Dec. 2, 2023
A Christmas Carol: Stave II - The First of the Three Spirits
In this episode, J. C. Rede introduces Stave II of Charles Dickens' classic tale, "A Christmas Carol." He discusses the immediate success and widespread popularity of the story, as well as Dickens' influence on Christmas traditions. The episode then dives into the second stave, where Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. The ghost takes Scrooge on a journey through his childhood and early adulthood, showing him the joy and love he once experienced. Scrooge is confronted with the consequences of his greed and is forced to confront his own transformation. The stave ends with Scrooge pleading with the ghost to show him no more.
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hi, friends, and welcome to another holiday episode of Forward into the Past.
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I'm J.
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C.
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Ridea, your host and narrator, and today we're beginning stave two of Charles Dickens immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.
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In 1843, Dickens penned what would become his most iconic work, A Christmas Carol.
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This timeless tale of redemption, featuring the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and the spectral visitors who guide him toward kindness, resonated deeply with audiences.
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The story's emphasis on compassion, generosity, and family values became synonymous with the Christmas spirit.
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The success of A Christmas Carol was immediate and widespread.
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It sold out its first printing within days and became a publishing sensation.
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Dickens continued the tradition for the next five years, publishing a new Christmas novella each year, including The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, and The Battle of Life.
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These stories further solidify the image of Christmas as a time for merriment, goodwill, and social responsibility.
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Dickens influence extended beyond the literary realm.
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His vivid descriptions of Christmas celebrations in his works filled with feasts, carols, and festive decorations helped to popularize these customs and solidify their place in the holiday tradition.
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Dickens Christmas stories were not just entertaining, they were also deeply moralistic.
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He used them to critique the social inequalities of his time and advocate for the less fortunate.
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His stories highlighted the plight of the poor and the importance of charity, reminding readers of their responsibility toward their fellow citizens.
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This powerful message resonated with audiences and contributed to a growing awareness of social issues.
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Dickens work helped to inspire reforms and acts of kindness, making Christmas a time not only for celebration, but also for reflection and social action.
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Even today, Dickens influence on Christmas remains undeniable.
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His stories continue to be read and enjoyed by people of all ages, and his characters have become beloved cultural icons.
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The traditions he popularized, from caroling to gift giving, are now woven into the fabric of Christmas celebrations around the world.
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Charles Dickens legacy is one of creativity, compassion, and social responsibility.
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His contributions to Christmas have enriched the holiday with meaning and continue to inspire generations to celebrate the spirit of giving and goodwill.
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And now friends, join with me as we travel back to Victorian England for stave two of the beloved holiday classic tale, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
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Stave 2.
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The First of the Three Spirits.
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When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of the 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.
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So he listened for the hour.
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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.
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Twelve?
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It was past two when he went to bed.
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The clock was wrong.
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An icicle must have got into the works.
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Twelve! He touched the spring of his repeater to correct this most preposterous clock.
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Its rapid little pulse beat twelve and stopped.
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Why, it isn't possible, said Scrooge, that I could have slept through a whole day and far into another night.
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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.
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He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeve of his dressing gown before he could see anything.
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And could see very little then.
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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 had taken possession of the world.
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This was a great relief, because Three days after sight of this first of exchange pay to Mr.
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Ebenezer Scrooge, or his order, and so forth, would have become a mere United States security if there were no days to count by.
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Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over, and over, and over, and could make nothing of it.
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The more he thought, the more perplexed he was, and the more he endeavored not to think, the more he thought.
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Marley's ghost bothered him exceedingly.
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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.
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Was it a dream or not?
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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.
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He resolved to lie awake until the hour was past.
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And, considering that he could no more go to sleep than go to heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power.
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The quarter was so long that he was more than once convinced he must have sunk into a doze unconsciously and missed the clock.
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At length it broke upon his listening ear.
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A quarter passed, said Scrooge, counting.
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Half passed.
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Said Scrooge.
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A quarter to it?
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Said Scrooge.
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The hour itself! Said Scrooge triumphantly.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The arms were very long and muscular, the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength.
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Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were like those upper members, bare.
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It wore a tunic.
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of the purest white, and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful.
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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.
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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.
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Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness, was not its strangest quality.
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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 distinctness, now being a thing with one arm, now with one leg.
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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.
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Are you the spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?
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asked Scrooge.
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I am.
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The voice was soft and gentle, singularly low, as if instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance.
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Oh, who and what are you, Scrooge demanded.
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I am the ghost of Christmas past.
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Long past, inquired Scrooge, observant of its dwarfish stature.
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No, your past.
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Perhaps, Scrooge have no, 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.
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What! exclaimed the ghost.
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Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give?
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Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and forced me to wear it through whole trains of years, to wear it low upon my brow?
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Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend, or any knowledge of having willfully bonneted the spirit at any period of its life.
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He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there.
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Your welfare, said the ghost.
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Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.
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The spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately, Your reclamation, then, take heed.
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It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and clasped him gently by the arm.
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Rise and walk with me.
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It would have been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and the hour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes, that bed was warm, and the thermometer a long way below freezing, that he was clad but lightly in his slippers, dressing gown, and nightcap, and that he had a cold upon him at that time.
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The grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be resisted.
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He rose, but finding that the spirit made towards the window clasped his robe In supplication, I am 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.
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As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an open country road, with fields on either hand.
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The city had vanished entirely.
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Not a vestige of it was to be seen.
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The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow upon the ground.
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Good Heaven! said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, as he looked about him.
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I, I was bred in this place.
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I was a boy here.
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The spirit gazed upon him mildly.
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Its gentle touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man's sense of feeling.
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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.
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Your lip is trembling, said the ghost, and What is that upon your cheek?
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Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple, and begged the ghost to lead him where he would.
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You recollect the way?
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inquired the spirit.
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Remember it! cried Scrooge with fervor.
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'I could walk in blindfold! Strange to have forgotten it.
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For so many years, observed the ghost.
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'Let us go on.
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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.
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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.
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All these boys were in great spirits and shouted to each other until the broadfields were so full of merry music that the crisp air laughed to hear it.
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These are but shadows of things that have been, said the ghost.
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They have no consciousness of us.
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The jocund travelers came on, and as they came, Scrooge knew and named them every one.
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Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them?
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Why did his cold eye glisten and his heart leap up as they went past?
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Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas as they parted at crossroads and byways for their several homes?
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What was Merry Christmas to Scrooge?
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Out upon Merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?
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The school is not quite deserted, said the ghost.
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A solitary child, neglected by his friends is left there still.
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Scrooge said he knew it and he sobbed.
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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.
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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.
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Fouls clucked and strutted in the stables, And the coach houses and sheds were overrun with grass.
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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.
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There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candlelight, and not too much to eat.
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They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the back of the house.
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It opened before them and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks.
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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.
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Not a latent echo in the house.
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Not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the paneling.
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Not a drip from the half thawed water spout in the dull yard behind.
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Not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent poplar, Not the idle swinging of an empty storehouse door, no, Not a clicking in the fire, but fell upon the heart of Scrooge With a softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears.
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The spirit touched him on the arm and pointed to his younger self, intent upon his reading.
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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.
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Why, it's Alibaba! Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy.
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It's dear, old, honest Alibaba! 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! Oh, poor boy.
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Oh, and Valentine, said Scrooge, and his wild brother Orson, there they go, and, what's his name, who was put down in the drawers, asleep at the gate of Damascus, don't you see him?
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And the Sultan's groom, turned upside down by the genie, there he is, upon his head.
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Serve him right, I'm glad of it.
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What business had he to be married to the princess?
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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.
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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.
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Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been, Robin Crusoe?
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The man thought he was dreaming, but he wasn't.
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It was the parrot, you know.
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Oh, there goes Friday, running for his life to the little creek.
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Hello! Hoop! Hello! 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.
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I wish, Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket and looking about him after drying his eyes with his cuff.
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But it's too late now.
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What is the matter?
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Asked the spirit.
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Nothing, said Scrooge, nothing.
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There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night.
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I should like to have given him something.
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That's all.
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The ghost smiled thoughtfully and waved its hand, saying as it did so, Let us see another Christmas.
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Scrooge's former self grew larger at the words, and the room became a little darker and more dirty.
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The panels shrunk.
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The windows cracked.
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Fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling, and the naked lathes were shown instead.
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But how all this was brought about, Scrooge knew no more than you do.
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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.
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He was not reading now, but walking up and down despairingly.
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Scrooge looked at the ghost, and, with a mournful shaking of his head, glanced anxiously toward the door.
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It opened, and a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms around his neck, and often kissing him, addressed him as her dear, dear brother.
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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, home little Fan?
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returned the boy.
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'Yes, said the child, brimful of glee,'home for good and all, home for ever and ever.
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Father is so much kinder than he used to be that home's like heaven.
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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.
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And he said, yes, you should, and sent me and a coach to bring you.
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And you are to be a man, said the child, opening her eyes, and are never to come back here.
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But first, we are to be together all the Christmas long and have the merriest time in all the world.
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Oh, you are quite a woman, little fan.
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exclaimed the boy.
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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.
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Then she began to drag him, in her childish eagerness, towards the door, and he, nothing loath to go, accompanied her.
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A terrible voice in the hall cried, Bring down Master Scrooge's box there! And in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.
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He then conveyed him and his sister into the veriest old well of a shivering best parlor that was ever seen, where the maps upon the wall and the celestial and terrestrial globes in the windows were waxy with cold.
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Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine and a block of curiously heavy cake, and administered installments of those dainties to the young people.
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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.
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Master Scrooge's trunk, being by this time tied on to the top of the chaise, The children bade the schoolmaster good bye right willingly and, getting into it, drove gaily down the garden sweep, the quick wheels dashing the hoar frost and snow from off the dark leaves of the evergreens like spray.
00:22:55.261 --> 00:23:03.821
Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered, said the ghost, but she had a large heart.
00:23:04.471 --> 00:23:07.112
So she had, cried Scrooge.
00:23:07.632 --> 00:23:08.311
You're right.
00:23:08.761 --> 00:23:10.642
I will not gainsay it, Spirit.
00:23:10.761 --> 00:23:11.912
God forbid.
00:23:13.501 --> 00:23:19.902
She died a woman, said the ghost, and had, as I think, children.
00:23:20.551 --> 00:23:22.501
One child, returned Scrooge.
00:23:23.521 --> 00:23:26.422
True, said the ghost, your nephew..
00:23:27.071 --> 00:23:32.281
Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind and answered briefly, Yes.
00:23:34.211 --> 00:23:49.481
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.
00:23:50.172 --> 00:23:55.682
It was made plain enough by the dressing of the shops that here, too, it was Christmas time again.
00:23:56.102 --> 00:23:59.182
But it was evening, and the streets were lighted up.
00:24:00.442 --> 00:24:05.612
The ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door and asked Scrooge if he knew it.
00:24:06.261 --> 00:24:06.882
Know it?
00:24:07.301 --> 00:24:08.102
said Scrooge.
00:24:08.281 --> 00:24:09.821
Was I apprenticed here?
00:24:10.724 --> 00:24:11.565
They went in.
00:24:12.414 --> 00:24:36.365
At the sight of an old gentleman in a Welsh wig sitting behind such a high desk that if it had been two inches taller, he might 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.
00:24:36.865 --> 00:25:00.345
He rubbed his hands, And adjusted his capacious waistcoat, And 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! Ebeneezer! Dick! Scrooge's former self, now grown a young man, came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow apprentice.
00:25:00.994 --> 00:25:04.045
Dick Wilkins, to be sure, said Scrooge to the ghost.
00:25:04.474 --> 00:25:10.434
Bless me! Bless me! Yes! There he is! He was very much attached to me, was Dick.
00:25:10.545 --> 00:25:16.075
Oh, poor Dick! Dear, dear! Yo ho, me boys! said Fezziwig.
00:25:16.355 --> 00:25:17.734
No more work tonight.
00:25:17.875 --> 00:25:18.954
Christmas Eve, dick.
00:25:19.095 --> 00:25:20.204
Christmas, Ebeneezer.
00:25:20.474 --> 00:25:28.325
Let's have the shutters up, cried old Fezziwig with a sharp clap of his hand, before a man can say Jack Robinson.
00:25:28.974 --> 00:25:31.775
You wouldn't believe how those two fellows went at it.
00:25:32.194 --> 00:25:45.595
They charged into the street with the shutters 1, 2, 3, had them up in their places 4, 5, 6, barred them and pinned them 7, 8, 9, and came back before you could have got to 12, panting like racehorses.
00:25:46.444 --> 00:25:52.144
Hi lee ho! cried Old Fezziwig, skipping down from the high desk with wonderful agility.
00:25:52.984 --> 00:26:00.644
Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here! Hi lee ho, Dick! Cheer up, Ebeneezer! Clear away?
00:26:01.285 --> 00:26:06.454
There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away or couldn't have cleared away with Old Fezziwig looking on.
00:26:07.085 --> 00:26:08.815
It was done in a minute.
00:26:09.045 --> 00:26:14.914
Every movable was packed off as if it were dismissed from public life forevermore.
00:26:15.164 --> 00:26:29.855
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 ballroom as you would desire to see upon a winter's night.
00:26:30.875 --> 00:26:40.065
In came a fiddler with a music book and went up to the lofty desk and made an orchestra of it and tuned like fifty stomach aches.
00:26:40.835 --> 00:26:41.914
In came Mrs.
00:26:41.924 --> 00:26:45.065
Fezziwig, one vast, substantial smile.
00:26:45.664 --> 00:26:49.474
In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable.
00:26:49.964 --> 00:26:54.035
In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke.
00:26:54.375 --> 00:26:57.924
In came all the young men and women employed in the business.
00:26:58.085 --> 00:27:00.755
In came the housemaid with her cousin the baker.
00:27:00.884 --> 00:27:04.634
In came the cook with her brother's particular friend the milkman.
00:27:04.845 --> 00:27:18.454
In came the boy from over the way who was suspected of not having bored 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.
00:27:18.914 --> 00:27:27.605
In they all came, one after another, Some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, Some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling.
00:27:27.865 --> 00:27:31.454
In they all came, any how and every how.
00:27:31.984 --> 00:27:43.964
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.
00:27:44.234 --> 00:27:47.994
Old Top Couple always turning up in the wrong place.
00:27:48.035 --> 00:27:51.595
New Top Couple starting off again as soon as they got there.
00:27:51.785 --> 00:27:55.694
All Top Couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them.
00:27:56.454 --> 00:28:10.605
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 placed for that purpose.
00:28:11.069 --> 00:28:27.299
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 shudder, and he, were a brand new man, resolved to beat him out of sight or perish.
00:28:27.990 --> 00:28:41.740
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, 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.
00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:55.460
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 him, struck up Sir Roger de Coverley.
00:28:56.039 --> 00:28:59.430
Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs.
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:00.000
Fezziwig.
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:04.230
Top couple, too, with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them.
00:29:04.730 --> 00:29:12.569
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.
00:29:13.345 --> 00:29:21.845
But, if they had been twice as many, ah ha ha, four times, Old Fezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs.
00:29:21.865 --> 00:29:22.515
Fezziwig.
00:29:23.005 --> 00:29:27.835
As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term.
00:29:28.384 --> 00:29:32.525
If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it.
00:29:33.244 --> 00:29:37.045
A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves.
00:29:37.325 --> 00:29:40.384
They shone in every part of the dance like moons.
00:29:40.785 --> 00:29:45.724
You could not have predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next.
00:29:46.154 --> 00:29:47.994
And when old Fezziwig and Mrs.
00:29:48.025 --> 00:30:08.295
Fezziwig had gone all through the dance, advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsy, corkscrew, thread the needle, and back again to your place, Fezziwig cut, cut so deftly that he appeared to wink with his legs and came upon his feet again without a stagger.
00:30:09.934 --> 00:30:13.964
When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up.
00:30:14.904 --> 00:30:15.355
Mr.
00:30:15.355 --> 00:30:15.765
and Mrs.
00:30:15.785 --> 00:30:28.549
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.
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:34.380
When everybody had retired but the two apprentices, they did the same to them.
00:30:34.430 --> 00:30:42.680
And thus, the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds, which were under a counter in the back shop.
00:30:43.944 --> 00:30:49.394
During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits.
00:30:49.865 --> 00:30:53.875
His heart and soul were in the scene and with his former self.
00:30:54.325 --> 00:31:01.335
He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation.
00:31:02.394 --> 00:31:17.765
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 very conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon his head burnt very clear.
00:31:18.414 --> 00:31:24.484
A small matter, said the ghost, to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.
00:31:25.434 --> 00:31:27.515
Small, echoed Scrooge.
00:31:28.164 --> 00:31:39.815
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?
00:31:40.704 --> 00:31:45.414
He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money, three or four, perhaps.
00:31:45.865 --> 00:31:49.734
Is that so much, that he deserves this praise?
00:31:50.410 --> 00:31:57.730
It isn't that, said Scrooge, heated by the remark and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self.
00:31:58.710 --> 00:31:59.880
It isn't that, Spirit.
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:07.140
He has the power to render us happy or unhappy, to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toll.
00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:15.720
Say that his power lies in words and looks, in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up, what then?
00:32:16.190 --> 00:32:20.289
The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.
00:32:20.964 --> 00:32:23.474
He felt the Spirit's glance and stopped.
00:32:24.150 --> 00:32:24.809
What is the matter?
00:32:25.059 --> 00:32:25.970
asked the Ghost.
00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:28.960
Nothing particular, said Scrooge.
00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:32.390
Something, I think, the ghost insisted.
00:32:33.049 --> 00:32:34.599
No, said Scrooge.
00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:41.579
No, I, I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now.
00:32:42.140 --> 00:32:42.670
That's all.
00:32:43.329 --> 00:32:51.940
His former self turned down the lamps as he gave utterance to the wish and Scrooge and the ghost stood again, side by side in the open air.
00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:56.349
My time grows short, observed the spirit.
00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:06.400
Quick! This was not addressed to Scrooge or to anyone whom he could see, but it produced an immediate effect for, again, Scrooge saw himself.
00:33:07.130 --> 00:33:10.009
He was older now, a man in the prime of life.
00:33:10.670 --> 00:33:18.769
His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years, but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice.
00:33:19.619 --> 00:33:29.009
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.
00:33:29.670 --> 00:33:42.559
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.
00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:48.529
It matters little, she said softly, to you, very little.
00:33:49.279 --> 00:34:02.440
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?
00:34:02.859 --> 00:34:03.500
He rejoined.
00:34:03.500 --> 00:34:04.990
A golden one.
00:34:06.140 --> 00:34:09.679
This is the even handed dealing of the world, he said.
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:17.360
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.
00:34:18.019 --> 00:34:20.250
You fear the world too much.
00:34:20.500 --> 00:34:21.610
she answered gently.
00:34:22.110 --> 00:34:27.599
All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach.
00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:35.840
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, one by one, until the master passion, gain, engrosses you.
00:34:36.550 --> 00:34:37.179
Have I not?
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:38.489
What then?
00:34:38.750 --> 00:34:39.440
he retorted.
00:34:39.690 --> 00:34:41.889
Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then?
00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:43.940
I have not changed towards you.
00:34:44.599 --> 00:34:45.579
She shook her head.
00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:46.800
Am I?
00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:48.949
Our contract is an old one.
00:34:49.460 --> 00:34:57.219
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.
00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:00.019
You are changed.
00:35:00.550 --> 00:35:03.170
When it was made, you were another man.
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:06.500
I was a boy, he said impatiently.
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:11.480
Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are, she returned.
00:35:12.380 --> 00:35:13.610
I still am.
00:35:14.539 --> 00:35:29.340
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 it and can release you.
00:35:30.014 --> 00:35:31.545
Have I ever sought release?
00:35:32.219 --> 00:35:32.909
In words?
00:35:33.320 --> 00:35:33.679
No.
00:35:34.335 --> 00:35:34.715
Never.
00:35:35.389 --> 00:35:36.090
In what, then?
00:35:36.764 --> 00:35:48.184
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.
00:35:49.295 --> 00:36:00.425
If this had never 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?
00:36:02.644 --> 00:36:03.105
No.
00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:11.079
He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition in spite of himself, but he said, with a struggle, You think not?
00:36:11.739 --> 00:36:14.989
I would gladly think otherwise if I could, she answered.
00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:21.969
Heaven knows! When I have learned a truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it must be.
00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:31.480
But if you were free today, tomorrow, yesterday, can I even believe that you would choose A dowerless girl?
00:36:31.690 --> 00:36:42.210
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.
00:36:43.090 --> 00:36:47.300
Do I not know that your repentance and regret would surely follow?
00:36:48.050 --> 00:36:48.619
I do.
00:36:49.380 --> 00:36:56.500
And I release you with a full heart for the love of him you once were.
00:36:57.250 --> 00:36:58.340
He was about to speak.
00:36:58.889 --> 00:37:02.030
But with her head turned from him, she resumed.
00:37:03.969 --> 00:37:20.780
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.
00:37:21.530 --> 00:37:27.039
May you be happy in the life you have chosen.
00:37:27.789 --> 00:37:30.690
She left him, and they parted.
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:35.789
Spirit, said Scrooge, show me no more.
00:37:35.869 --> 00:37:37.079
Conduct me home.
00:37:37.449 --> 00:37:39.199
Why do you delight to torture me?
00:37:39.949 --> 00:37:43.500
One shadow more, exclaimed the ghost.
00:37:43.909 --> 00:37:47.239
No, no more, cried Scrooge, no more.
00:37:47.550 --> 00:37:48.650
I don't wish to see it.
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.889
Show me no more.
00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:57.010
But the relentless ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next.
00:37:58.230 --> 00:38:04.409
They were in another scene and place, a room, not very large or handsome, but full of comfort.
00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:17.585
Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like the last, that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron sitting opposite her daughter.
00:38:18.474 --> 00:38:26.934
The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there than Scrooge, in his agitated state of mind, could count.
00:38:27.434 --> 00:38:38.434
And, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty.
00:38:39.050 --> 00:38:43.739
The consequences were uproarious beyond belief, but no one seemed to care.
00:38:44.070 --> 00:38:55.909
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 and most ruthlessly.
00:38:56.150 --> 00:38:59.630
Oh, what would I not have given to be one of them?
00:39:00.130 --> 00:39:02.460
Though I never could have been so rude, no, no.
00:39:02.690 --> 00:39:07.929
I wouldn't, for the wealth of all the world, have crushed that braided hair and torn it down.
00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:13.980
And for the precious little shoe, I wouldn't have plucked it off, God bless my soul, to save my life.
00:39:14.619 --> 00:39:20.380
As to measuring her waist in sport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn't have done it.
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:26.050
I should have expected my arm to grown round it for punishment, and never come straight again.
00:39:26.219 --> 00:39:54.989
And yet, I should have dearly liked Ione, 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.
00:39:55.739 --> 00:40:15.219
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.
00:40:16.085 --> 00:40:21.215
Then the shouting and the struggling and the onslaught that was made on the defenseless porter.
00:40:21.974 --> 00:40:35.215
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, pummel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection.
00:40:35.744 --> 00:40:40.594
The shouts of wonder and delight, with which the development of every package was received.
00:40:40.755 --> 00:40:52.534
The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll's frying pan into its mouth and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey glued on by a wooden platter.
00:40:53.034 --> 00:40:56.364
The immense relief of finding this a false alarm.
00:40:56.934 --> 00:41:02.085
The joy and gratitude and ecstasy, they are all indescribable alike.
00:41:02.519 --> 00:41:14.949
It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of the parlor and by one stare at a time up to the top of the house where they went to bed and so subsided.
00:41:16.050 --> 00:41:28.840
And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever when the master of this house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside.
00:41:29.659 --> 00:41:42.599
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.
00:41:43.349 --> 00:41:50.440
Belle, said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.
00:41:51.420 --> 00:41:52.650
Oh, who was it?
00:41:53.630 --> 00:41:54.159
Guess.
00:41:54.789 --> 00:41:56.449
Oh, how can I?
00:41:57.594 --> 00:42:01.635
Tutt, I don't know, she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed.
00:42:02.574 --> 00:42:04.175
Um, Mr.
00:42:04.175 --> 00:42:04.965
Scrooge.
00:42:05.715 --> 00:42:06.164
Mr.
00:42:06.164 --> 00:42:07.594
Scrooge it was.
00:42:08.625 --> 00:42:15.684
I passed his office window and, as it was not shut up and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him.
00:42:16.594 --> 00:42:21.485
His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear, and there he sat alone.
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:24.050
Quite alone in the world, I do believe.
00:42:25.530 --> 00:42:30.480
'Spirit, said Scrooge in a broken voice,'remove me from this place.
00:42:31.539 --> 00:42:36.849
'I told you these were shadows of the things that have been, said the ghost.
00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:38.989
That they are what they are.
00:42:38.989 --> 00:42:40.300
Do not blame me.
00:42:40.659 --> 00:42:42.960
'Remove me! Scrooge exclaimed.
00:42:43.150 --> 00:42:44.460
'I cannot bear it.
00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:55.170
He turned upon the ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a face in which some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him, wrestled with it.
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:23.065
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.
00:43:24.175 --> 00:43:29.275
The spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form.
00:43:29.505 --> 00:43:39.914
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.
00:43:40.614 --> 00:43:48.144
He was conscious of being exhausted and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness, and further, of being in his own bedroom.
00:43:49.385 --> 00:44:00.355
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.
00:44:02.855 --> 00:44:03.684
Hey, everyone.
00:44:04.175 --> 00:44:07.465
I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Forward into the Past.
00:44:07.855 --> 00:44:08.364
I'm J.
00:44:08.364 --> 00:44:08.585
C.
00:44:08.585 --> 00:44:16.724
Rede, your host and narrator, and I'll be back next week with Stave 3 of Charles Dickens immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.
00:44:17.565 --> 00:44:21.695
Before I go, I want to take a moment to thank our monthly supporters.
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That's it for this week, folks.
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Until next time, thanks for listening.
00:45:46.750 --> 00:45:51.059
Keep sharing the stories and be a good human.
00:45:52.019 --> 00:45:53.130
Bye for now.
00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.959
Hi, friends, and welcome to another holiday episode of Forward into the Past.
00:00:08.669 --> 00:00:09.189
I'm J.
00:00:09.189 --> 00:00:09.460
C.
00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:18.140
Ridea, your host and narrator, and today we're beginning stave two of Charles Dickens immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:25.870
In 1843, Dickens penned what would become his most iconic work, A Christmas Carol.
00:00:26.649 --> 00:00:37.000
This timeless tale of redemption, featuring the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and the spectral visitors who guide him toward kindness, resonated deeply with audiences.
00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:44.920
The story's emphasis on compassion, generosity, and family values became synonymous with the Christmas spirit.
00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:49.359
The success of A Christmas Carol was immediate and widespread.
00:00:49.549 --> 00:00:55.259
It sold out its first printing within days and became a publishing sensation.
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Dickens continued the tradition for the next five years, publishing a new Christmas novella each year, including The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, and The Battle of Life.
00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:16.920
These stories further solidify the image of Christmas as a time for merriment, goodwill, and social responsibility.
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Dickens influence extended beyond the literary realm.
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His vivid descriptions of Christmas celebrations in his works filled with feasts, carols, and festive decorations helped to popularize these customs and solidify their place in the holiday tradition.
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Dickens Christmas stories were not just entertaining, they were also deeply moralistic.
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He used them to critique the social inequalities of his time and advocate for the less fortunate.
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His stories highlighted the plight of the poor and the importance of charity, reminding readers of their responsibility toward their fellow citizens.
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This powerful message resonated with audiences and contributed to a growing awareness of social issues.
00:02:07.295 --> 00:02:18.875
Dickens work helped to inspire reforms and acts of kindness, making Christmas a time not only for celebration, but also for reflection and social action.
00:02:19.805 --> 00:02:24.585
Even today, Dickens influence on Christmas remains undeniable.
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His stories continue to be read and enjoyed by people of all ages, and his characters have become beloved cultural icons.
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The traditions he popularized, from caroling to gift giving, are now woven into the fabric of Christmas celebrations around the world.
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Charles Dickens legacy is one of creativity, compassion, and social responsibility.
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His contributions to Christmas have enriched the holiday with meaning and continue to inspire generations to celebrate the spirit of giving and goodwill.
00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:12.680
And now friends, join with me as we travel back to Victorian England for stave two of the beloved holiday classic tale, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
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Stave 2.
00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:17.550
The First of the Three Spirits.
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When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of the 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.
00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:38.030
So he listened for the hour.
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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.
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Twelve?
00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:53.870
It was past two when he went to bed.
00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:55.599
The clock was wrong.
00:03:55.689 --> 00:03:57.590
An icicle must have got into the works.
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:03.960
Twelve! He touched the spring of his repeater to correct this most preposterous clock.
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Its rapid little pulse beat twelve and stopped.
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Why, it isn't possible, said Scrooge, that I could have slept through a whole day and far into another night.
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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.
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He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeve of his dressing gown before he could see anything.
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And could see very little then.
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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 had taken possession of the world.
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This was a great relief, because Three days after sight of this first of exchange pay to Mr.
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Ebenezer Scrooge, or his order, and so forth, would have become a mere United States security if there were no days to count by.
00:05:08.089 --> 00:05:15.600
Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over, and over, and over, and could make nothing of it.
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The more he thought, the more perplexed he was, and the more he endeavored not to think, the more he thought.
00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.730
Marley's ghost bothered him exceedingly.
00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:40.540
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.
00:05:41.149 --> 00:05:43.339
Was it a dream or not?
00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:56.310
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.
00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.199
He resolved to lie awake until the hour was past.
00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:08.470
And, considering that he could no more go to sleep than go to heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power.
00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:18.089
The quarter was so long that he was more than once convinced he must have sunk into a doze unconsciously and missed the clock.
00:06:19.089 --> 00:06:21.810
At length it broke upon his listening ear.
00:06:23.802 --> 00:06:26.072
A quarter passed, said Scrooge, counting.
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Half passed.
00:06:28.997 --> 00:06:29.718
Said Scrooge.
00:06:31.177 --> 00:06:32.077
A quarter to it?
00:06:32.817 --> 00:06:33.548
Said Scrooge.
00:06:35.298 --> 00:06:38.627
The hour itself! Said Scrooge triumphantly.
00:06:38.718 --> 00:06:57.088
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.
00:06:57.737 --> 00:07:07.577
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.
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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.
00:07:26.718 --> 00:07:41.197
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.
00:07:41.848 --> 00:07:52.608
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.
00:07:53.257 --> 00:08:00.687
The arms were very long and muscular, the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength.
00:08:01.338 --> 00:08:07.127
Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were like those upper members, bare.
00:08:07.778 --> 00:08:08.658
It wore a tunic.
00:08:09.012 --> 00:08:15.762
of the purest white, and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful.
00:08:16.413 --> 00:08:27.502
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.
00:08:28.153 --> 00:08:48.383
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.
00:08:49.033 --> 00:08:55.212
Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness, was not its strangest quality.
00:08:55.972 --> 00:09:11.993
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 distinctness, now being a thing with one arm, now with one leg.
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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.
00:09:31.365 --> 00:09:35.725
Are you the spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?
00:09:35.975 --> 00:09:37.105
asked Scrooge.
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I am.
00:09:38.695 --> 00:09:45.904
The voice was soft and gentle, singularly low, as if instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance.
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Oh, who and what are you, Scrooge demanded.
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I am the ghost of Christmas past.
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Long past, inquired Scrooge, observant of its dwarfish stature.
00:10:00.684 --> 00:10:03.075
No, your past.
00:10:04.335 --> 00:10:16.879
Perhaps, Scrooge have no, 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.
00:10:17.528 --> 00:10:19.288
What! exclaimed the ghost.
00:10:19.913 --> 00:10:24.374
Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give?
00:10:25.124 --> 00:10:34.994
Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and forced me to wear it through whole trains of years, to wear it low upon my brow?
00:10:35.644 --> 00:10:44.394
Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend, or any knowledge of having willfully bonneted the spirit at any period of its life.
00:10:45.043 --> 00:10:48.844
He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there.
00:10:49.494 --> 00:10:52.563
Your welfare, said the ghost.
00:10:53.214 --> 00:11:00.923
Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.
00:11:01.573 --> 00:11:08.874
The spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately, Your reclamation, then, take heed.
00:11:09.524 --> 00:11:15.144
It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and clasped him gently by the arm.
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Rise and walk with me.
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It would have been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and the hour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes, that bed was warm, and the thermometer a long way below freezing, that he was clad but lightly in his slippers, dressing gown, and nightcap, and that he had a cold upon him at that time.
00:11:35.533 --> 00:11:39.844
The grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be resisted.
00:11:40.443 --> 00:12:00.004
He rose, but finding that the spirit made towards the window clasped his robe In supplication, I am 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.
00:12:00.653 --> 00:12:07.984
As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an open country road, with fields on either hand.
00:12:08.604 --> 00:12:10.594
The city had vanished entirely.
00:12:11.014 --> 00:12:12.964
Not a vestige of it was to be seen.
00:12:13.614 --> 00:12:20.923
The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow upon the ground.
00:12:22.394 --> 00:12:27.683
Good Heaven! said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, as he looked about him.
00:12:28.448 --> 00:12:31.058
I, I was bred in this place.
00:12:31.328 --> 00:12:32.609
I was a boy here.
00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:35.859
The spirit gazed upon him mildly.
00:12:36.229 --> 00:12:43.528
Its gentle touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man's sense of feeling.
00:12:44.149 --> 00:12:53.538
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.
00:12:54.188 --> 00:13:00.469
Your lip is trembling, said the ghost, and What is that upon your cheek?
00:13:01.119 --> 00:13:09.308
Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple, and begged the ghost to lead him where he would.
00:13:09.958 --> 00:13:11.349
You recollect the way?
00:13:11.599 --> 00:13:12.658
inquired the spirit.
00:13:13.308 --> 00:13:16.129
Remember it! cried Scrooge with fervor.
00:13:16.649 --> 00:13:20.749
'I could walk in blindfold! Strange to have forgotten it.
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For so many years, observed the ghost.
00:13:24.828 --> 00:13:25.739
'Let us go on.
00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:37.458
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.
00:13:38.149 --> 00:13:46.894
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.
00:13:47.543 --> 00:13:56.114
All these boys were in great spirits and shouted to each other until the broadfields were so full of merry music that the crisp air laughed to hear it.
00:13:56.764 --> 00:14:01.083
These are but shadows of things that have been, said the ghost.
00:14:01.693 --> 00:14:04.043
They have no consciousness of us.
00:14:04.693 --> 00:14:10.604
The jocund travelers came on, and as they came, Scrooge knew and named them every one.
00:14:11.203 --> 00:14:14.014
Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them?
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Why did his cold eye glisten and his heart leap up as they went past?
00:14:19.504 --> 00:14:27.724
Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas as they parted at crossroads and byways for their several homes?
00:14:28.458 --> 00:14:30.438
What was Merry Christmas to Scrooge?
00:14:30.948 --> 00:14:36.349
Out upon Merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?
00:14:36.999 --> 00:14:40.828
The school is not quite deserted, said the ghost.
00:14:41.708 --> 00:14:46.869
A solitary child, neglected by his friends is left there still.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.208
Scrooge said he knew it and he sobbed.
00:14:51.859 --> 00:15:03.708
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.
00:15:04.619 --> 00:15:16.828
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.
00:15:17.749 --> 00:15:23.788
Fouls clucked and strutted in the stables, And the coach houses and sheds were overrun with grass.
00:15:24.594 --> 00:15:37.394
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.
00:15:38.043 --> 00:15:48.813
There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candlelight, and not too much to eat.
00:15:49.464 --> 00:15:54.663
They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the back of the house.
00:15:55.553 --> 00:16:05.403
It opened before them and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks.
00:16:06.264 --> 00:16:19.484
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.
00:16:20.134 --> 00:16:22.043
Not a latent echo in the house.
00:16:22.104 --> 00:16:25.364
Not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the paneling.
00:16:25.563 --> 00:16:29.813
Not a drip from the half thawed water spout in the dull yard behind.
00:16:30.283 --> 00:16:47.163
Not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent poplar, Not the idle swinging of an empty storehouse door, no, Not a clicking in the fire, but fell upon the heart of Scrooge With a softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears.
00:16:47.813 --> 00:16:53.583
The spirit touched him on the arm and pointed to his younger self, intent upon his reading.
00:16:54.974 --> 00:17:08.054
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.
00:17:08.703 --> 00:17:13.253
Why, it's Alibaba! Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy.
00:17:13.384 --> 00:17:27.739
It's dear, old, honest Alibaba! 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! Oh, poor boy.
00:17:28.078 --> 00:17:40.919
Oh, and Valentine, said Scrooge, and his wild brother Orson, there they go, and, what's his name, who was put down in the drawers, asleep at the gate of Damascus, don't you see him?
00:17:42.098 --> 00:17:47.348
And the Sultan's groom, turned upside down by the genie, there he is, upon his head.
00:17:47.969 --> 00:17:50.209
Serve him right, I'm glad of it.
00:17:50.479 --> 00:17:53.028
What business had he to be married to the princess?
00:17:53.679 --> 00:18:09.318
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.
00:18:09.969 --> 00:18:23.993
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.
00:18:24.824 --> 00:18:28.114
Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been, Robin Crusoe?
00:18:28.364 --> 00:18:30.493
The man thought he was dreaming, but he wasn't.
00:18:30.794 --> 00:18:32.114
It was the parrot, you know.
00:18:32.314 --> 00:18:35.594
Oh, there goes Friday, running for his life to the little creek.
00:18:35.653 --> 00:18:48.828
Hello! Hoop! Hello! 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.
00:18:49.479 --> 00:18:55.939
I wish, Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket and looking about him after drying his eyes with his cuff.
00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.209
But it's too late now.
00:18:59.858 --> 00:19:00.969
What is the matter?
00:19:01.558 --> 00:19:02.519
Asked the spirit.
00:19:03.709 --> 00:19:06.479
Nothing, said Scrooge, nothing.
00:19:08.808 --> 00:19:12.179
There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night.
00:19:13.209 --> 00:19:14.628
I should like to have given him something.
00:19:15.348 --> 00:19:15.828
That's all.
00:19:17.709 --> 00:19:25.318
The ghost smiled thoughtfully and waved its hand, saying as it did so, Let us see another Christmas.
00:19:25.969 --> 00:19:32.148
Scrooge's former self grew larger at the words, and the room became a little darker and more dirty.
00:19:32.868 --> 00:19:33.919
The panels shrunk.
00:19:34.249 --> 00:19:35.169
The windows cracked.
00:19:35.318 --> 00:19:39.818
Fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling, and the naked lathes were shown instead.
00:19:40.038 --> 00:19:44.219
But how all this was brought about, Scrooge knew no more than you do.
00:19:44.828 --> 00:19:56.519
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.
00:19:57.169 --> 00:20:00.659
He was not reading now, but walking up and down despairingly.
00:20:01.169 --> 00:20:07.749
Scrooge looked at the ghost, and, with a mournful shaking of his head, glanced anxiously toward the door.
00:20:08.578 --> 00:20:19.719
It opened, and a little girl, much younger than the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms around his neck, and often kissing him, addressed him as her dear, dear brother.
00:20:20.398 --> 00:20:31.990
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, home little Fan?
00:20:32.278 --> 00:20:33.138
returned the boy.
00:20:34.598 --> 00:20:40.568
'Yes, said the child, brimful of glee,'home for good and all, home for ever and ever.
00:20:41.098 --> 00:20:45.058
Father is so much kinder than he used to be that home's like heaven.
00:20:45.618 --> 00:20:52.989
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.
00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:56.818
And he said, yes, you should, and sent me and a coach to bring you.
00:20:57.318 --> 00:21:03.689
And you are to be a man, said the child, opening her eyes, and are never to come back here.
00:21:04.058 --> 00:21:10.898
But first, we are to be together all the Christmas long and have the merriest time in all the world.
00:21:11.548 --> 00:21:14.388
Oh, you are quite a woman, little fan.
00:21:14.638 --> 00:21:15.578
exclaimed the boy.
00:21:16.209 --> 00:21:23.219
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.
00:21:23.828 --> 00:21:31.489
Then she began to drag him, in her childish eagerness, towards the door, and he, nothing loath to go, accompanied her.
00:21:32.638 --> 00:21:52.159
A terrible voice in the hall cried, Bring down Master Scrooge's box there! And in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.
00:21:53.864 --> 00:22:07.453
He then conveyed him and his sister into the veriest old well of a shivering best parlor that was ever seen, where the maps upon the wall and the celestial and terrestrial globes in the windows were waxy with cold.
00:22:08.314 --> 00:22:20.503
Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine and a block of curiously heavy cake, and administered installments of those dainties to the young people.
00:22:21.038 --> 00:22:34.116
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.
00:22:34.767 --> 00:22:54.612
Master Scrooge's trunk, being by this time tied on to the top of the chaise, The children bade the schoolmaster good bye right willingly and, getting into it, drove gaily down the garden sweep, the quick wheels dashing the hoar frost and snow from off the dark leaves of the evergreens like spray.
00:22:55.261 --> 00:23:03.821
Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered, said the ghost, but she had a large heart.
00:23:04.471 --> 00:23:07.112
So she had, cried Scrooge.
00:23:07.632 --> 00:23:08.311
You're right.
00:23:08.761 --> 00:23:10.642
I will not gainsay it, Spirit.
00:23:10.761 --> 00:23:11.912
God forbid.
00:23:13.501 --> 00:23:19.902
She died a woman, said the ghost, and had, as I think, children.
00:23:20.551 --> 00:23:22.501
One child, returned Scrooge.
00:23:23.521 --> 00:23:26.422
True, said the ghost, your nephew..
00:23:27.071 --> 00:23:32.281
Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind and answered briefly, Yes.
00:23:34.211 --> 00:23:49.481
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.
00:23:50.172 --> 00:23:55.682
It was made plain enough by the dressing of the shops that here, too, it was Christmas time again.
00:23:56.102 --> 00:23:59.182
But it was evening, and the streets were lighted up.
00:24:00.442 --> 00:24:05.612
The ghost stopped at a certain warehouse door and asked Scrooge if he knew it.
00:24:06.261 --> 00:24:06.882
Know it?
00:24:07.301 --> 00:24:08.102
said Scrooge.
00:24:08.281 --> 00:24:09.821
Was I apprenticed here?
00:24:10.724 --> 00:24:11.565
They went in.
00:24:12.414 --> 00:24:36.365
At the sight of an old gentleman in a Welsh wig sitting behind such a high desk that if it had been two inches taller, he might 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.
00:24:36.865 --> 00:25:00.345
He rubbed his hands, And adjusted his capacious waistcoat, And 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! Ebeneezer! Dick! Scrooge's former self, now grown a young man, came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow apprentice.
00:25:00.994 --> 00:25:04.045
Dick Wilkins, to be sure, said Scrooge to the ghost.
00:25:04.474 --> 00:25:10.434
Bless me! Bless me! Yes! There he is! He was very much attached to me, was Dick.
00:25:10.545 --> 00:25:16.075
Oh, poor Dick! Dear, dear! Yo ho, me boys! said Fezziwig.
00:25:16.355 --> 00:25:17.734
No more work tonight.
00:25:17.875 --> 00:25:18.954
Christmas Eve, dick.
00:25:19.095 --> 00:25:20.204
Christmas, Ebeneezer.
00:25:20.474 --> 00:25:28.325
Let's have the shutters up, cried old Fezziwig with a sharp clap of his hand, before a man can say Jack Robinson.
00:25:28.974 --> 00:25:31.775
You wouldn't believe how those two fellows went at it.
00:25:32.194 --> 00:25:45.595
They charged into the street with the shutters 1, 2, 3, had them up in their places 4, 5, 6, barred them and pinned them 7, 8, 9, and came back before you could have got to 12, panting like racehorses.
00:25:46.444 --> 00:25:52.144
Hi lee ho! cried Old Fezziwig, skipping down from the high desk with wonderful agility.
00:25:52.984 --> 00:26:00.644
Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here! Hi lee ho, Dick! Cheer up, Ebeneezer! Clear away?
00:26:01.285 --> 00:26:06.454
There was nothing they wouldn't have cleared away or couldn't have cleared away with Old Fezziwig looking on.
00:26:07.085 --> 00:26:08.815
It was done in a minute.
00:26:09.045 --> 00:26:14.914
Every movable was packed off as if it were dismissed from public life forevermore.
00:26:15.164 --> 00:26:29.855
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 ballroom as you would desire to see upon a winter's night.
00:26:30.875 --> 00:26:40.065
In came a fiddler with a music book and went up to the lofty desk and made an orchestra of it and tuned like fifty stomach aches.
00:26:40.835 --> 00:26:41.914
In came Mrs.
00:26:41.924 --> 00:26:45.065
Fezziwig, one vast, substantial smile.
00:26:45.664 --> 00:26:49.474
In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable.
00:26:49.964 --> 00:26:54.035
In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke.
00:26:54.375 --> 00:26:57.924
In came all the young men and women employed in the business.
00:26:58.085 --> 00:27:00.755
In came the housemaid with her cousin the baker.
00:27:00.884 --> 00:27:04.634
In came the cook with her brother's particular friend the milkman.
00:27:04.845 --> 00:27:18.454
In came the boy from over the way who was suspected of not having bored 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.
00:27:18.914 --> 00:27:27.605
In they all came, one after another, Some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, Some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling.
00:27:27.865 --> 00:27:31.454
In they all came, any how and every how.
00:27:31.984 --> 00:27:43.964
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.
00:27:44.234 --> 00:27:47.994
Old Top Couple always turning up in the wrong place.
00:27:48.035 --> 00:27:51.595
New Top Couple starting off again as soon as they got there.
00:27:51.785 --> 00:27:55.694
All Top Couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them.
00:27:56.454 --> 00:28:10.605
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 placed for that purpose.
00:28:11.069 --> 00:28:27.299
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 shudder, and he, were a brand new man, resolved to beat him out of sight or perish.
00:28:27.990 --> 00:28:41.740
There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, 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.
00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:55.460
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 him, struck up Sir Roger de Coverley.
00:28:56.039 --> 00:28:59.430
Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs.
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:00.000
Fezziwig.
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:04.230
Top couple, too, with a good stiff piece of work cut out for them.
00:29:04.730 --> 00:29:12.569
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.
00:29:13.345 --> 00:29:21.845
But, if they had been twice as many, ah ha ha, four times, Old Fezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs.
00:29:21.865 --> 00:29:22.515
Fezziwig.
00:29:23.005 --> 00:29:27.835
As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term.
00:29:28.384 --> 00:29:32.525
If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it.
00:29:33.244 --> 00:29:37.045
A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves.
00:29:37.325 --> 00:29:40.384
They shone in every part of the dance like moons.
00:29:40.785 --> 00:29:45.724
You could not have predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next.
00:29:46.154 --> 00:29:47.994
And when old Fezziwig and Mrs.
00:29:48.025 --> 00:30:08.295
Fezziwig had gone all through the dance, advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsy, corkscrew, thread the needle, and back again to your place, Fezziwig cut, cut so deftly that he appeared to wink with his legs and came upon his feet again without a stagger.
00:30:09.934 --> 00:30:13.964
When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up.
00:30:14.904 --> 00:30:15.355
Mr.
00:30:15.355 --> 00:30:15.765
and Mrs.
00:30:15.785 --> 00:30:28.549
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.
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:34.380
When everybody had retired but the two apprentices, they did the same to them.
00:30:34.430 --> 00:30:42.680
And thus, the cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left to their beds, which were under a counter in the back shop.
00:30:43.944 --> 00:30:49.394
During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits.
00:30:49.865 --> 00:30:53.875
His heart and soul were in the scene and with his former self.
00:30:54.325 --> 00:31:01.335
He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation.
00:31:02.394 --> 00:31:17.765
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 very conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon his head burnt very clear.
00:31:18.414 --> 00:31:24.484
A small matter, said the ghost, to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.
00:31:25.434 --> 00:31:27.515
Small, echoed Scrooge.
00:31:28.164 --> 00:31:39.815
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?
00:31:40.704 --> 00:31:45.414
He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money, three or four, perhaps.
00:31:45.865 --> 00:31:49.734
Is that so much, that he deserves this praise?
00:31:50.410 --> 00:31:57.730
It isn't that, said Scrooge, heated by the remark and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self.
00:31:58.710 --> 00:31:59.880
It isn't that, Spirit.
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:07.140
He has the power to render us happy or unhappy, to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toll.
00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:15.720
Say that his power lies in words and looks, in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up, what then?
00:32:16.190 --> 00:32:20.289
The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.
00:32:20.964 --> 00:32:23.474
He felt the Spirit's glance and stopped.
00:32:24.150 --> 00:32:24.809
What is the matter?
00:32:25.059 --> 00:32:25.970
asked the Ghost.
00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:28.960
Nothing particular, said Scrooge.
00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:32.390
Something, I think, the ghost insisted.
00:32:33.049 --> 00:32:34.599
No, said Scrooge.
00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:41.579
No, I, I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now.
00:32:42.140 --> 00:32:42.670
That's all.
00:32:43.329 --> 00:32:51.940
His former self turned down the lamps as he gave utterance to the wish and Scrooge and the ghost stood again, side by side in the open air.
00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:56.349
My time grows short, observed the spirit.
00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:06.400
Quick! This was not addressed to Scrooge or to anyone whom he could see, but it produced an immediate effect for, again, Scrooge saw himself.
00:33:07.130 --> 00:33:10.009
He was older now, a man in the prime of life.
00:33:10.670 --> 00:33:18.769
His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years, but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice.
00:33:19.619 --> 00:33:29.009
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.
00:33:29.670 --> 00:33:42.559
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.
00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:48.529
It matters little, she said softly, to you, very little.
00:33:49.279 --> 00:34:02.440
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?
00:34:02.859 --> 00:34:03.500
He rejoined.
00:34:03.500 --> 00:34:04.990
A golden one.
00:34:06.140 --> 00:34:09.679
This is the even handed dealing of the world, he said.
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:17.360
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.
00:34:18.019 --> 00:34:20.250
You fear the world too much.
00:34:20.500 --> 00:34:21.610
she answered gently.
00:34:22.110 --> 00:34:27.599
All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach.
00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:35.840
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, one by one, until the master passion, gain, engrosses you.
00:34:36.550 --> 00:34:37.179
Have I not?
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:38.489
What then?
00:34:38.750 --> 00:34:39.440
he retorted.
00:34:39.690 --> 00:34:41.889
Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then?
00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:43.940
I have not changed towards you.
00:34:44.599 --> 00:34:45.579
She shook her head.
00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:46.800
Am I?
00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:48.949
Our contract is an old one.
00:34:49.460 --> 00:34:57.219
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.
00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:00.019
You are changed.
00:35:00.550 --> 00:35:03.170
When it was made, you were another man.
00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:06.500
I was a boy, he said impatiently.
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:11.480
Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are, she returned.
00:35:12.380 --> 00:35:13.610
I still am.
00:35:14.539 --> 00:35:29.340
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 it and can release you.
00:35:30.014 --> 00:35:31.545
Have I ever sought release?
00:35:32.219 --> 00:35:32.909
In words?
00:35:33.320 --> 00:35:33.679
No.
00:35:34.335 --> 00:35:34.715
Never.
00:35:35.389 --> 00:35:36.090
In what, then?
00:35:36.764 --> 00:35:48.184
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.
00:35:49.295 --> 00:36:00.425
If this had never 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?
00:36:02.644 --> 00:36:03.105
No.
00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:11.079
He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition in spite of himself, but he said, with a struggle, You think not?
00:36:11.739 --> 00:36:14.989
I would gladly think otherwise if I could, she answered.
00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:21.969
Heaven knows! When I have learned a truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it must be.
00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:31.480
But if you were free today, tomorrow, yesterday, can I even believe that you would choose A dowerless girl?
00:36:31.690 --> 00:36:42.210
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.
00:36:43.090 --> 00:36:47.300
Do I not know that your repentance and regret would surely follow?
00:36:48.050 --> 00:36:48.619
I do.
00:36:49.380 --> 00:36:56.500
And I release you with a full heart for the love of him you once were.
00:36:57.250 --> 00:36:58.340
He was about to speak.
00:36:58.889 --> 00:37:02.030
But with her head turned from him, she resumed.
00:37:03.969 --> 00:37:20.780
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.
00:37:21.530 --> 00:37:27.039
May you be happy in the life you have chosen.
00:37:27.789 --> 00:37:30.690
She left him, and they parted.
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:35.789
Spirit, said Scrooge, show me no more.
00:37:35.869 --> 00:37:37.079
Conduct me home.
00:37:37.449 --> 00:37:39.199
Why do you delight to torture me?
00:37:39.949 --> 00:37:43.500
One shadow more, exclaimed the ghost.
00:37:43.909 --> 00:37:47.239
No, no more, cried Scrooge, no more.
00:37:47.550 --> 00:37:48.650
I don't wish to see it.
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.889
Show me no more.
00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:57.010
But the relentless ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next.
00:37:58.230 --> 00:38:04.409
They were in another scene and place, a room, not very large or handsome, but full of comfort.
00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:17.585
Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like the last, that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron sitting opposite her daughter.
00:38:18.474 --> 00:38:26.934
The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there than Scrooge, in his agitated state of mind, could count.
00:38:27.434 --> 00:38:38.434
And, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty.
00:38:39.050 --> 00:38:43.739
The consequences were uproarious beyond belief, but no one seemed to care.
00:38:44.070 --> 00:38:55.909
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 and most ruthlessly.
00:38:56.150 --> 00:38:59.630
Oh, what would I not have given to be one of them?
00:39:00.130 --> 00:39:02.460
Though I never could have been so rude, no, no.
00:39:02.690 --> 00:39:07.929
I wouldn't, for the wealth of all the world, have crushed that braided hair and torn it down.
00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:13.980
And for the precious little shoe, I wouldn't have plucked it off, God bless my soul, to save my life.
00:39:14.619 --> 00:39:20.380
As to measuring her waist in sport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn't have done it.
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:26.050
I should have expected my arm to grown round it for punishment, and never come straight again.
00:39:26.219 --> 00:39:54.989
And yet, I should have dearly liked Ione, 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.
00:39:55.739 --> 00:40:15.219
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.
00:40:16.085 --> 00:40:21.215
Then the shouting and the struggling and the onslaught that was made on the defenseless porter.
00:40:21.974 --> 00:40:35.215
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, pummel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection.
00:40:35.744 --> 00:40:40.594
The shouts of wonder and delight, with which the development of every package was received.
00:40:40.755 --> 00:40:52.534
The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll's frying pan into its mouth and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey glued on by a wooden platter.
00:40:53.034 --> 00:40:56.364
The immense relief of finding this a false alarm.
00:40:56.934 --> 00:41:02.085
The joy and gratitude and ecstasy, they are all indescribable alike.
00:41:02.519 --> 00:41:14.949
It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of the parlor and by one stare at a time up to the top of the house where they went to bed and so subsided.
00:41:16.050 --> 00:41:28.840
And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever when the master of this house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside.
00:41:29.659 --> 00:41:42.599
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.
00:41:43.349 --> 00:41:50.440
Belle, said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.
00:41:51.420 --> 00:41:52.650
Oh, who was it?
00:41:53.630 --> 00:41:54.159
Guess.
00:41:54.789 --> 00:41:56.449
Oh, how can I?
00:41:57.594 --> 00:42:01.635
Tutt, I don't know, she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed.
00:42:02.574 --> 00:42:04.175
Um, Mr.
00:42:04.175 --> 00:42:04.965
Scrooge.
00:42:05.715 --> 00:42:06.164
Mr.
00:42:06.164 --> 00:42:07.594
Scrooge it was.
00:42:08.625 --> 00:42:15.684
I passed his office window and, as it was not shut up and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him.
00:42:16.594 --> 00:42:21.485
His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear, and there he sat alone.
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:24.050
Quite alone in the world, I do believe.
00:42:25.530 --> 00:42:30.480
'Spirit, said Scrooge in a broken voice,'remove me from this place.
00:42:31.539 --> 00:42:36.849
'I told you these were shadows of the things that have been, said the ghost.
00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:38.989
That they are what they are.
00:42:38.989 --> 00:42:40.300
Do not blame me.
00:42:40.659 --> 00:42:42.960
'Remove me! Scrooge exclaimed.
00:42:43.150 --> 00:42:44.460
'I cannot bear it.
00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:55.170
He turned upon the ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a face in which some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him, wrestled with it.
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:23.065
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.
00:43:24.175 --> 00:43:29.275
The spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form.
00:43:29.505 --> 00:43:39.914
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.
00:43:40.614 --> 00:43:48.144
He was conscious of being exhausted and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness, and further, of being in his own bedroom.
00:43:49.385 --> 00:44:00.355
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.
00:44:02.855 --> 00:44:03.684
Hey, everyone.
00:44:04.175 --> 00:44:07.465
I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Forward into the Past.
00:44:07.855 --> 00:44:08.364
I'm J.
00:44:08.364 --> 00:44:08.585
C.
00:44:08.585 --> 00:44:16.724
Rede, your host and narrator, and I'll be back next week with Stave 3 of Charles Dickens immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.
00:44:17.565 --> 00:44:21.695
Before I go, I want to take a moment to thank our monthly supporters.
00:44:22.175 --> 00:44:26.454
Your support makes this podcast possible, and I couldn't do it without you.
00:44:27.125 --> 00:44:31.039
If you're not already a monthly supporter, I encourage you to sign up today.
00:44:31.190 --> 00:44:41.800
It's just a few dollars a month, and it's the best way to ensure that Forward Into the Past continues to produce high quality content for many years to come.
00:44:42.670 --> 00:44:46.750
To become a monthly supporter, simply visit our website at forwardintothepastpodcast.
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com There, you can click on the big yellow button with a coffee cup and sign up for a recurring monthly donation On our Buy Me A Coffee page.
00:44:57.969 --> 00:45:01.159
Every little bit helps, so thank you for your support.
00:45:02.030 --> 00:45:05.010
I also want to remind you about our merchandise shop.
00:45:05.500 --> 00:45:10.590
We have a wide variety of items available, including t shirts, hats, mugs, and more.
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All proceeds from the merchandise shop go back into supporting the podcast, so if you're looking for a way to show your support and get some cool swag at the same time, be sure to check out our merchandise shop.
00:45:22.670 --> 00:45:26.829
And finally, I want to thank you for listening to Forward into the Past.
00:45:27.210 --> 00:45:31.559
I love sharing these stories from the past with you, and I'm so grateful for your support.
00:45:32.260 --> 00:45:38.510
If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me by using the voicemail option on the website.
00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:41.320
I always love hearing from our listeners.
00:45:42.090 --> 00:45:43.539
That's it for this week, folks.
00:45:43.820 --> 00:45:46.389
Until next time, thanks for listening.
00:45:46.750 --> 00:45:51.059
Keep sharing the stories and be a good human.
00:45:52.019 --> 00:45:53.130
Bye for now.
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