A Christmas Carol Full Text: Stave 3 Page 9 - Shmoop Columbus Day is celebrated, on October 12 in many states and cities. And Martha warnt as late last Christmas Day by half-an-hour!. But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment, and passed the bottle joyously. Already a member? I am sorry for him; I couldnt be angry with him if I tried. For his pretending not to know her; his pretending that it was necessary to touch her head-dress, and further to assure himself of her identity by pressing a certain ring upon her finger, and a certain chain about her neck; was vile, monstrous! great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence, ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled, compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer, pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top, at Bob Cratchits elbow stood the family display of glass. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 162. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. Oh, Man! Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are! said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal. A merry Christmas and a happy new year! Christmas Day., It should be Christmas Day, I am sure, said she, on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a childrens Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey. Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Here is a new game, said Scrooge. "Scrooge was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts and hopes and joys long long forgotten." Triplets - to show Scrooge once had dreams and thoughts and hopes like everyone else. I know what it is!. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 31. said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. You know he is, Robert! oh the Grocers! Are there no workhouses?. Scrooge even sends the Cratchit family a Christmas turkey. To a poor one most., Spirit? said Scrooge, after a moments thought, I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these peoples opportunities of innocent enjoyment., You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day[6], often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all, said Scrooge. Deeply moved by the love and warmth in the home of his clerk, Scrooge also notices that Bob's voice "was tremulous" when he tells the family about Tiny Tim's visit to the church where he tells his father that he hopes others see him so that they will remember that it was Christ who made beggars walk and blind men see. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust. But they know me. Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye!, No, no! Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay and light of heart, that he would have pledged the unconscious company in return, and thanked them in an inaudible speech, if the Ghost had given him time. The pudding was out of the copper. Scrooge was the ogre of the family. Hurrah! However, his offences carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him., Im sure he is very rich, Fred, hinted Scrooges niece. The narrator calls Dickens an Ogre of the Cratchit Family. How does Are there no workhouses?. Long life to him! Explanatory Notes to Juno and the Paycock, 151. A decorated cake made for a Twelfth Night (January 5, the eve of Epiphany) celebration. 'I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,' said the Spirit. By this time it was getting dark, and snowing pretty heavily; and as Scrooge and the Spirit went along the streets, the brightness of the roaring fires in kitchens, parlours, and all sorts of rooms, was wonderful. That was the cloth. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow., My dear, was Bobs mild answer, Christmas Day., Ill drink his health for your sake and the Days, said Mrs Cratchit, not for his. Do go on, Fred, said Scrooges niece, clapping her hands. Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. Spirit, said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, tell me if Tiny Tim will live., Dickens illustrates powerfully how allowing aperson to witness a scene can exert a powerful influence on a one's heart. Now, when Scrooge sees the Crachits in their own home, they start to become real people to him. Im very glad to hear it, said Scrooges nephew, because I havent great faith in these young housekeepers. A Christmas Carol: Stave 3 - English Literature: Victorians and Moderns Whats the consequence? It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. Heres Martha, mother! cried the two young Cratchits. All sorts of horrors were supposed. He is such a ridiculous fellow!. Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a childrens Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey. No doubt she told him her opinion of it, when, another blind-man being in office, they were so very confidential together, behind the curtains. The Daughters of the Late Colonel: X, 185. Explain Ignorance and Want, who appear in stave 3 of A Christmas Carol. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die., No, no, said Scrooge. I am afraid I have not. He dont make himself comfortable with it. They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbrokers. God love it, so it was! Here is a glass of mulled wine ready to our hand at the moment; and I say, Uncle Scrooge! , A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he is! said Scrooges nephew. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooges time, or Marleys, or for many and many a winter season gone. When two men approach Scrooge about donating to charity, he asks them whether there are prisons and workhouses for the poor. Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means prepared for nothing; and, consequently, when the Bell struck One, and no shape appeared, he was taken with a violent fit of trembling. Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are. said Mrs Cratchit, kissing her a dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal. It does not matter to them that their meal is small, that the pudding smells like laundry, or that they dont have enough punch cups. Himself, always. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The Daughters of the Late Colonel: V, 180. If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), on purpose, he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding, and would instantly have sidled off in the direction of the plump sister. The Song of the Shirt: Mrs Biddell and an early victory in the Victorian court of public opinion. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. It was not alone that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended scents of tea and coffee were so grateful to the nose, or even that the raisins were so plentiful and rare, the almonds so extremely white, the sticks of cinnamon so long and straight, the other spices so delicious, the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious. ', When Scrooge protests against this future, the Spirit mocks him by retorting with Scrooge's cruel remark about the need for the poor to die, anyway, as they will "decrease the surplus population." Bob Cratchit told them how he had a situation in his eye for Master Peter, which would bring in, if obtained, full five-and-sixpence weekly. Ha, ha, ha!. His wealth is of no use to him. Scrooge now has "an interest he had never felt before.". Ebenezer Scrooge - Wikipedia ", Scrooge recognises the urgent need to help the poor and he realises that his own words were cruel, its capacious breastits genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air, The Spirit represents generosity, abundance and joy much like Fezziwig, "Tonight if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it. He also tells the men that the men who wish to die should do it and "decrease the population." The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time-of-day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by observing that they are good for anything from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter; between which opposite extremes, no doubt, there lies a tolerably wide and comprehensive range of subjects. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didnt care twopence for it. Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchits elbow stood the family display of glass. The mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party, which was not dispelled for full five minutes. Great heaps of sea-weed clung to its base, and storm-birdsborn of the wind one might suppose, as sea-weed of the waterrose and fell about it, like the waves they skimmed. Id give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope hed have a good appetite for it. The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxeds Church, 11. Have you had many brothers, Spirit?. And I no more believe Topper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in his boots. He obeyed. There was first a game at blind-mans buff. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! Suppose it should not be done enough! He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live! cried Scrooges nephew. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 119. Bobs voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty. Powerful metaphor, children should be innocent but poverty had ruined them, "Have they no refuge or resource?" Spirit, said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, tell me if Tiny Tim will live., I see a vacant seat, replied the Ghost, in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they laughed at, so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment, and passed the bottle joyously. Study Questions, Activities, and Resources, 213. Accessed 1 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. This girl is Want. Deny it! cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. They were a boy and girl. It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. Is it a foot or a claw?, It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it, was the Spirits sorrowful reply. "Spirit," said Scrooge submissively, "conduct me where you will. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. He knows and cares nothing about Cratchit's life and family. There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. The abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit is a kind but very poor man with a large family and a very sick son, Tim. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts content. In his pamphlet, Sunday Under Three Heads, Dickens opposed attempts to pass a Sunday Observance Bill, which would have limited peoples right to enjoy leisure activities and to buy bread on Sundays. In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plentys horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door. Dickens says of Scrooge: ''To Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. The moment Scrooges hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him by his name, and bade him enter. But they didnt devote the whole evening to music. Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage. It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while listening to the moaning of the wind, and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss, whose depths were secrets as profound as Death: it was a great surprise to Scrooge, while thus engaged, to hear a hearty laugh. The Importance of Being Earnest: Act III, 63. He obeyed. It ends to-night., To-night at midnight. God bless us!. Blessings on it, how the Ghost exulted! The Daughters of the Late Colonel: XI, 186. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, "Secret, And Self-contained, And Solitary As An Oyster", https://www.enotes.com/topics/christmas-carol. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die., No, no, said Scrooge. The time is drawing near.. Bakers were forbidden to bake bread on Sundays and holidays, but for a small fee they allowed people to bring meals to be cooked in their bakery ovens. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that peoples mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squat and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. Scrooges niece was not one of the blind-mans buff party, but was made comfortable with a large chair and a footstool, in a snug corner, where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her. If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooges nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his hearts content. A place where Miners live, who labour in the bowels of the earth, returned the Spirit. Id give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope hed have a good appetite for it., My dear, said Bob, the children! Latest answer posted July 29, 2019 at 8:57:00 PM. I wish I had him here. With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face; a ripe little mouth, that seemed made to be kissedas no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that melted into one another when she laughed; and the sunniest pair of eyes you ever saw in any little creatures head. Forgive me if I am wrong. Heres Martha, mother! said a girl, appearing as she spoke. \underline{\qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad}\\ \underline{\qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad} It is only afterwards that the general cheer resumed. are they yours? Scrooge could say no more. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah! 7. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it.. I am the Ghost of Christmas Present, said the Spirit. say he will be spared., If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race, returned the Ghost, will find him here. If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.. Blessings on it, how the Ghost exulted! He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been; and though the Spirits eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them. Also how she had seen a countess and a lord some days before, and how the lord was much about as tall as Peter; at which Peter pulled up his collars so high that you couldnt have seen his head if you had been there. Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. and know me better, man!. Suppose it should not be done enough! "A tremendous family to provide for!" muttered Scrooge. He wouldnt catch anybody else. And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. Alight shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced towards it. Bring wintertime, he is forced to try and stay warm with thick clothes and heat himself by the flame of a candle. But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment. A glee is a song sung by three or more; a catch is a round, a song in which two or more voices sing the same melody but with each voice beginning at different times, as in Row, Row, Row Your Boat.. Down in the west the setting sun had left a streak of fiery red, which glared upon the desolation for an instant, like a sullen eye, and frowning lower, lower, lower yet, was lost in the thick gloom of darkest night, while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour, a ripe little mouth, that seemed made to be kissed, I am sorry for him; I couldnt be angry with him if I tried, for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself, Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. It was the first of their proceedings which had no heartiness. Here Scrooge sees how despite the family's poverty, they enjoy celebrating Christmas as best they can with joy and love for one another. He hasnt the satisfaction of thinkingha, ha, ha!that he is ever going to benefit us with it.. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family, said Scrooge. Altogether she was what you would have called provoking, you know; but satisfactory, too. What do you say, Topper?. But, finding that he turned uncomfortably cold when he began to wonder which of his curtains this new spectre would draw back, he put them every one aside with his own hands, and lying down again, established a sharp look-out all round the bed. This idea taking full possession of his mind, he got up softly and shuffled in his slippers to the door. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour went by, yet nothing came. Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time-of-day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by observing that they are good for anything from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter; between which opposite extremes, no doubt, there lies a tolerably wide and comprehensive range of subjects. And their assembled friends being not a bit behindhand, roared out lustily. I wish I had him here. It was a remarkable quality of the Ghost (which Scrooge had observed at the bakers), that notwithstanding his gigantic size, he could accommodate himself to any place with ease; and that he stood beneath a low roof quite as gracefully and like a supernatural creature, as it was possible he could have done in any lofty hall. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. Im very glad to hear it, said Scrooges nephew, because I havent great faith in these young housekeepers. Charles Dickens speech to Metropolitan Sanitary Association. More than eighteen hundred, said the Ghost. Discover more quotations from A Christmas Carol. Come in! exclaimed the Ghost. He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure, said Fred, and it would be ungrateful not to drink his health. A merry Christmas and a happy new year!hell be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!. Perhaps, the Almighty may decide Scrooge to be "surplus," less worthy to live than "millions like this poor child. They are generous and loving, happy despite their poverty. The images of isolation from his family eventually disintegrate and form a new image of love and unity. A Christmas Carol Stave 1 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. An old, old man and woman, with their children and their childrens children, and another generation beyond that, all decked out gaily in their holiday attire. Log in here. In half a minute Mrs Cratchit enteredflushed, but smiling proudlywith the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? He dont do any good with it. Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner, interrupted Scrooges niece. A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced towards it. eNotes Editorial, 20 Feb. 2021, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-is-scrooge-affected-by-seeing-the-cratchits-71891. Passing through the wall of mud and stone, they found a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. There was first a game at blind-mans buff. Mrs. Cratchit calls Mr. Scrooge an "odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man," and if Bob hadn't reminded her that it was Christmas Day and to calm herself in front of the children, she would never. He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the especial purpose of holding a conference with the second messenger despatched to him through Jacob Marleys intervention. Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol - BBC Bitesize There might have been twenty people there, young and old, but they all played, and so did Scrooge; for wholly forgetting in the interest he had in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their ears, he sometimes came out with his guess quite loud, and very often guessed quite right, too; for the sharpest needle, best Whitechapel, warranted not to cut in the eye, was not sharper than Scrooge; blunt as he took it in his head to be. You know he is, Robert! God bless us!. To any kindly given. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in miserys every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts. The poulterers shops were still half open, and the fruiterers were radiant in their glory. Christmas Carol figurative language Flashcards | Quizlet A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, pages 83-84 He wouldnt take it from me, but may he have it, nevertheless. His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to his stool before the fire; and while Bob, turning up his cuffsas if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabbycompounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer; Master Peter, and the two ubiquitous young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with which they soon returned in high procession. Without venturing for Scrooge quite as hardily as this, I dont mind calling on you to believe that he was ready for a good broad field of strange appearances, and that nothing between a baby and rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.
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