Page 58 - 2017-12-16_june_july_2009.qxd

58 The Background of Ebenezer Scrooge

The Background of

Ebenezer Scrooge

Continues From Page 57

At this time of the rolling year 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 spectre going on at this rate, and began
to quake exceedingly.
“Hear me!” cried the Ghost. “My time
is nearly gone. 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 will be haunted by Three Spirits.
Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls
One. Expect the second on the next night at the on the skin. The arms, hands, legs, and feet were “Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! No more work
bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; and to-night. Christmas Eve! Clear away, and let’s
same hour. The third upon the next night when
round its waist was bound a lustrous belt. It have lots of room here!
the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate.
held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; It was done in a minute. In came a
Look to see me no more; and look that, for your
and, in singular contradiction of that wintry fiddler with a music-book. In came Mrs.
own sake, you remember what has passed
emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came
between us!”
When it had said these words, the flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable.
apparition walked backward from him; and at that from the crown of its head there sprung a In came all the young men and women
every step it took, the window raised itself a bright clear jet of light. employed in the business. Away they all went,
little, so that when the spectre reached it, it was “Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming twenty couple at once; hands half round and
was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge. back again the other way; down the middle and
wide open.
“I am!” The voice was soft and gentle. up again.
Scrooge followed to the window:
Singularly low, as if instead of being so close There were more dances, and there were
desperate in his curiosity. He looked out.
beside him, it were at a distance. forfeits, and there was cake, and there wasa
The air was filled with phantoms,
“Who, and what are you?” Scrooge great piece of Cold Roast. But the great effect
wandering hither and thither in restless haste,
and moaning as they went. Every one of them demanded. of the evening came when the fiddler struck up
wore chains like Marley’s Ghost. “I am the Ghost of Christmas Past." “Sir Roger de Coverley.” Then old Fezziwig
Whether these creatures faded into mist, “Long Past?” inquired Scrooge. stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. A
or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell. But “No. Your past. The things that you will positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig’s
see with me are shadows of the things that have calves. They shone in every part of the dance.
they and their spirit voices faded together; and
been; they will have no consciousness of us. When the clock struck eleven, this
the night became as it had been when he walked
Rise! And walk with me!” domestic ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig
home.
It would have been in vain for Scrooge took their stations, one on either side of the
Scrooge closed the window, went
to plead that the weather and the hour were not door, and shaking hands with every person
straight to bed, and fell asleep.
adapted to pedestrian purposes; that bed was individually as he or she went out, wished him
It wouldn't be a sound sleep, however. warm, and the thermometer a long way below or her a Merry Christmas.
Something would soon awaken Ebenezer. freezing; that he was clad but lightly in his “A small matter,” said the Ghost, “to
Ebenezer Scrooge did not start his life as slippers, dressing-gown, and nightcap; and that make these silly folks so full of gratitude. He
he had a cold upon him at that time. has spent but a few pounds of your mortal
a selfish, grumpy person. As the "Spirit of
The grasp, though gentle as a woman’s money.”
Christmas Past" reminds him, Ebenezer's early
hand, was not to be resisted. He rose, but “It isn’t that,” said Scrooge, speaking
life included joyful moments.
finding that the Spirit made towards the unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self.
What if the "Sprit of Christmas Past"
window, clasped his robe in supplication. “He has the power to render us happy or
could take Scrooge back to those earlier days?
What would they find? Was there a point in his “I am a mortal,” Scrooge remonstrated, unhappy; to make our service light or
life when Scrooge changed? What caused him “and liable to fall.” burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. The
to change? “Bear but a touch of my hand there,” happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost
said the Spirit, laying it upon his heart, “and a fortune.”
you shall be upheld in more than this!” “My time grows short,” observed the
When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark,
As the words were spoken, they passed Spirit. “Quick!”
that looking out of bed, he could scarcely
through the wall, and stood in the busy This was not addressed to Scrooge, or to
distinguish the transparent window from the
thoroughfares of a city. The Ghost stopped at a any one whom he could see, but it produced an
opaque walls of his chamber until suddenly the
certain warehouse door, and asked Scrooge if he immediate effect. For again Scrooge saw
church clock rolled a deep, hollow, melancholy
ONE. Light flashed up in the room upon the knew it. himself. He was older now; a man in the prime
instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn “Know it!” said Scrooge. “Was I of life. His face had not the harsh and rigid lines
aside. Scrooge found himself face to face with apprenticed here?” of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs
the unearthly visitor who drew them They went in. At sight of an old of care and avarice.
gentleman sitting behind a high desk Scrooge
It was a strange figure - like a child: yet
cried: (Continued On Page 59)
not so like a child as like an old man. Its hair,
“Why, it’s old Fezziwig!”
which hung about its neck and down its back,
Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and DATE TO BELIEVE AND DARE TO BE
was white as if with age; and yet the face had
called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial HEARD AT
not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was www.xzoneradiotv.com on www.xzbn.net
voice: