrowful reply. "Look here." - -From the foldings of its robe it brought two children, wretched, -abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and -clung upon the outside of its garment. - -"Oh, man! look here. Look, look down here!" exclaimed the Ghost. - -They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meager, ragged, scowling, wolfish, -but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have -filled their features out and touched them with its freshest tints, a -stale and shriveled hand, like that of age, had pinched and twisted -them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat -enthroned, devils lurked and glared out menacing. No change, no -degradation, no perversion of humanity in any grade, through all the -mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and -dread. - -Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, -he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked -themselves rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. - -"Spirit, are they yours?" Scrooge could say no more. - -"They are man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them, "and they -cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This -girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of -all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, -unless the writing be erased. Deny it!" cried the Spirit, stretching -out its hand towards the city. "Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it -for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end!" - -"Have they no refuge or resource?" cried Scrooge. - -"Are there no prisons?" said the Spirit, turning on him for the last -time with his own words. "Are there no workhouses?" - -The bell struck twelve. - -Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the last -stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob -Marley, and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and -hooded, coming like a mist along the ground towards him. - - -STAVE FOUR. - -THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS. - -The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came near -him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which -this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. - -It was shrouded in a deep, black garment, which concealed its head, its -face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched -hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure -from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was -surrounded. - -He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that -its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no -more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved. - -"I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?" said -Scrooge. - -The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand. - -"You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, -but will happen in the time before us," Scrooge 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 answer -he received. - -Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the -silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found -that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit -paused 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 intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his -own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great -heap of black. - -"Ghost of the Future!" he exclaimed, "I fear you more than any specter -I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope -to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you -company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?" - -It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them. - -"Lead on!" said Scrooge. "Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is -precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!" - -The Phantom moved away as it had come towards him. Scrooge followed in -the shadow of its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and carried him -along. - -They scarcely seemed to enter the city, for the city rather seemed to -spring up about them and encompass them of its own act. But there they -were in the heart of it, on 'Change, amongst the merchants, who hurried -up and down, and chinked the money in their pockets, and conversed in -groups, and looked at their watches, and trifled thoughtfully with -their great gold seals, and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them often. - -The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of business men. Observing -that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their -talk. - -"No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin, "I don't know much -about it, either way. I only know he's dead." - -"When did he die?" inquired another. - -"Last night, I believe." - -"Why, what was the matter with him?" asked a third, taking a vast -quantity of snuff out of a very large snuff-box. "I thought he'd never -die." - -"God knows," said the first, with a yawn. - -"What has he done with his money?" asked a red-faced gentleman with a -pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills -of a turkey-cock. - -"I haven't heard," said the man with the large chin, yawning again. -"Left it to his company, perhaps. He hasn't left it to _me_. -That's all I know." - -This pleasantry was received with a general laugh. - -"It's likely to be a very cheap funeral," said the same speaker; "for -upon my life I don't know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a -party and volunteer?" - -"I don't mind going if a lunch is provided," observed the gentleman -with the excrescence on his nose. "But I must be fed, if I make one." - -Another laugh. - -"Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all," said the -first speaker, "for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch. -But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it, -I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend, for we -used to stop and speak whenever we met. By-by!" - -Speakers and listeners strolled away and mixed with other groups. -Scrooge knew the men, and looked towards the Spirit for an explanation. - -The Phantom glided on into a street. Its finger pointed to two persons -meeting. Scrooge listened again, thinking that the explanation might -lie here. - -He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were men of business, very -wealthy, and of great importance. He had made a point always of -standing well in their esteem, in a business point of view; that is, -strictly in a business point of view. - -"How are you?" said one. - -"How are you?" returned the other. - -"Well!" said the first. "Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey?" - -"So I am told," returned the second. "Cold, 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 meeting, their conversation, and their -parting. - -Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should -attach importance to conversations apparently so trivial, but feeling -assured that they must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to -consider what it was likely to be. They could scarcely be supposed to -have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was -Past, and this Ghost's province was the Future. Nor could he think of -any one immediately connected with himself to whom he could apply them. -But nothing doubting that to whomsoever they applied they had some -latent moral for his own improvement, he resolved to treasure up every -word he heard and everything he saw, and especially to observe the -shadow of himself when it appeared. For he had an expectation that the -conduct of his future self would give him the clue he missed, and would -render the solution of these riddles easy. - -He looked about in that very place for his own image, but another man -stood in his accustomed corner, and though the clock pointed to his -usual time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of himself among -the multitudes that poured in through the porch. It gave him little -surprise, however, for he had been revolving in his mind a change of -life, and thought and hoped he saw his new-born resolutions carried out -in this. - -Quiet and dark beside him stood the Phantom, with its outstretched -hand. When he roused himself from his thoughtful quest, he fancied from -the turn of the hand, and its situation in reference to himself, that -the unseen eyes were looking at him keenly. It made him shudder and -feel very cold. - -They left the busy scene and went into an obscure part of the town -where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognized its -situation and its bad repute. The ways were foul and narrow, the shops -and houses wretched, the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. -Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offenses -of smell, and dirt, and life upon the straggling streets, and the whole -quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery. - -Far in this den of infamous resort there was a low-browed, beetling -shop below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and -greasy offal, were bought. Upon the floor within were piled up heaps of -rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse -iron of all kinds. Secrets that few would like to scrutinize were bred -and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and -sepulchers of bones. Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a -charcoal stove made of old bricks, was a gray-haired rascal, nearly -seventy years of age, who had screened himself from the cold air -without by a frowsy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters hung upon a -line, and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement. - -Scrooge and the Phantom came into the presence of this man just as a -woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the shop. But she had scarcely -entered when another woman, similarly laden, came in too, and she was -closely followed by a man in faded black, who was no less startled by -the sight of them than they had been upon the recognition of each -other. After a short period of blank astonishment, in which the old man -with the pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a laugh. - -"Let the charwoman alone to be the first!" cried she who had entered -first. "Let the laundress alone to be the second, and let the -under-taker's man alone to be the third. Look here, old Joe, here's a -chance! If we haven't all three met here without meaning it!" - -"You couldn't have met in a better place," said old Joe, removing his -pipe from his mouth. "Come into the parlor. You were made free of it -long ago, you know, and the other two an't strangers. Stop till I shut -the door of the shop. Ah! How it skreeks! There an't such a rusty bit -of metal in the place as its own hinges, I believe, and I'm sure -there's no such old bones here as mine. Ha, ha! We're all suitable to -our calling, we're well matched. Come into the parlor. Come into the -parlor." - -The parlor was the space behind the screen of rags. The old man raked -the fire together with an old stair-rod, and having trimmed his smoky -lamp (for it was night) with the stem of his pipe, put it in his mouth -again. - -While he did this, the woman who had already spoken threw her bundle on -the floor and sat down in a flaunting manner on a stool, crossing her -elbows on her knees, and looking with a bold defiance at the other two. - -"What odds then! What odds, Mrs. Dilber?" said the woman. "Every person -has a right to take care of themselves. _He_ always did." - -"That's true, indeed!" said the laundress. "No man more so." - -"Why, then, don't stand staring as if you was afraid, woman; who's the -wiser? We're not going to pick holes in each other's coats, I suppose?" - -"No, indeed!" said Mrs. Dilber and the man together. "We should hope -not." - -"Very well, then!" cried the woman. "That's enough. Who's the worse for -the loss of a few things like these? Not a dead man, I suppose." - -"No, indeed," said Mrs. Dilber, laughing. - -"If he wanted to keep 'em after he was dead, a wicked old screw," -pursued the woman, "why wasn't he natural in his lifetime? If he had -been, he'd have had somebody to look after him when he was struck with -death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone, by himself." - -"It's the truest word that ever was spoke," said Mrs. Dilber. "It's a -judgment on him." - -"I wish it was a little heavier judgment," replied the woman, "and it -should have been, you depend upon it, if I could have laid my hands on -anything else. Open that bundle, old Joe, and let me know the value of -it. Speak out plain. I'm not afraid to be the first nor afraid for them -to see it. We knew pretty well that we were helping ourselves before we -met here, I believe. It's no sin. Open the bundle, Joe." - -But the gallantry of her friends would not allow of this, and the man -in faded black, mounting the breach first, produced _his_ plunder. -It was not extensive. A seal or two, a pencil-case, a pair of -sleeve-buttons, and a brooch of no great value, were all. They were -severally examined and appraised by old Joe, who chalked the sums he -was disposed to give for each upon the wall, and added them up into a -total when he found there was nothing more to come. - -"That's your account," said Joe, "and I wouldn't give another sixpence -if I was to be boiled for not doing it. Who's next?" - -Mrs. Dilber was next. Sheets and towels, a little wearing apparel, two -old-fashioned silver teaspoons, a pair of sugar-tongs, a few boots. Her -account was stated on the wall in the same manner. - -"I always give too much to ladies. It's a weakness of mine, and that's -the way I ruin myself," said old Joe. "That's your account. If you -asked me for another penny and made it an open question, I'd repent of -being so liberal and knock off half-a-crown." - -"And now undo _my_ bundle, Joe," said the first woman. - -Joe went down on his knees for the greater convenience of opening it, -and having unfastened a great many knots, dragged out a large and heavy -roll of some dark stuff. - -"What do you call this?" said Joe. "Bed-curtains!" - -"Ah," returned the woman, laughing and leaning forward on her crossed -arms, "bed-curtains!" - -"You don't mean to say you took 'em down, rings an all, with him lying -there?" said Joe. - -"Yes I do," replied the woman. "Why not?" - -"You were born to make your fortune," said Joe, "and you'll certainly -do it." - -"I certainly sha'n't hold my hand, when I can get anything in it by -reaching it out, for the sake of such a man as he was, I promise you, -Joe," returned the woman, coolly. "Don't drop that oil upon the -blankets, now." - -"His blankets?" asked Joe. - -"Whose else's do you think?" replied the woman. "He isn't likely to -take cold without 'em, I dare say." - -"I hope he didn't die of anything catching? Eh?" said old Joe, stopping -in his work and looking up. - -"Don't you be afraid of that," returned the woman. "I an't so fond of -his company that I'd loiter about him for such things if he did. Ah! -you may look through that shirt till your eyes ache, but you won't find -a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It's the best he had, and a fine -one, too. They'd have wasted it, if it hadn't been for me." - -"What do you call wasting of it?" asked old Joe. - -"Putting it on him to be buried in, to be sure," replied the woman, -with a laugh. "Somebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off -again. If calico an't good enough for such a purpose, it isn't good -enough for anything. It's quite as unbecoming to the body. He can't -look uglier than he did in that one." - -Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. As they sat grouped about -their spoil in the scanty light afforded by the old man's lamp, he -viewed them with a detestation and disgust which could hardly have been -greater, though they had been obscene demons, marketing the corpse -itself. - -"Ha, ha!" laughed the same woman, when old Joe, producing a flannel bag -with money in it, told out their several gains upon the ground. "This -is the end of it, you see! He frightened every one away from him when -he was alive, to profit us when he was dead! Ha, ha, ha!" - -"Spirit!" said Scrooge, shuddering from head to foot. "I see, I see. -The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way -now. Merciful heaven, what is this!" - -He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed, and now he almost -touched a bed--a bare, uncurtained bed--on which, beneath a ragged -sheet there lay a something covered up, which, though it was dumb, -announced itself in awful language. - -The room was very dark, too dark to be observed with any accuracy, -though Scrooge glanced round it, in obedience to a secret impulse, -anxious to know what kind of room it was. A pale light rising in the -outer air, fell straight upon the bed, and on it, plundered and bereft, -unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of this man. - -Scrooge glanced toward the Phantom. Its steady hand was pointed to the -head. 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, and longed -to do it, but had no more power to withdraw the veil than to dismiss -the specter at his side. - -Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and -dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command, for this is thy -dominion! But of the loved, revered, and honored head, thou canst not -turn one hair to thy dread purposes, or make one feature odious. It is -not that the hand is heavy and will fall down when released, it is not -that the heart and pulse are still, but that the hand was open, -generous, and true; the heart brave, warm, and tender; and the pulse a -man's. Strike, Shadow, strike! And see his good deeds springing from -the wound, to sow the world with life immortal! - -No voice pronounced these words in Scrooge's ears, and yet he heard -them when he looked upon the bed. He thought if this man could be -raised up now, what would be his foremost thoughts? Avarice, -hard-dealing, griping cares? They have brought him to a rich end, -truly! - -He lay in the dark, empty house with not a man, a woman, or a child to -say that he was kind to me in this or that, and for the memory of one -kind word I will be kind to him. A cat was tearing at the door, and -there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath the hearthstone. What -_they_ wanted in the room of death, and why they were so restless -and disturbed, Scrooge did not dare to think. - -"Spirit," he said, "this is a fearful place. In leaving it, I shall not -leave its lesson, trust me. Let us go!" - -Still the Ghost pointed with an unmoved finger to the head. - -"I understand you," Scrooge returned, "and I would do it, if I could. -But I have not the power, Spirit. I have not the power." - -Again it seemed to look upon him. - -"If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this -man's death," said Scrooge quite agonized, "show that person to me, -Spirit, I beseech you!" - -The Phantom spread its dark robe before him for a moment like a wing, -and withdrawing it, revealed a room by daylight, where a mother and her -children were. - -She was expecting some one, and with anxious eagerness, for she walked -up and down the room, started at every sound, looked out from the -window, glanced at the clock, tried but in vain to work with her -needle, and could hardly bear the voices of the children in their play. - -At length the long-expected knock was heard. She hurried to the door -and met her husband, a man whose face was careworn and depressed, -though he was young. There was a remarkable expression in it now, a -kind of serious delight, of which he felt ashamed and which he -struggled to repress. - -He sat down to the dinner that had been hoarding for him by the fire, -and when she asked him faintly what news (which was not until after a -long silence), he appeared embarrassed how to answer. - -"Is it good," she said, "or bad?"--to help him. - -"Bad," he answered. - -"We are quite ruined?" - -"No; there is hope yet, Caroline." - -"If _he_ relents," she said, amazed, "there is! Nothing is past hope, -if such a miracle has happened." - -"He is past relenting," said her husband. "He is dead." - -She was a mild and patient creature, if her face spoke truth, but she -was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so, with clasped -hands. She prayed forgiveness the next moment, and was sorry, but the -first was the emotion of her heart. - -"What the half-drunken woman whom I told you of last night said to me -when I tried to see him and obtain a week's delay, and what I thought -was a mere excuse to avoid me, turns out to have been quite true. He -was not only very ill, but dying then." - -"To whom will our debt be transferred?" - -"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 indeed to find -so merciless a creditor in his successor. We may sleep to-night with -light hearts, Caroline!" - -Yes; soften it as they would, their hearts were lighter. The children's -faces, hushed and clustered round to hear what they so little -understood, were brighter, and it was a happier house for this man's -death! The only emotion that the Ghost could show him, caused by the -event, was one of pleasure. - -"Let me see some tenderness connected with a death," said Scrooge; "or -that dark chamber, Spirit, which we left just now will be forever -present to me." - -The Ghost conducted him through several streets familiar to his feet, -and as they went along, Scrooge looked here and there to find himself, -but nowhere was he to be seen. They entered poor Bob Cratchit's house, -the dwelling he had visited before, and found the mother and children -seated round the fire. - -Quiet; very quiet. The noisy little Cratchits were as still as statues -in one corner, and sat looking up at Peter, who had a book before him; -the mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing. But surely they -were very quiet! - -"'And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them.'" - -Where had Scrooge heard those words? He had not dreamed them. The boy -must have read them out, as he and the Spirit crossed the threshold. -Why did he not go on? - -The mother laid her work upon the table, and put her hand up to her -face. - -"The color hurts my eyes," she said. - -The color? Ah, poor Tiny Tim! - -"They're better now again," said Cratchit's wife. "It makes them weak -by candlelight, and I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father when he -comes home for the world. It must be near his time." - -"Past it rather," Peter answered, shutting up his book. "But I think he -has walked a little slower than he used, these few last evenings, -mother." - -They were very quiet again. At last she said, and in a steady, cheerful -voice, that only faltered once, "I have known him walk with--I have -known him walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very fast indeed." - -"And so have I!" cried Peter; "often." - -"And so have I!" exclaimed another. So had all. - -"But he was very light to carry," she resumed, intent upon her work, -"and his father loved him so that it was 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 ready for him on the hob, -and they all tried who should help him to it most. Then the two young -Cratchits got up on his knees and laid each child a little cheek -against his face, as if they said, "Don't mind it, father; don't be -grieved!" - -Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke pleasantly to all the -family. He looked at the work upon the table, and praised the industry -and speed of Mrs. Cratchit and the girls. They would be done long -before Sunday he said. - -"Sunday! You went to-day, then, Robert?" said his wife. - -"Yes, my dear," returned Bob. "I wish you could have gone. It would -have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you'll see it -often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little, -little child!" cried Bob. "My little child!" - -He broke down all at once. He couldn't help it. If he could have helped -it he and his child would have been farther apart perhaps than they -were. - -He left the room and went upstairs into the room above, which was -lighted cheerfully, and hung with Christmas. There was a chair set -loose beside the child and there were signs of some one having been -there lately. Poor Bob sat down in it, and when he had thought a little -and composed himself, he kissed the little face. He was reconciled to -what had happened, and went down again quite happy. - -They drew about the fire and talked; the girls and mother working -still. Bob told them of the extraordinary kindness of Mr. Scrooge's -nephew, whom he had scarcely seen but once, and who, meeting him in the -street that day, and seeing that he looked a little--"just a little -down you know," said Bob, inquired what had happened to distress him. -"On which," said Bob, "for he is the pleasantest-spoken gentleman you -ever heard, I told him. 'I am heartily sorry for it, Mr. Cratchit,' he -said, 'and heartily sorry for your good wife.' By the by, how he ever -knew _that_, I don't know." - -"Knew what, my dear?" - -"Why, that you were a good wife," replied Bob. - -"Everybody knows that!" said Peter. - -"Very well observed, my boy!" cried Bob. "I hope they do. 'Heartily -sorry,' he said, 'for your good wife. If I can be of service to you in -any way,' he said, giving me his card, 'that's where I live. Pray come -to me.' Now, it wasn't," cried Bob, "for the sake of anything he might -be able to do for us, so much as for his kind way, that this was quite -delightful. It really seemed as if he had known our Tiny Tim, and felt -with us." - -"I'm sure he's a good soul!" said Mrs. Cratchit. - -"You would be surer of it, my dear," returned Bob, "if you saw and -spoke to him. I shouldn't be at all surprised--mark what I say!--if he -got Peter a better situation." - -"Only hear that, Peter," said Mrs. Cratchit. - -"And then," cried one of the girls, "Peter will be keeping company with -some one, and setting up for himself." - -"Get along with you!" retorted Peter, grinning. - -"It's just likely as not," said Bob, "one of these days; though there's -plenty of time for that, my dear. But, however and whenever we part -from one another, I am sure we shall none of us forget poor Tiny -Tim--shall we--or this first parting that there was among us?" - -"Never, father!" cried they all. - -"And I know," said Bob, "I know, my dears, that when we recollect how -patient and how mild he was, although he was a little, little child, we -shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in -doing it." - -"No, never, father!" they all cried again. - -"I am very happy," said little Bob; "I am very happy!" - -Mrs. Cratchit kissed him, his daughters kissed him, the two young -Cratchits kissed him, and Peter and himself shook hands. Spirit of Tiny -Tim, thy childish essence was from God. - -"Specter," said Scrooge, "something informs me that our parting moment -is at hand. I know it, but I know not how. Tell me what man that was -whom we saw lying dead?" - -The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come conveyed him, as before--though at a -different time, he thought, indeed, there seemed no order in these -latter visions, save that they were in the future--into the resorts of -business men, but showed him not himself. Indeed, the Spirit did not -stay for 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. I see the -house. Let me behold what I shall be in days to come!" - -The Spirit stopped, the hand was pointed elsewhere. - -"The house is yonder," Scrooge exclaimed. "Why do you point away?" - -The inexorable finger underwent no change. - -Scrooge hastened to the window of his office and looked in. It was an -office still, but not his. The furniture was not the same, and the -figure in the chair was not himself. The Phantom pointed as before. - -He joined it once again, and wondering why and whither he had gone, -accompanied it until they reached an iron gate. He paused to look round -before entering. - -A churchyard. Here, then, the wretched man whose name he had now to -learn lay underneath the ground. It was a worthy place: walled in by -houses; overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, -not life; choked up with too much burying; fat with replete appetite. A -worthy place! - -The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to one. He advanced -towards it, trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he -dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape. - -"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said Scrooge, -"answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that will -be, or are they 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 persevered -in, they must lead," said Scrooge; "but if the course be departed from, -the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!" - -The Spirit was immovable as ever. - -Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went, and following the -finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, -EBENEZER SCROOGE. - -"Am _I_ that man who lay upon the bed?" he cried, upon his knees. - -The finger pointed from the grave to him, and back again. - -"No, Spirit! Oh, no, no!" - -The finger still was there. - -"Spirit!" he cried, tight clutching at its robe, "hear me! I am not the -man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this -intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope!" - -For the first time the hand appeared to shake. - -"Good Spirit," he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it, -"your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may -change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!" - -The kind hand trembled. - -"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I -will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all -three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they -teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!" - -In his agony he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but -he was strong in his entreaty, and detained it. The Spirit, stronger -yet, repulsed him. - -Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw -an alteration in the Phantom's hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, -and dwindled down into a bedpost. - - -STAVE FIVE. - -THE END OF IT. - -Yes, and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own. The room was his -own. Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make -amends in! - -"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" Scrooge -repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. "The spirits of all three shall -strive within me. Oh, Jacob Marley! Heaven and the Christmas time be -praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!" - -He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions that his -broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing -violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with -tears. - -"They are not torn down," cried Scrooge, folding one of his -bed-curtains in his arms, "they are not torn down, rings and all. They -are here--I am here--the shadows of the things that would have been may -be dispelled. They will be! I know they will!" - -His hands were busy with his garments all this time, turning them -inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, -making them parties to every kind of extravagance. - -"I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the -same breath, and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his -stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am -as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A Merry -Christmas to everybody! A Happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here! -Whoop! Hallo!" - -He had frisked into the sitting-room, and was now standing there, -perfectly winded. - -"There's the saucepan that the gruel was in!" cried Scrooge, starting -off again, and going round the fireplace. "There's the door by which -the Ghost of Jacob Marley entered! There's the corner where the Ghost -of Christmas Present sat! There's the window where I saw the wandering -Spirits! It's all right, it's all true, it all happened. Ha, ha, ha!" - -Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it -was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, -long line of brilliant laughs! - -"I don't know what day of the month it is!" said Scrooge. "I don'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 be a baby. Hallo! Whoop! -Hallo here!" - -He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing out the -lustiest peals he had ever heard. Clash, clang, hammer; ding, dong, -bell. Bell, dong, ding; hammer, clang, clash! Oh, glorious, glorious! - -Running to the window, he opened it and put out his head. No fog, no -mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood -to dance to--golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry -bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious! - -"What's to-day?" cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday -clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him. - -"Eh?" returned the boy, with all his might of wonder. - -"What's to-day, my fine fellow?" said Scrooge. - -"To-day!" replied the boy. "Why, Christmas Day." - -"It's Christmas Day!" said Scrooge to himself. "I haven't missed it. -The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they -like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!" - -"Hallo!" returned the boy. - -"Do you know the poulterer's, in the next street but one, at the -corner?" Scrooge inquired. - -"I should hope I did," replied the lad. - -"An intelligent boy!" said Scrooge. "A remarkable boy! Do you know -whether they've sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there?--not -the little prize turkey--the big one?" - -"What, the one as big as me?" 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. "Go and buy it." - -"Walk-er!" exclaimed the boy. - -"No, no," said Scrooge, "I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell 'em -to bring it here, that I may give them the direction where to take it. -Come back with the man and I'll give you a shilling. Come back with him -in less than five minutes and I'll give you half-a-crown!" - -The boy was off like a shot. He must have had a steady hand at a -trigger who could have got a shot off half so fast. - -"I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's!" whispered Scrooge, rubbing his hands -and splitting with a laugh. "He sha'n't know who sends it. It's twice -the size of Tiny Tim. Joe Miller never made such a joke as sending it -to Bob's will be!" - -The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady one, but write -it he did, somehow, and went downstairs to open the street door, ready -for the coming of the poulterer's man. As he stood there waiting his -arrival, the knocker caught his eye. - -"I shall love it as long as I live!" cried Scrooge, patting it with his -hand. "I scarcely ever looked at it before. What an honest expression -it has in its face! It's a wonderful knocker! Here's the turkey. Hallo! -Whoop! How are you! Merry Christmas!" - -It _was_ a turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. -He would have snapped 'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing -wax. - -"Why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden Town," said Scrooge. "You -must have a cab." - -The chuckle with which he said this, and the chuckle with which he paid -for the turkey, and the chuckle with which he paid for the cab, and the -chuckle with which he recompensed the boy, were only to be exceeded by -the chuckle with which he sat down breathless in his chair again, and -chuckled till he cried. - -Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand continued to shake very -much, and shaving requires attention, even when you don't dance while -you are at it. But if he had cut the end of his nose off, he would have -put a piece of sticking-plaster over it, and been quite satisfied. - -He dressed himself "all in his best," and at last got out into the -streets. The people were by this time pouring forth, as he had seen -them with the Ghost of Christmas Present, and walking with his hands -behind him, Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He -looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four -good-humored fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to -you!" And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds -he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears. - -He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he beheld a portly -gentleman who had walked into his counting-house the day before and -said, "Scrooge and Marley's I believe?" It sent a pang across his heart -to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met, but -he knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it. - -"My dear sir," said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and taking the old -gentleman by both his hands, "how do you do? I hope you succeeded -yesterday. It was very kind of you. A merry Christmas to you, sir!" - -"Mr. Scrooge?" - -"Yes," said Scrooge, "that is my name, and I fear it may not be -pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon. And will you have the -goodness"--here Scrooge whispered in his ear. - -"Lord bless me!" cried the gentleman, as if his breath was taken away. -"My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?" - -"If you please," said Scrooge. "Not a farthing less. A great many back -payments are included in it, I assure you. Will you do me that favor?" - -"My dear sir," said the other, shaking hands with him, "I don't know -what to say to such munifi--" - -"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 that he meant to do -it. - -"Thank'ee," said Scrooge. "I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty -times. Bless you!" - -He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people -hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned -beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the -windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had -never dreamed that any walk--that anything--could give him so much -happiness. In the afternoon he turned his steps towards his nephew's -house. - -He passed the door a dozen times before he had the courage to go up and -knock; but he made a dash, and did it. - -"Is your master at home, my dear?" said Scrooge to the girl. Nice girl! -Very. - -"Yes, sir." - -"Where is he, my love?" said Scrooge. - -"He's in the dining-room, sir, along with mistress. I'll show you -upstairs, if you please." - -"Thank'ee. He knows me," said Scrooge, with his hand already on the -dining-room lock. "I'll go in here, my dear." - -He turned it gently, and sidled his face in, round the door. They were -looking at the table (which was spread out in great array), for these -young housekeepers are always nervous on such points, and like to see -that everything is right. - -"Fred!" said Scrooge. - -Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started! Scrooge had -forgotten, for the moment, about her sitting in the corner with the -footstool, or he wouldn't have done it on any account. - -"Why, bless my soul!" cried Fred, "who's that?" - -"It's I. Your Uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, -Fred?" - -Let him in! It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm off. He was at home -in five minutes. Nothing could be heartier. His niece looked just the -same. So did Topper when _he_ came. So did the plump sister when _she_ -came. So did every one when _they_ came. Wonderful party, wonderful -games, wonderful unanimity, wonderful happiness! - -But he was early at the office next morning. Oh, he was early there. If -he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late! That -was the thing he had set his heart upon. - -And he did it; yes, he did! The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter -past. No Bob. He was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time. -Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come into -the tank. - -His hat was off before he opened the door; his comforter, too. He was -on his stool in a jiffy, driving away with his pen, as if he were -trying to overtake nine o'clock. - -"Hallo!" growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as near as he could -feign it. "What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?" - -"I'm very sorry, sir," said Bob. "I _am_ behind my time." - -"You are?" repeated Scrooge. "Yes, I think you are. Step this way, sir, -if you please." - -"It's only once a year, sir," pleaded Bob, appearing from the tank. "It -shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir." - -"Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," said Scrooge, "I am not going to -stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore," he continued, -leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that -he staggered back into the tank again, "and therefore I am about to -raise your salary!" - -Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler. He had a momentary -idea of knocking Scrooge down with it, holding him, and calling to the -people in the court for help and a straight-waistcoat. - -"A Merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could -not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, -Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise -your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will -discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a Christmas bowl of -smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires and buy another coal-scuttle -before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!" - -Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; -and to Tiny Tim, who did _not_ die, he was a second father. He -became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the -good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the -good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but -he let them laugh, and little heeded them, for he was wise enough to -know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some -people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset, and knowing -that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well -that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in -less attractive forms. His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough -for him. - -He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total -Abstinence Principle ever afterwards, and it was always said of him, -that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the -knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny -Tim observed, God bless us, every one! - - - - -VII. - -LITTLE GRETCHEN AND THE WOODEN SHOE. - -A CHRISTMAS STORY FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. - - -The following story is one of many which has drifted down to us from -the story-loving nurseries and hearthstones of Germany. I cannot recall -when I first had it told to me as a child, varied of course by -different tellers, but always leaving that sweet, tender impression of -God's loving care for the least of his children. I have since read -different versions of it in at least a half-dozen story books for -children. - -Once upon a time, a long time ago, far away across the great ocean, in -a country called Germany, there could be seen a small log hut on the -edge of a great forest, whose fir-trees extended for miles and miles to -the north. This little house, made of heavy hewn logs, had but one room -in it. A rough pine door gave entrance to this room, and a small square -window admitted the light. At the back of the house was built an -old-fashioned stone chimney, out of which in winter usually curled a -thin blue smoke, showing that there was not very much fire within. - -Small as the house was, it was large enough for the two people who -lived in it. I want to tell you a story to-day about these two people. -One was an old, gray-haired woman, so old that the little children of -the village, nearly half a mile away, often wondered whether she had -come into the world with the huge mountains and the great fir-trees, -which stood like giants back of her small hut. Her face was wrinkled -all over with deep lines, which if the children could only have read -aright, would have told them of many years of cheerful, happy, -self-sacrifice, of loving, anxious watching beside sick-beds, of quiet -endurance of pain, of many a day of hunger and cold, and of a thousand -deeds of unselfish love for other people; but, of course, they could -not read this strange handwriting. They only knew that she was old and -wrinkled, and that she stooped as she walked. None of them seemed to -fear her, for her smile was always cheerful, and she had a kindly word -for each of them if they chanced to meet her on her way to and from the -village. With this old, old woman lived a very little girl. So bright -and happy was she that the travelers who passed by the lonesome little -house on the edge of the forest often thought of a sunbeam as they saw -her. These two people were known in the village as Granny Goodyear and -Little Gretchen. - -The winter had come and the frost had snapped off many of the smaller -branches from the pine-trees in the forest. Gretchen and her Granny -were up by daybreak each morning. After their simple breakfast of -oatmeal, Gretchen would run to the little closet and fetch Granny's old -woolen shawl, which seemed almost as old as Granny herself. Gretchen -always claimed the right to put the shawl over her Granny's head, even -though she had to climb onto the wooden bench to do it. After carefully -pinning it under Granny's chin, she gave her a good by kiss, and Granny -started out for her morning's work in the forest. This work was nothing -more nor less than the gathering up of the twigs and branches which the -autumn winds and winter frosts had thrown upon the ground. These were -carefully gathered into a large bundle which Granny tied together with -a strong linen band. She then managed to lift the bundle to her -shoulder and trudged off to the village with it. Here she sold the -fagots for kindling wood to the people of the village. Sometimes she -would get only a few pence each day, and sometimes a dozen or more, but -on this money little Gretchen and she managed to live; they had their -home, and the forest kindly furnished the wood for the fire which kept -them warm in cold weather. - -In the summer-time Granny had a little garden at the back of the hut -where she raised, with little Gretchen's help, a few potatoes and -turnips and onions. These she carefully stored away for winter use. To -this meager supply, the pennies, gained by selling the twigs from the -forest, added the oatmeal for Gretchen and a little black coffee for -Granny. Meat was a thing they never thought of having. It cost too much -money. Still, Granny and Gretchen were very happy, because they loved -each other dearly. Sometimes Gretchen would be left alone all day long -in the hut because Granny would have some work to do in the village -after selling her bundle of sticks and twigs. It was during these long -days that little Gretchen had taught herself to sing the song which the -wind sang to the pine branches. In the summer-time she learned the -chirp and twitter of the birds, until her voice might almost be -mistaken for a bird's voice; she learned to dance as the swaying -shadows did, and even to talk to the stars which shone through the -little square window when Granny came home too late or too tired to -talk. - -Sometimes when the weather was fine, or her Granny had an extra bundle -of newly knitted stockings to take to the village, she would let little -Gretchen go along with her. It chanced that one of these trips to the -town came just the week before Christmas, and Gretchen's eyes were -delighted by the sight of the lovely Christmas trees which stood in the -window of the village store. It seemed to her that she would never tire -of looking at the knit dolls, the woolly lambs, the little wooden shops -with their queer, painted men and women in them, and all the other fine -things. She had never owned a play-thing in her whole life; therefore, -toys which you and I would not think much of, seemed to her to be very -beautiful. - -That night, after their supper of baked potatoes was over, and little -Gretchen had cleared away the dishes and swept up the hearth because -Granny dear was so tired, she brought her own small wooden stool and -placed it very near Granny's feet and sat down upon it, folding her -hands on her lap. Granny knew that this meant she wanted to talk about -something, so she smilingly laid away the large Bible which she had -been reading, and took up her knitting, which was as much as to say: -"Well, Gretchen, dear, Granny is ready to listen." - -"Granny," said Gretchen slowly, "it's almost Christmas time, isn't it?" - -"Yes, dearie," said Granny, "only five more days now," and then she -sighed, but little Gretchen was so happy that she did not notice -Granny's sigh. - -"What do you think, Granny, I'll get this Christmas?" said she, looking -up eagerly into Granny's face. - -"Ah, child, child," said Granny, shaking her head, "you'll have no -Christmas this year. We are too poor for that." - -"Oh, but Granny," interrupted little Gretchen, "think of all the -beautiful toys we saw in the village to-day. Surely Santa Claus has -sent enough for every little child." - -"Ah, dearie," said Granny, "those toys are for people who can pay money -for them, and we have no money to spend for Christmas toys." - -"Well, Granny," said Gretchen, "perhaps some of the little children who -live in the great house on the hill at the other end of the village -will be willing to share some of their toys with me. They will be so -glad to give some to a little girl who has none." - -"Dear child, dear child," said Granny, leaning forward and stroking the -soft, shiny hair of the little girl, "your heart is full of love. You -would be glad to bring a Christmas to every child; but their heads are -so full of what they are going to get that they forget all about -anybody else but themselves." Then she sighed and shook her head. - -"Well, Granny," said Gretchen, her bright, happy tone of voice growing -a little less joyous, "perhaps the dear Santa Claus will show some of -the village children how to make presents that do not cost money, and -some of them may surprise me Christmas morning with a present. And, -Granny, dear," added she, springing up from her low stool, "can't I -gather some of the pine branches and take them to the old sick man who -lives in the house by the mill, so that he can have the sweet smell of -our pine forest in his room all Christmas day?" - -"Yes, dearie," said Granny, "you may do what you can to make the -Christmas bright and happy, but you must not expect any present -yourself." - -"Oh, but Granny," said little Gretchen, her face brightening, "you -forget all about the shining Christmas angels, who came down to earth -and sang their wonderful song the night the beautiful Christ Child was -born! They are so loving and good that _they_ will not forget any -little child. I shall ask my dear stars to-night to tell them of us. -You know," she added, with a look of relief, "the stars are so very -high that they must know the angels quite well, as they come and go -with their messages from the loving God." - -Granny sighed, as she half whispered, "Poor child, poor child!" but -Gretchen threw her arm around Granny's neck and gave her a hearty kiss, -saying as she did so: "Oh, Granny, Granny, you don't talk to the stars -often enough, else you wouldn't be sad at Christmas time." Then she -danced all around the room, whirling her little skirts about her to -show Granny how the wind had made the snow dance that day. She looked -so droll and funny that Granny forgot her cares and worries and laughed -with little Gretchen over her new snow-dance. The days passed on, and -the morning before Christmas Eve came. Gretchen having tidied up the -little room--for Granny had taught her to be a careful housewife--was -off to the forest, singing a bird-like song, almost as happy and free -as the birds themselves. She was very busy that day, preparing a -surprise for Granny. First, however, she gathered the most beautiful of -the fir branches within her reach to take the next morning to the old -sick man who lived by the mill. - -The day was all too short for the happy little girl. When Granny came -trudging wearily home that night, she found the frame of the doorway -covered with green pine branches. - -"It's to welcome you, Granny! It's to welcome you!" cried Gretchen; -"our dear old home wanted to give you a Christmas welcome. Don't you -see, the branches of evergreen make it look as if it were smiling all -over, and it is trying to say, 'A happy Christmas' to you, Granny!" - -Granny laughed and kissed the little girl, as they opened the door and -went in together. Here was a new surprise for Granny. The four posts of -the wooden bed, which stood in one corner of the room, had been trimmed -by the busy little fingers with smaller and more flexible branches of -the pine-trees. A small bouquet of red mountain-ash berries stood at -each side of the fireplace, and these, together with the trimmed posts -of the bed, gave the plain old room quite a festival look. Gretchen -laughed and clapped her hands and danced about until the house seemed -full of music to poor, tired Granny, whose heart had been sad as she -turned towards their home that night, thinking of the disappointment -which must come to loving little Gretchen the next morning. - -After supper was over little Gretchen drew her stool up to Granny's -side, and laying her soft, little hands on Granny's knee, asked to be -told once again the story of the coming of the Christ Child; how the -night that he was born the beautiful angels had sung their wonderful -song, and how the whole sky had become bright with a strange and -glorious light, never seen by the people of earth before. Gretchen had -heard the story many, many times before, but she never grew tired of -it, and now that Christmas Eve had come again, the happy little child -wanted to hear it once more. - -When Granny had finished telling it the two sat quiet and silent for a -little while thinking it over; then Granny rose and said that it was -time for them to go to bed. She slowly took off her heavy wooden shoes, -such as are worn in that country, and placed them beside the hearth. -Gretchen looked thoughtfully at them for a minute or two, and then she -said, "Granny, don't you think that _somebody_ in all this wide world -will think of us to-night?" - -"Nay, Gretchen," said Granny, "I don't think any one will." - -"Well, then, Granny," said Gretchen, "the Christmas angels will, I -know; so I am going to take one of your wooden shoes, and put it on the -window sill outside, so that they may see it as they pass by. I am sure -the stars will tell the Christmas angels where the shoe is." - -"Ah, you foolish, foolish child," said Granny; "you are only getting -ready for a disappointment. To-morrow morning there will be nothing -whatever in the shoe. I can tell you that now." - -But little Gretchen would not listen. She only shook her head and cried -out: "Ah, Granny, you don't talk enough to the stars." With this she -seized the shoe, and opening the door, hurried out to place it on the -window-sill. It was very dark without, and something soft and cold -seemed to gently kiss her hair and face. Gretchen knew by this that it -was snowing, and she looked up to the sky, anxious to see if the stars -were in sight, but a strong wind was tumbling the dark, heavy -snow-clouds about and had shut away all else. - -"Never mind," said Gretchen softly to herself, "the stars are up there, -even if I can't see them, and the Christmas angels do not mind -snow-storms." - -Just then a rough wind went sweeping by the little girl, whispering -something to her which she could not understand, and then it made a -sudden rush up to the snow-clouds and parted them, so that the deep, -mysterious sky appeared beyond, and shining down out of the midst of it -was Gretchen's favorite star. - -"Ah, little star, little star!" said the child, laughing aloud, "I knew -you were there, though I couldn't see you. Will you whisper to the -Christmas angels as they come by, that little Gretchen wants so very -much to have a Christmas gift to-morrow morning if they have one to -spare, and that she has put one of Granny's shoes upon the window-sill -ready for it?" - -A moment more and the little girl, standing on tiptoe, had reached the -window-sill and placed the shoe upon it, and was back in the house -again beside Granny and the warm fire. The two went quietly to bed, and -that night as little Gretchen knelt to pray to the Heavenly Father, she -thanked him for having sent the Christ Child into the world to teach -all mankind how to be loving and unselfish, and in a few moments she -was quietly sleeping, dreaming of the Christmas angels. - -The next morning, very early, even before the sun was up, little -Gretchen was awakened by the sound of sweet music coming from the -village. She listened for a moment and then she knew that the -choir-boys were singing the Christmas carols in the open air of the -village street. She sprang out of bed and began to dress herself as -quickly as possible, singing as she dressed. While Granny was slowly -putting on her clothes, little Gretchen, having finished dressing -herself, unfastened the door and hurried out to see what the Christmas -angels had left in the old wooden shoe. - -The white snow covered everything--trees, stumps, roads, and -pastures--until the whole world looked like fairyland. Gretchen climbed -up on a large stone which was beneath the window and carefully lifted -down the wooden shoe. The snow tumbled off of it in a shower over the -little girl's hands, but she did not heed that; she ran hurriedly back -into the house, putting her hand into the toe of the shoe as she ran. - -"Oh, Granny! Oh, Granny!" she exclaimed, "you didn't believe the -Christmas angels would think about us, but see, they have, they have! -Here is a dear little bird nestled down in the toe of your shoe! Oh, -isn't he beautiful!" - -Granny came forward and looked at what the child was holding lovingly -in her hand. There she saw a tiny chick-a-dee, whose wing was evidently -broken by the rough and boisterous winds of the night before, and who -had taken shelter in the safe, dry toe of the old wooden shoe. She -gently took the little bird out of Gretchen's hands, and skilfully -bound his broken wing to his side, so that he need not hurt himself by -trying to fly with it. Then she showed Gretchen how to make a nice warm -nest for the little stranger, close beside the fire, and when their -breakfast was ready she let Gretchen feed the little bird with a few -moist crumbs. - -Later in the day Gretchen carried the fresh, green boughs to the old -sick man by the mill, and on her way home stopped to see and enjoy the -Christmas toys of some other children whom she knew, never once wishing -that they were hers. When she reached home she found that the little -bird had gone to sleep. Soon, however, he opened his eyes and stretched -his head up, saying just as plain as a bird could say, "Now, my new -friends, I want you to give me something more to eat." Gretchen gladly -fed him again, and then holding him in her lap, she softly and gently -stroked his gray feathers until the little creature seemed to lose all -fear of her. That evening Granny taught her a Christmas hymn and told -her another beautiful Christmas story. Then Gretchen made up a funny -little story to tell to the birdie. He winked his eyes and turned his -head from side to side in such a droll fashion that Gretchen laughed -until the tears came. - -As Granny and she got ready for bed that night, Gretchen put her arms -softly around Granny's neck, and whispered: "What a beautiful Christmas -we have had to-day, Granny! Is there anything in the world more lovely -than Christmas?" - -"Nay, child, nay," said Granny, "not to such loving hearts as yours." - - - - -VIII. - -THE LEGEND OF THE CHRIST CHILD.[3] - -A STORY FOR CHRISTMAS EVE. - - -I want to tell you to-night a story which has been told to little -children in Germany for many hundreds of years. - - [3] Adapted from the German. - -Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, on the night before Christmas, -a little child was wandering all alone through the streets of a great -city. There were many people on the street, fathers and mothers, -sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, and even gray-haired -grandfathers and grandmothers, all of whom were hurrying home with -bundles of presents for each other and for their little ones. Fine -carriages rolled by, express wagons rattled past, even old carts were -pressed into service, and all things seemed in a hurry, and glad with -expectation of the coming Christmas morning. - -From some of the windows bright lights were already beginning to stream -until it was almost as bright as day. But the little child seemed to -have no home, and wandered about listlessly from street to street. No -one took any notice of him, except perhaps Jack Frost, who bit his bare -toes and made the ends of his fingers tingle. The north wind, too, -seemed to notice the child, for it blew against him and pierced his -ragged garments through and through, causing him to shiver with cold. -Home after home he passed, looking with longing eyes through the -windows, in upon the glad, happy children, most of whom were helping to -trim the Christmas trees for the coming morrow. - -"Surely," said the child to himself, "where there is so much gladness -and happiness, some of it may be for me." So with timid steps he -approached a large and handsome house. Through the windows he could see -a tall and stately Christmas tree already lighted. Many presents hung -upon it. Its green boughs were trimmed with gold and silver ornaments. -Slowly he climbed up the broad steps and gently rapped at the door. It -was opened by a large man-servant. He had a kindly face, although his -voice was deep and gruff. He looked at the little child for a moment, -then sadly shook his head and said, "Go down off the steps. There is no -room here for such as you." He looked sorry as he spoke; possibly he -remembered his own little ones at home, and was glad that they were not -out in this cold and bitter night. Through the open door a bright light -shone, and the warm air, filled with the fragrance of the Christmas -pine, rushed out from the inner room and greeted the little wanderer -with a kiss. As the child turned back into the cold and darkness, he -wondered why the footman had spoken thus, for surely, thought he, those -little children would love to have another companion join them in their -joyous Christmas festival. But the little children inside did not even -know that he had knocked at the door. - -The street grew colder and darker as the child passed on. He went sadly -forward, saying to himself, "Is there no one in all this great city who -will share the Christmas with me?" Farther and farther down the street -he wandered, to where the homes were not so large and beautiful. There -seemed to be little children inside of nearly all the houses. They were -dancing and frolicking about. Christmas trees could be seen in nearly -every window, with beautiful dolls and trumpets and picture-books and -balls and tops and other dainty toys hung upon them. In one window the -child noticed a little lamb made of soft, white wool. Around its neck -was tied a red ribbon. It had evidently been hung on the tree for one -of the children. The little stranger stopped before this window and -looked long and earnestly at the beautiful things inside, but most of -all was he drawn toward the white lamb. At last, creeping up to the -window-pane, he gently tapped upon it. A little girl came to the window -and looked out into the dark street where the snow had now begun to -fall. She saw the child, but she only frowned and shook her head and -said, "Go away and come some other time. We are too busy to take care -of you now." Back into the dark, cold street he turned again. The wind -was whirling past him and seemed to say, "Hurry on, hurry on, we have -no time to stop. 'Tis Christmas Eve and everybody is in a hurry -to-night." - -Again and again the little child rapped softly at door or window-pane. -At each place he was refused admission. One mother feared he might have -some ugly disease which her darlings would catch; another father said -he had only enough for his own children, and none to spare for beggar -brats. Still another told him to go home where he belonged, and not to -trouble other folks. - -The hours passed; later grew the night, and colder blew the wind, and -darker seemed the street. Farther and farther the little one wandered. -There was scarcely any one left upon the street by this time, and the -few who remained did not seem to see the child, when suddenly ahead of -him, there appeared a bright, single ray of light. It shone through the -darkness into the child's eyes. He looked up smilingly, and said, "I -will go where the small light beckons, perhaps they will share their -Christmas with me." - -Hurrying past all the other houses he soon reached the end of the -street and went straight up to the window from which the light was -streaming. It was a poor, little, low house, but the child cared not -for that. The light seemed still to call him in. From what do you -suppose the light came? Nothing but a tallow candle which had been -placed in an old cup with a broken handle, in the window, as a glad -token of Christmas Eve. There was neither curtain nor shade to the -small, square window, and as the little child looked in he saw standing -upon a neat, wooden table a branch of a Christmas tree. The room was -plainly furnished, but it was very clean. Near the fireplace sat a -lovely faced mother with a little two-year-old on her knee and an older -child beside her. The two children were looking into their mother's -face and listening to a story. She must have been telling them a -Christmas story, I think. A few bright coals were burning in the -fireplace, and all seemed light and warm within. - -The little wanderer crept closer and closer to the window-pane. So -sweet was the mother's face, so loving seemed the little children, that -at last he took courage and tapped gently, very gently, on the door. -The mother stopped talking, the little children looked up. "What was -that, mother?" asked the little girl at her side. "I think it was some -one tapping on the door," replied the mother. "Run as quickly as you -can and open it, dear, for it is a bitter cold night to keep any one -waiting in this storm." "Oh, mother, I think it was the bough of the -tree tapping against the window-pane," said the little girl. "Do please -go on with our story." Again the little wanderer tapped upon the door. -"My child! my child," exclaimed the mother, rising, "that certainly was -a rap on the door. Run quickly and open it. No one must be left out in -the cold on our beautiful Christmas Eve." - -The child ran to the door and threw it wide open. The mother saw the -ragged stranger standing without, cold and shivering, with bare head -and almost bare feet. She held out both hands and drew him into the -warm, bright room. "You poor dear child," was all she said, and putting -her arms around him, she drew him close to her breast. "He is very -cold, my children," she exclaimed. "We must warm him." "And," added the -little girl, "we must love him and give him some of our Christmas, -too." "Yes," said the mother, "but first let us warm him." - -The mother sat down beside the fire with the child on her lap, and her -own two little ones warmed his half-frozen hands in theirs. The mother -smoothed his tangled curls, and bending low over his head, kissed the -child's face. She gathered the three little ones in her arms and the -candle and the fire light shone over them. For a moment the room was -very still. By and by the little girl said, softly, to her mother, "May -we not light the Christmas tree, and let him see how beautiful it -looks?" "Yes," said the mother. With that she seated the child on a low -stool beside the fire, and went herself to fetch the few simple -ornaments which from year to year she had saved for her children's -Christmas tree. They were soon so busy that they did not notice the -room had filled with a strange and brilliant light. They turned and -looked at the spot where the little wanderer sat. His ragged clothes -had changed to garments white and beautiful; his tangled curls seemed -like a halo of golden light about his head; but most glorious of all -was his face, which shone with a light so dazzling that they could -scarcely look upon it. - -In silent wonder they gazed at the child. Their little room seemed to -grow larger and larger until it was as wide as the whole world, the -roof of their low house seemed to expand and rise, until it reached to -the sky. - -With a sweet and gentle smile the wonderful child looked upon them for -a moment, and then slowly rose and floated through the air, above the -treetops, beyond the church spire, higher even than the clouds -themselves, until he appeared to them to be a shining star in the sky -above. At last he disappeared from sight. The astonished children -turned in hushed awe to their mother, and said, in a whisper, "Oh, -mother, it was the Christ Child, was it not?" And the mother answered -in a low tone, "Yes." - -And it is said, dear children, that each Christmas Eve the little -Christ Child wanders through some town or village, and those who -receive him and take him into their homes and hearts have given to them -this marvelous vision which is denied to others. - - - - -IX. - -A CHRISTMAS SONG. - - -The following anonymous poem so exquisitely expresses the true -Christmas thanksgiving and joy that we give it with this collection of -Christmas thoughts, regretting that we are not able to give the name of -the author also. - - "There is a song so thrilling, - So far all songs excelling, - That he who sings it sings it oft again; - No mortal did invent it, - But God by angels sent it, - So deep and earnest yet so sweet and plain. - - "The love that it revealeth - All earthly sorrows healeth, - They flee like mist before the break of day; - When, oh, my soul, thou learnest - This song of songs in earnest - Thy cares and sorrows all shall flee away." - - - - -X. - -BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. - -THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. - - -Now it came to pass there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that -all the world should be enrolled. And all went to enroll themselves, -every one to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of -the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, to the city of David, which is called -Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; to enroll -himself with Mary. And it came to pass, while they were there she -brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in -swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room -for them in the inn. - -And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and -keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood -by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they -were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for -behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the -people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a -Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you; ye -shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger. -And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host -praising God, and saying: - - Glory to God in the highest, - And on earth peace - Among men in whom he is well pleased. - -And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, -the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, -and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known -unto us. And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and -the babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known -concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. And -all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken unto them by -the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her -heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all -the things that they had heard and seen, even as it was spoken unto -them. - -And when eight days were fulfilled his name was called - - JESUS. - - -THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. - -Now when Jesus was born, behold, Wise Men from the east came to -Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we -saw his star in the east, and are come to worship him. And when Herod -the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And -gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he -inquired of them where the Christ should be born. And they said unto -him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet: -_And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no wise least among the -princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come forth a governor, which -shall be shepherd of my people Israel._ Then Herod privily called -the Wise Men, and learned of them carefully what time the star -appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search out -carefully concerning the young child; and when ye have found him, bring -me word, that I also may come and worship him. And they, having heard -the king, went their way; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, -went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child -was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great -joy. And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his -mother; and they fell down and worshiped him; and opening their -treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. -And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to -Herod, they departed into their own country another way. - - - PRINTED BY R. R. 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