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Indistinct crowd chati'er
church bell tolls
Is he the bad one?
Very bad.
And are there ghosts?
Girl 1: What are the people in the picture?
Girl 2: They're in prison.
Girl 1: They look sad.
Say we're nearly ready.
Indistinct children's voices
Man: Ghosts, you say?
Are you quite certain you won't be too...
Frightened!
No, father.
Don't be silly.
It's a nice story.
It's only Marley who's slightly unpleasant...
And he's soon gone.
Oh, Marley was dead to begin with.
There is no doubt whatever about that.
Old Marley was dead as a door—nail.
Did scrooge know Marley was dead?
Of course he did!
Scrooge and Marley had been partners for...
I don't know how long.
He was his sole executor, his sole mourner.
And even scrooge was not so desperately cut up
about the sad event.
There is no doubt about that.
This must be clearly understood
or nothing good can come of this story
that I am about to relate.
Lights clunk
Narrator: Oh, but scrooge was a tight—fisted hand
at the grindstone.
Scrooge!
A squeezing, wrenching, grasping
scraping, clutching, co vetous old sinner!
Hard and sharp as flint
from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire.
Secret, and self—contained
and so/ita/y as an oyster.
Once upon a time
of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve
old scrooge sat busy in his counting house.
Door slams
church bell chimes — indistinct chati'er
It was cold, bleak, biting weather.
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
was copying letters.
Scrooge had a very small fire.
The clerk tried to warm himself at the candle
in which effort, not being a man of strong imagination
he failed.
Fred: A merry Christmas, uncle!
Narrator: Cried a cheen'u/ voice.
God save you!
Narrator: It was the voice of his nephew, Fred
who came upon him so quickly
that this was the first intimation he had
of his approach.
Scrooge: Bah, humbug!
Fred: Christmas a humbug, uncle?
You don't mean that, I'm sure.
Scrooge: I do. What right have you to be merry?
You're poor enough.
Fred: Come then, what right have you to be dismal?
What reason have you to be morose?
You're rich enough.
Scrooge: Bah, humbug!
Fred: Don't be cross, uncle!
Scrooge: What else can I be when I live
in such a world of fools as this?
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.
If I could work my will
every idiot who goes about with "merry Christmas"
on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding
and buried with a stake of Holly through his heart.
Fred: Uncle!
I have always thought of Christmas time 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!
Narrator: The clerk in voluntarily applauded
becoming immedia te/y sensible of the impropriety.
Scrooge: Let me hear another sound from you
and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation.
Fred: Don't be angry, uncle.
Come! Dine with us tomorrow.
Scrooge: Thank you, but no.
Fred: But why? Why?
Scrooge: Why did you get married?
Fred: Because I fell in love.
Scrooge: Because you fell in love!
Good afternoon.
Fred: I want nothing from you, I ask nothing of you.
Why cannot we be friends?
Scrooge: Good afternoon.
Fred: 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 honour to the last.
So a merry Christmas, uncle!
Happy new year! — good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Narrator: His nephew left
without an ang/y 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.
Scrooge: There's another fellow, my clerk
with 15 shillings a week, and a wife and family
talking about a merry Christmas.
I'll retire to a madhouse.
He'll want all day tomorrow, isuppose.
Cratchit: If quite convenient, sir.
Scrooge: It's not convenient, 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?
You don't think me ill—used, when I pay a day's wages
for no work.
Cratchit: It is only once a year, sir.
Scrooge: A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket
every 25th of December!
Butlsuppose you must have the whole day.
Be here all the earlier next morning.
Narrator: The clerk promised that he would
and scrooge walked out with a growl.
The office was closed in a twinkling
and the clerk ran home to Camden town
as hard as he could pelt, to play at blind man 's—buff
children giggle
As scrooge left his counting house
he was approached by two gentlemen
who had been on their way to visit him.
Man 1: Scrooge and Marley's, I believe.
Have I the pleasure of addressing mr scrooge
or mr Marley? — mr Marley has been dead
these seven years.
He died seven years ago, this very night.
Man 1: We have no doubt his liberality is well represented
by his surviving partner.
Scrooge: Good afternoon.
Man 2: At this festive season of the year
it is more than usually desirable that we should
make some slight provision for the poor and destitute
who suffer greatly at the present time.
Boy: Take pity on us, sir.
We've got no lodgings.
Man 2: Many thousands are in want of common necessaries
hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.
Scrooge: Are there no prisons?
Man 1: Plenty of prisons.
Scrooge: And the union workhouses?
Are they still in operation?
Man 1: They are. I wish I could say they were not.
Scrooge: The treadmill and the poor law
are in full vigour then?
Man 2: Both very busy, sir.
Scrooge: Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first
that something had occurred to stop them
in their useful course. I'm very glad to hear it.
Man 1: Under the impression that they scarcely furnish
Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude
a few of us are endeavouring 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?
Scrooge: Nothing!
Man 2: You wish to be anonymous?
Scrooge: I wish to be left alone
since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.
I don't make merry myself at Christmas
and I can't afford to make idle people merry.
I help to support the establishments I have mentioned
they cost enough, and those who are badly off must go there.
Man 2: Many can't go there
and many would rather die.
Manager: The missus goes that way, you that way.
No argument, mind.
Scrooge: If they would rather die
they had better do it
and decrease the surplus population.
Besides, it's not my business.
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.
Raucous chati'er
overseer: Hurry along, there!
No talking.
Crowd clamou rs
overseer: Eyes to the front!
Crowd chati'er fades
loud laughter
man: Another gin, waiter!
Cups clink
man 2: Finished with the paper?
Narrator: Scrooge took his melancholy dinner
in his usual melancholy tavern
and having read all the newspapers
went home to bed.
Beggar: Charity?
It's Christmas, guv.
Narrator: 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
Marley's face.
Marley's face...
It had a dismal light about it
like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.
That, and its livid colour
made it horrible.
As scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon
it was a knocker again.
Ghostly chime
Bells ring
the bells ceased as they had begun, together.
Distant clank
they were succeeded by a clanking noise from the attic
as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the beams.
Eerie rasp
then he heard the noise much louder
coming straight to wards his door.
Eerie rasp
eerie groan
eerie growl
Scrooge: What do you want with me?
Marley: Much.
In life, I was your partner
Jacob Marley.
You don't believe in me?
Why do you doubt your senses?
Scrooge: Because a little thing affects them.
A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.
You might be an undigested bit of beef, a crumb of cheese
a fragment of underdone potato.
There's more of gravy than of grave about you.
Marley groans
Marley roars
why do spirits walk the earth?
And why do they come to me?
Marley: It is required...
Marley rasps ...Of every man
that the sprit within him
should walk among his fellow man
and travel far and wide
and if that spirit goes not forth in life
it is condemned to do so after death.
Oh, woe is me!
Scrooge: You are fettered.
Marley: I wear the chains
I forged in life.
I made it link by link
and yard by yard.
I girded it on
and of my own free will
I wore it.
Is its pattern strange to you?
Or would you know the weight and length
of the strong coil you wear yourself?
It was full as heavy and as long as this
seven christmases ago...
And you have laboured on it since.
Scrooge: Jacob, tell me more. Speak comfort to me!
Marley: I have none to give.
Scrooge: But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.
Marley: Business!
Mankind was my business.
The common welfare was my business.
Charity, mercy and benevolence
were all my business.
Marley sighs
Marley groans
Marley roars
at this time of year, I suffer most.
Man: She's a ripe one.
Ripe for the picking! Man sniggers
Marley: 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!
Hear me!
My time is nearly gone.
I am here tonight to warn you
that you have yet a hope
of escaping my fate.
Scrooge: You were always a good friend to me. Thank ye!
Marley: You will...
Be haunted by three spirits.
Marley rasps
Marley chuckles
expect the first when the bell tolls midnight.
Look to see me no more
and remember
what has passed between us.
Eerie gust
narrator: The air was filled with phantoms
wandering hither and thither in restless haste
and moaning as they went
eve/y 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
who cried piteously
at being unable to assist a wretched housekeeper
with an infant whom it saw below, upon a doorstep.
Whether these creatures faded into mist
or mist enshrouded them
he could not tell. — baby cries
but they and their spirit voices faded together
and the night became as it had been.
♪ Hark the herald... ♪
Narrator: The ghost of Christmas past.
Church bell chimes
When scrooge awoke
the neighbouring church struck the four quarters
so he listened for the hour.
Church bell chimes
twelve.
Marley's ghost bothered him exceedingly.
Was it a dream, or not?
Scrooge: Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold me?
Ghost of xmas past: I am the ghost of Christmas past.
Your past.
Scrooge: What business brought you here?
Ghost of xmas past: Your welfare.
Narrator: 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.
Ghost of xmas past: Your reclamation, then.
Take heed.
Narrator: It put out its strong hand as it spoke
and clasped him gently by the arm.
It would have been in vain for scrooge to plead
that the bed was warm
and the thermometer a long way below freezing
and that he was clad but lightly in his slippers
dressing gown and nightcap
and that he had a cold upon him at that time.
The grasp, though gentle, was not to be resisted.
He Rose, and somehow knew
that the spirit would take him into the air.
Scrooge: I am mortal, and liable to fall.
Ghost of xmas past: Bear but a touch of my hand there
and you shall be upheld in more than this.
Narrator: As the words were spoken
they passed through the wall
and stood upon an open count/y road
with fields on either hand.
Child laughs
child: Woohoo!
Happy Christmas, will, Charlie!
Scrooge: Good heaven!
I was bred in this place. I was a boy here.
Narrator: He was conscious of a thousand odours
floating in the air, each one connected
with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys
and cares long, long forgotten.
Ghost of xmas past: You recollect the way?
Scrooge: Remember it! I could walk it blindfold.
Ghost of xmas past: Strange you have forgotten it
for so many years.
Narrator: They walked along the road
scrooge recognising eve/y gate
and post and tree
until a little market town appeared in the distance.
Ghost of xmas past: These are but the shadows
of the things that have been.
Child: See you next year!
Next year... How funny that sounds!
Ghost of xmas past: The school is not quite deserted.
A solitary child... — school bell rings
neglected by his friends
is left there still.
Narrator: The spirit touched him on the arm
and pointed to his young self
a lonely boy reading by a feeble fire.
Scrooge wept
to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be.
Scrooge: Why, it's old Tom!
It's dear old, honest Tom.
Yes, yes, I know...
One Christmas time, when yonder solitary child
was left here all alone
he did come to cheer me.
Poor boy.
Narrator: Scrooge thought he was dreaming
but he wasn't.
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.
Scrooge: I wish...
But it's too late now.
Ghost of xmas past: What is the matter?
Scrooge: Nothing.
There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol last night.
I should like to have given him something, that's all.
Ghost of xmas past: Let us see another Christmas.
Narrator: 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 to wards the door.
Fan: Oh, dear, dear brother!
I have come to bring you home, dear brother!
To bring you home, home, home!
Young scrooge: Home, little fan?
Fan: Yes! Home, for good and all.
Home, for ever and ever.
Father is so much kinder than he used to be.
He spoke so gently to me one 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 are never to come back here.
But first...
We're to be together all Christmas long
and have the merriest time in all the world!
Young scrooge: You are quite a housekeeper, little fan.
She giggles
ghost of xmas past: You must come with me now.
Faint chati'er
do you know this place?
Scrooge: Know it! Of course I know it.
Was I not apprenticed here?
Narrator: Scrooge's former self, now grown a young man
came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow prentice.
Scrooge: Dick Wilkins, to be sure!
Bless me, yes, there he is!
He was very much attached to me, was dick.
Poor dick.
Why, it's old fezziwig!
Bless his heart, it's fezziwig, alive again!
Narrator: Old fezziwig laid down his pen
and looked at his watch.
He rubbed his hands, adjusted his capacious waistcoat
and called out in a comfortable, oily
rich, fat, jovial voice...
Fezziwig: Yo—ho, there, ebenezer!
Yo—ho, my boys!
No more work tonight!
Christmas, ebenezer.
Hilly—ho!
Clear away, my lads
and let's have lots of room here.
Clear away!
Narrator: It was done in a minute.
The floor was swept and watered, and the lamps were trimmed
and the warehouse was as snug and warm
and diy and bright a ballroom
as you would desire to see upon a winter's night.
In came a Fiddler with a music book
and went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of it
and tuned like 50 stomach aches.
In came mrs fezziwig, one vast substantial smile.
In came the three miss fezziwigs
beaming and lovable.
In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke.
In came all the young men and women 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.
In they all came, anyhow and eveiyho w.
There were dances and more dances
and there were fon'eits, 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.
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
it was not until now
when the bright face of his former self
was turned from them
that he remembered the ghost
and became conscious that it was looking full upon him.
Ghost of xmas past: A small matter
to make these silly folk so full of gratitude.
Scrooge: Small!
Ghost of xmas past: Why? Is it not small?
He has spent but a few pounds.
Is that so much that he deserves this praise?
Narrator: Scrooge, heated by the remark
and speaking unconsciously like his former
not his latter self, said...
Scrooge: 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.
The happiness he gives
is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.
Narrator: He felt the spirit's glance, and stopped
ghost of xmas past: What is the matter?
Scrooge: Nothing in particular.
Ghost of xmas past: Something, I think?
Scrooge: I should like to be able to say a word or two
to my clerkjust now. That's all.
Crowd cheers
Ghost of xmas past: We must away, to your sister.
Always a delicate creature
whom a breath might have withered
but she had a large heart.
Scrooge: So she had. You're right.
I'll not deny it for a second.
God forbid.
Ghost of xmas past: She died a woman
and had, I think, children.
Scrooge: One child.
Ghost of xmas past: True, your nephew.
My time grows short. Quick.
Baby cries
Narrator: He was older now.
His face 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 sat by the side of a fair young girl
in whose eyes there were tears.
Belle: It matters little.
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?
Belle: A golden one.
Scrooge scoffs
this is the even—handed dealing of the world.
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!
Belle: You fear the world too much.
All your other hopes have merged into the hope of wealth.
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one
until the master passion, gain, engrosses you. Have I not?
Scrooge: What then?
Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then?
I am not changed towards you.
Belle: 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.
Scrooge: I was a boy.
Your own feeling tells you that you were not then
what you are now.
That which promised happiness when we were one in heart
is fraught with misery now that we are two.
It is enough that I have thought of it
and can release you. — have I ever sought release?
Scrooge: In words?
No. Never. — in what, then?
Belle: In everything that made my love of any worth
or value in your sight.
If this had never been between us, tell me
would you seek me out and try to win me now?
Narrator: He seemed to yield to the justice
of this supposition, in spite of himself
but he said, with a struggle...
Scrooge: You think not?
Belle: I would gladly think otherwise, if I could.
But if you were free today, tomorrow, yesterday
can I believe that you would choose a poor girl?
You, who now weigh everything by gain.
If, for a moment, you were false enough
to your one guiding principle
I know that your repentance and regret would surely follow.
Narrator: He was about to speak
but with her head turned from him
she walked away.
He did not fol/o w.
Scrooge: Spirit! Show me no more!
Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?
Ghost of xmas past: One shadow more.
Scrooge: No more, I don't wish to see it!
Show me no more!
Narrator: But the relentless ghost pinioned him
in both his arms
and forced him to obsen/e what happened next.
They were now years hence.
A room, not very large or handsome
but full of comfort
near to the 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.
And now scrooge looked on
more attentively than ever
when the master of the house
having his eldest 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.
Scrooge: Spirit! Remove me from this place.
Ghost of xmas past: I told you these were shadows
of the things that have been.
They are what they are. Do not blame me.
Scrooge: Remove me! I cannot bear it!
Narrator: 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 she wn him
wrestled with it.
He was conscious of being exhausted
and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness...
And further...
Of being in his own bedroom. — church bell chimes
He snores
narrator: The ghost of Christmas present
he woke in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore
and sat up in bed to get his thoughts together.
Choir sings: ♪ go, go tell it ♪
♪ go, go tell it ♪
♪ on the mountain... ♪
Narrator: It was his own room.
There was no doubt about that
but it had undergone a surprising transformation.
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.
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.
Ghost chuckles
come in! Come in, and know me better, man!
Na r rato r: 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.
Ghost of xmas present: I am the ghost of Christmas present.
Look upon me.
Narrator: Scrooge re verent/y did so.
It was clothed in one simple green robe
bordered with white fur.
This garment hung loosely on the figure.
Its feet obsen/ab/e beneath the ample folds of the garment
were bare, and on its head
it wore no other covering than a Holly wreath.
Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard
but no sword was in it
and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust
ghost of xmas present: You've never seen
the like of me before. — never, sir.
Ghost of xmas present: Have never walked forth
with the younger members of my family?
Scrooge: I'm afraid I have not.
Have you had many brothers, spirit?
Ghost of xmas present: More than 1,800.
Scrooge: Spirit, conduct me where you will.
I went forth last night on compulsion
and I learnt a lesson which is working now.
Tonight, if you have aught to teach me
let me profit by it.
Ghost of xmas present: Touch my robe.
Narrator: Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast
Choir sings: ♪ on the mountain ♪
♪ go tell it on the mountain ♪
♪ go tell ♪
Woman: Go to sleep, or he won't come.
Child: Will we leave a carrot?
Woman 2: Thank you, your majesty.
Woman 3: The size, we'll still be serving it at easter!
Narrator: They stood in the city streets
on Christmas morning.
There was nothing very cheen'u/ in the climate or the town
and yet there was an air of cheen'u/ness abroad
that the clearest summer air
and brightest summer sun
might have endeavoured to diffuse in vain.
Man: Fresh oysters! Fresh oysters!
Narrator: The people were, by this time, pouring forth.
Crowd chati'e rs
man: Buy any milk today?
The grocers, oh, the grocers!
The blended scents of tea and coffee
were so grateful to the nose.
The sticks of cinnamon so long and straight
the candied fruits so caked
and spotted with molten sugar.
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
clashing their wicker baskets wildly.
Church bell chimes — but soon, the steeples
called good people all to church
fiocking through the streets in their best clothes
and with their gayest faces.
And at the same time, there emerged
from scores of by—streets, lanes and nameless turnings
innumerable people
canying their dinners to the bakers ' shops.
The sight of these poor revellers
appeared to interest the spirit very much
for he stood with scrooge beside him in a baker's doorway
and sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch.
Woman: Mrs Johnson's got beef?
She must've been at the old man's wages
before he got to the pub! She laughs
scrooge: Is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle
from your torch? — there is.
My own.
Scrooge: Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?
Ghost of xmas present: To any kindly given.
To a poor one most.
Scrooge: Why to a poor one most?
Ghost of xmas present: Because it needs it most.
Scrooge: Spirit, I wonder you, of all the beings
in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp
these people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment.
Ghost of xmas present: I?
Scrooge: You would deprive those that have no hearths
of their own, the means of cooking every seventh day
often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all
wouldn't you?
Scrooge: You seek to close these bakeries on the sabbath.
It comes to the same thing. — I seek...
Scrooge: Forgive me if I am wrong.
It has been done in your name
or at least in that of your family.
Ghost scoffs
there are some upon this earth of yours
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.
Train rati'les
train whistle blows
Girl 1: I hope Martha doesn't lose the pennies
she saved for the train!
Girl 2: She mustn't! I'll miss her.
Girl 3: Let's wish she's not too tired
from making all those hats.
Man: All aboard!
Narrator: Bob had but 75 Bob a week
he pocketed on Saturdays
but 75 copies of his Christian name
and yet the ghost of Christmas present
blessed his four—roamed house.
Up Rose mrs cratchit
dressed out but poorly in a twice—turned gown
but brave in ribbons.
Mrs cratchit: What has ever got your precious father then?
And your brother, tiny Tim?
And Martha weren't as late last Christmas by half an hour.
Boy: Here's Martha, mother!
Children: Hello, Martha! — hello Martha!
Mrs cratchit: Why! Bless your heart alive, my dear.
How late you are!
Martha: We'd a deal of work to finish up last night
and had to clear away this morning, mother.
Don't wake me in the morning.
I hope to lay Abed tomorrow, as it is a holiday!
Mrs cratchit: Well, never mind.
Sit ye down before the fire, lord bless ye.
Boy: No, no. There's father coming!
Hide, Martha, hide!
Narrator: So Martha hid herself
and in came Bob
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.
Cratchit: Why, where's our Martha?
Mrs cratchit: Not coming. — not coming?
Not coming upon Christmas day? — children giggle
narrator: Martha didn't like to see him disappointed
if it were only in joke, so she ran into his arms.
Martha: Happy Christmas, father!
Narrator: The two young cratchits hustled tiny Tim
and bore him off into the washhouse...
Girl: You come with us, Tim!
That he might hear the pudding singing in the copper.
Mrs cratchit: And how did little Tim behave?
Cratchit: Oh! As good as gold.
As good as gold and better.
Somehow, he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much
and thinks the strangest things.
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.
Narrator: Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this
and trembled uncertainly 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
escorted by his brother and sister
to his stool before the fire.
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.
And in truth, it was something very like it in that house.
Cratchit: I don't believe there was ever
such a goose cooked, my dear! Wonderful!
Girl: Scrum—diddlyumptious!
Narrator: Its tenderness and fia vour
size and cheapness
were the themes of universal admiration.
Girl: Hope there's gravy!
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
sum/eying one small atom of a bone upon the dish
they hadn't ate it all at last
but now, the plates being changed
mrs cratchit left the room alone
too hen/ous to bear witnesses
to take the pudding up and bring it in.
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 past/y cook's
next door to each other
with a laundiy next door to that
mrs cratchit entered
fiushed but smiling proudly
with the pudding like a speckled Cannon ball.
E veiybody had something to say about it
but nobody said or thought
it was a small pudding for a large family.
Any cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing.
Then all the cratchit family drew round the hearth.
Cratchit: A merry Christmas to us all, my dears.
God bless us.
Tiny Tim: God bless us, every one!
Narrator: Said tiny Tim, the last of all.
He sat very close to his father's side
upon his little stool
Bob held his withered little hand in his
as if he loved the child
and wished to keep him by his side
and dreaded that he might be taken from him.
Scrooge: Spirit, tell me if tiny Tim will live.
Ghost of xmas present: I see a vacant seat
and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved.
If these shadows remain unaltered by the future
the child will die.
Scrooge: No, no, kind spirit.
Say he will be spared. — If these shadows remain
unaltered by the future, no other of my race
will find him here. Well, what then?
If he be like to die, he had better do it
and decrease the surplus population.
Narrator: Scrooge hung his head
to hear his own words quoted by the spirit
ghost of xmas present: Man, if man you be in heart
not stone, forbear that wicked cant
until you have discovered what the surplus is
and where it is.
Will you decide what men shall live and 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!
Narrator: 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.
Cratchit: To scrooge!
I'll give you mr scrooge, the founder of the feast!
Mrs cratchit: The founder of the feast indeed!
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!
Cratchit: My dear, the children.
Christmas day!
Mrs cratchit: I'll drink his health for your sake
and the day's, not for his!
Narrator: Tiny Tim drank it last of all
but he didn't care two pence for it
scrooge was the ogre of the family.
They were not a handsome family.
They were not well dressed.
Their shoes were far from being waterproof
their clothes were scanty
and Bob's might have known, and very likely did
the inside of a pa wnbroker's.
But they were happy, grateful
pleased with one another
and contented all the time.
Children giggle
scrooge had his eye upon them
and especially on tiny Tim, until the last
laughter fades
it was a long night
if it were only a night
not to sea? — thunder claps
to sea!
To scrooge's horror, looking back
he saw the last of the land
and his ears were deafened by the thundering of water
as it rolled and roared.
Man: Mind yourself, Harry! Don't drop the Turkey!
Narrator: Built upon a dismal reef of sunken rocks
on which the waters chafed and dashed
there stood a solitaiy lighthouse...
Man: There's Christmas for you!
But even here, eve/y man among them
hummed a Christmas tune!
Again the ghost sped on
above the black and heaving sea...
Distant voices sing
until a light shone from the window of a house
and swiftly, they advanced to wards it
loud laughter
man laughs and sighs
it was a great surprise to scrooge to hear a hearty laugh.
It was a much greater surprise to scrooge
to recognise it as his own nephew's
and to find himself in a bright, diy, gleaming room.
Woman: Clara, my dear, what a lovely lunch!
Narrator: ”ha —ha —ha! ”
Laughed Fred ”ha —ha —ha —ho! ”
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 humour.
Woman laughs
Fred: He said that Christmas was a humbug!
And he believed it too.
Clara: More shame for him, Fred.
Fred: He's a comical old fellow, 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.
Clara: I'm sure he is very rich.
At least, you always tell me so.
Fred: His wealth is of no use to him.
He doesn't make any good with it.
He doesn't make himself comfortable with it.
He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking...
He chuckles ...That he is ever
going to benefit us with it.
Clara: Oh... I have no Patience with him.
Fred: Oh, I have.
I'm sorry for him!
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 doesn't lose much of a dinner.
Clara scoffs indeed?
I think he loses a very good dinner.
Fred: Well, I'm very glad to hear it!
Because I haven't great faith in these young housekeepers.
What do you say, topper?
Narrator: Topper had clearly got his eye on
one of the ladies
for he answered that a bachelor was a wretched outcast
who had no right to express an opinion on the subject
Fred re veiled in another laugh
and as it was impossible to keep the infection off..
They laugh
Fred: A merry Christmas and a happy new year to the old man.
He wouldn't take it from me, but he may have it.
Let us make a toast to uncle scrooge!
Fred laughs and sighs
woman: Who's for blind man's buff?
Scrooge: Here's a new game!
One half hour, spirit, only one!
Na r rato r: 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
church bell chimes
ghost of xmas present: Hark.
My life upon this globe is very brief.
Narrator: The chimes were ringing the three quarters
past 77 at that moment
dogs bark
distant laughter
Crowd chati'e rs
man 1: Please leave me alone.
Man 2: Give it here. — what are you doing?
Woman: You want a good time?
Man 1: You're hurting me!
Woman laughs — come here, my darling.
Man 3: Go on, hit him!
And again!
Crowd clamou rs
dogs bark
man 4: Pull your razor, Jim.
Man sobs
Scrooge: Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask
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.
Look here.
Narrator: 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
ghost of xmas present: Oh, man, look here!
Look!
Look, down here!
Narrator: They were a boy and a girl.
Yellow, meagre, ragged
sco w/ing, wolfish...
But prostrate, too, in their humility.
Where angels might have sat enthroned
devils lurked, and glared out menacing.
No change, no degradation, no pen/ersion of humanity
has monsters half so horrible and dread
scrooge started back, appalled
having them sho wn 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.
Scrooge: Spirit, are they yours?
Ghost of xmas present: They are man's.
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...
Man grunts
for on his brow I see that written which is doom
unless the writing be erased.
Scrooge: Have they no refuge or resource?
Ghost of xmas present: Are there no workhouses?
Are there no prisons? — overseer yells
whip cracks
Narrator: The ghost of Christmas yet to come.
Eerie moan
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 to wards him.
The phantom s/o w/y, gra very, silently approached
when it came, scrooge bent down upon his knee.
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
scrooge: I am in the presence
of the ghost of Christmas yet to come?
Narrator: The spirit answered not
but pointed downward with its hand
scrooge: You are about to show me shadows
of the things that have not happened
but will happen in the time before us.
Is that so, spirit?
Narrator: 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
scrooge: I fear you...
More than any spectre I have seen.
But as I know your purpose is to do me good
and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was
I am prepared to bear your company
and do it with a thankful heart.
Lead on.
The night is waning fast...
And it is precious time to me, I know.
Church bells echo
Narrator: They scarcely seemed to enter the city
but there they were, in the heart of it
amongst the merchants, who hurried up and down
and chinked the money in their pockets
and conversed in groups, as scrooge had seen them often.
The spirit stopped beside one little knot of businessmen.
Cbsen/ing that the hand was pointed to them
scrooge advanced to listen to their talk.
Man 1: I don't know much about it, either way.
I only know he's dead!
Man 2: When did he die?
Man 1: Ooh. Last night, I believe.
Man 3: Why? What was the matter with him?
I thought he'd never die.
Man 2: God knows!
Man 3: What has he done with his money?
Man 2: Well, I haven't heard.
Left it to his company, perhaps.
He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know.
Man 1: Well, it's likely to be a very cheap funeral
for upon my life, I don't know of anybody to go to it.
Man 1 guffaws
suppose we make up a party and volunteer?
I don't mind going
if a lunch is provided
but I must be fed.
Man 2 laughs
narrator: 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.
But nothing doubting that to whomsoe ver they applied
they had some latent moral for his own improvement
dog barks — accordion plays
they left the busy scene
and went into an obscure part of the town
where scrooge had never penetrated before.
Man: You've had the pipe long enough.
Pass it on.
Narrator: The ways were foul...
Man: Cut your liver out!
The shops and houses wretched
the people half—naked drunken
slipshod ugly.
Alleys and arch ways, like so many cesspools
disgorged their offenses of smell and dirt and life
upon the straggling streets.
Woman: We don't talk to you lot.
Narrator: The whole quarter reeked with crime
with filth, and miseiy.
Far in this den of infamous resort
there was a lo w—bro wed beetling shop
below a penthouse roof
where iron, old rags, bottles
bones and greasy offal were bought
sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a stove
was a grey—haired rascal
nearly 70 years of age. — door bell jingles
scrooge and the phantom came into the presence of this man
just as a housekeeper with a heavy bundle
slunk into the shop.
Maid: Every person has a right to take care of themselves.
He always did.
Who's the worse for the loss of a few things like these?
If he wanted to keep 'em after he was dead
a wicked old screw
why wasn't it natural in his lifetime?
If it had been, he's have had somebody
to look after him when he was struck with death
instead of lying gasping out his last, alone by himself.
Joe: It's the truest ever word that was spoke.
It's a judgment on him.
Maid: Open the bundle, old Joe, and let me know
the value of it.
Joe: What... what do you call this?
Bed—curtains? — bed—curtains.
Joe laughs wheezily
you don't mean to say you took 'em down
rings and all, with him lying there?
He cackles — yes, I do. Why not?
Joe: You were born to make your fortune
and you'll certainly do it.
Ooh...
Maid: 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.
Joe: W... What do you mean, wasting of it?
Maid: Putting it on him to be buried in, to be sure!
Somebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again.
Oh, this is the end of it, you see.
He frightened everyone away from him when he was alive
to profit us when he was dead! She laughs
scrooge: If there is any person in the town
who feels emotion caused by this man's death
show that person to me, spirit, I beseech you.
♪ Good people, all ♪
♪ this Christmas time ♪
Baby cries
woman: She's worried to death by it all.
But they had to borrow, for the kiddies.
Narrator: 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 someone, and with anxious eagerness
for she walked up and down the room
started at eve/y sound looked out from the window
glanced at the clock.
At length, the long—expected knock was heard
she hurried to the door, and met her husband
a man whose face was care worn and depressed
though he was young.
There was a remarkable expression in it no w
a kind of serious delight, of which he felt ashamed
and which he struggled to repress.
Woman: Is it good or bad?
Man: Bad.
Woman sighs we are quite ruined.
Man: No.
There is hope yet, Caroline.
Caroline: If he relents, there is.
Nothing is past hope
if such a miracle has happened.
Man: He is past relenting.
He is dead.
Narrator: 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 soriy.
Caroline: To whom shall our debt be transferred?
Man: I don't know.
But before that time, we shall be ready with the money
and even though we were not, it would be bad fortune indeed
to find so merciless a creditor in his successor.
We shall sleep tonight with light hearts, Caroline.
Scrooge: Let me see some tenderness
connected with the death.
Narrator: They entered poor Bob cratchit's house
and found the mother and the children seated round the fire.
Quiet very quiet
the noisy little cratchits were as still as statues
in one corner.
Mrs cratchit sighs
the mother laid her work upon the table
and put her hand up to her face.
Mrs cratchit: Colour hurts my eyes.
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.
Martha: Past it, rather.
But I think he's walked a little slower than he used
these few last evenings, mother.
Mrs cratchit: I have known him walk with tiny Tim
upon his shoulder, very fast indeed.
Martha: And so have I. Often.
Mrs cratchit: His father loved him so
that it was no trouble...
Ah! And there is your father at the door!
Narrator: Two young cratchits got upon his knees
and laid each child a little cheek
against his face.
Girl: Don't mind it, father.
Boy: Don't be grieved.
Narrator: Bob was very cheen'u/ with them
and spoke pleasantly to all the family.
He looked at the work upon the table
the shroud that would clothe his son
and praised the industiy and speed
of mrs cratchit and the girls.
”They would be done long before Sunday, ” he said
mrs cratchit: You went today then, Robert?
Cratchit: Yes, my dear.
I wish you could have gone.
It would've done you good to see how green a place it is
where he will lay.
But you'll see it often.
I promised him...
That I would walk there on a Sunday.
Narrator: He broke down all at once.
He couldn't help it
He left the room, and went upstairs to the room above
which was lighted cheen'u/ly, and hung with Christmas.
There was a chair set close beside the child
and there were signs of someone 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.
Cratchit: My little, little child...
My little child.
Narrator: They drew about the fire, and talked
the girls and mother working still.
Bob told them of the extraordinaiy kindness
of mr Fred whom he had scarcely seen but once
and who, meeting him in the street that day
and seeing that he looked a little subdued
asked after him.
Cratchit: Just a little down, you know.
On which, for he is the pleasantest—spoken gentleman
you ever heard...
Fred: What has happened to distress you?
Cratchit: I told him.
"I am heartily sorry for it, mr cratchit
and heartily sorry 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 really seemed as if he had known our tiny Tim
and felt with us.
I shouldn't be at all surprised, Mark what I say
if he got Peter a better situation.
Mrs cratchit: Oh! Only hear that, Peter!
Cratchit: 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.
All: No, father.
Cratchit: And 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.
All: No, never, father.
Cratchit: I am very happy.
He sniffs
I am very happy.
Scrooge: Spectre, 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.
Thunder cracks
Narrator: The spirit stood among the graves
and pointed down to one.
Scrooge advanced to wards it trembling.
Scrooge: Before I draw nearer to that stone
to which you point, answer me one question.
Are these the shadows of the things that will be
or are they shadows of things that may be, only?
Narrator: Still the ghost pointed downward to the grave
by which it stood
scrooge: Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends
to which, if persevered in, they must lead
but if the courses be departed from
the ends will change.
Say it is thus with what you show me.
Narrator: The spirit was immovable as ever.
Scrooge crept to wards it trembling as he went
scrooge: Am I that man who lay upon the bed?
Narrator: Fol/o wing the finger
read upon the stone of the neglected grave
his own name...
Ebenezer scrooge.
Thunder cracks
Joe laughs
I hope he didn't die of anything catching!
Man: We are quite ruined.
Narrator: The finger pointed from the grave
to him and back again.
Scrooge: No, spirit! No...
No!
Spirit, hear me. I am not the man I was.
Why show me this, if I am past all hope?
Good spirit, assure me that I yet may change these shadows
that you have shown me, by an altered life.
I will honour Christmas in my heart
and try to keep it all 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.
Tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!
Narrator: In his agony, he clasped the spectral body.
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
it shrank, and collapsed
down into a bedpost
scrooge sobs
scrooge: 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!
Birds sing
oh, Jacob Marley!
Heaven, and the christmastime be praised for this.
I shall kneel, old Jacob, on my knees.
Ah!
They are not torn down.
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.
I don't know what to do!
I am as... light as a feather!
I am as happy as an angel!
I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am as giddy as a drunken man!
A merry Christmas to everyone!
A happy new year to all the world!
Hello there!
Woo!
There's the saucepan that the gruel was in!
There's the corner 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!
He laughs
I don't know what day of the month it is
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!
Hello, whoop!
Hello there!
Narrator: Running to the window, he opened it
and put out his head
no fog, no mist
clear, bright sweet fresh air!
Meriy bells. Ch, glorious!
Glorious!
Scrooge: What's today, my fine fellow?
Boy: Today? Why, Christmas day.
Scrooge: It's Christmas day! 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... Hello, my fine fellow!
Do you know the poulterer's, in the next street but one?
Boy: I should hope I did.
Scrooge: An intelligent boy! A remarkable boy!
Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey
that was hanging up there?
Not the little prize Turkey. The big one?
Boy: What...
The one as big as me? — what a delightful boy!
It's a pleasure to talk to him.
Yes, my buck!
Boy: It's hanging there now. — Is it?
Go and buy it.
Boy: Walker!
Scrooge: No, no, I am in earnest.
Go and buy it, and tell them 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.
I'll send it to Bob cratchit's!
He shan't know who sends it.
It's twice the size of tiny Tim.
Faint street chati'er
Narrator: He dressed himself all in his best
and at last, got out into the streets.
He had not gone far, when coming on to wards him
he beheld the gentlemen
who had accosted him the day before, and said
”scrooge and Marley 's, I believe. ”
Scrooge: Dear sir, how do you do?
I hope you succeeded yesterday?
Man: Mr scrooge?
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...
Man: Lord bless me!
My dear mr scrooge, are you serious?
Scrooge: If you please, not a farthing less.
A great many back—payments are included in it, I assure you.
Will you do me that favour?
Man: I don't know what to say to such munificence!
Scrooge: Don't say anything. Please, come and see me.
Will you come and see me?
Man: We will!
Scrooge: Thank you. I am much obliged to you.
I thank you 50 times. Bless you!
Narrator: The people were, by this time, pouring forth
as he had seen them with the ghost of Christmas present
he walked about the streets
and watched the people huriying 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 eve/ything could yield him pleasure.
He had never dreamed that any walk
that anything...
Could give him so much happiness.
He laughs
Narrator: In the afternoon, he turned his steps
to wards 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
he opened the door gently, and sidled his face in.
They were looking at the table
which was spread out in great array
for these young housekeepers are always hen/ous on such points
and like to see that eve/ything is right
Fred: Why, bless my soul!
Who's that?
Scrooge: It's I.
Uncle scrooge.
I've come to dinner.
Will you let me in, Fred?
Fred laughs
narrator: Let him in?
It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm offi
he was at home in five minutes.
Nothing could be heart/er.
Fred's wife looked just the same.
So did topper when he came.
So did the plump lady when she came.
So did everyone when they came!
Wonden'u/ party, wonden'u/ games
wonden'u/ unanimity
wonden'u/ happiness!
But he was early at the office next morning.
Ch, he was early there.
If he could only be there first
and catch Bob cratchit coming late!
That was the thing he'd set his heart upon.
And he did it! Yes, he did.
The clock struck nine...
No Bob.
A quarter past..
No Bob.
He was a full 78 minutes and a half
behind his time.
Scrooge sat with his door wide open
that he might see him enter.
His hat was off before he opened the door
his comforter too.
He was on his stool in a jifij/, driving away with his pen
as if he were tiying to overtake nine 0 'clock.
Scrooge: Hello.
What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?
Cratchit: I'm very sorry, sir. I am behind my time.
Scrooge: You are. Yes, I think you are.
Step this way, if you please.
Cratchit: I—it's only once a year, sir.
It shall not be repeated.
I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.
Scrooge: Now, I'll tell you what, my friend
I'm not going to stand this sort of thing any longer
and therefore...
And therefore, I am about to raise your salary.
Na r rato r: Bob trembled
and got a little nearer to the poker.
He had a momenta/y idea of knocking scrooge down with it
holding him, and calling to the people in the court for help
and a strait— waistcoat
scrooge: A merry Christmas, Bob.
A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow
than I have given you for many a year.
I'll raise your salary
and endeavour to assist your struggling family
and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon
over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!
They laugh
make up the fires, buy another coalscuttle
before you dot another "I" Bob cratchit!
Scrooge was as good as 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 transformation in him
but he let them laugh, and heeded them little
for he was wise enough to know
that nothing ever happened on the globe, for good
at which some people
had not had their fill of laughter at the outset
and since he knew such as these were blind anyway
he thought it just as well that their eyes should wrinkle up
in laughter, as have the malady in less attractive forms.
He had no further intercourse with spirits
but lived life according to the total abstinence principle
ever after.
And it was said of him
that he knew how to keep Christmas well
if any man in the world had such knowledge.
Let that be truly said of us
and all of us.
And, as tiny Tim observed...
"God bless us, every one."