A Christmas Carol: Staves IV & V - The End of It

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Hi friends, and welcome to the final episode of Forward into the Past for the year.

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I'm JC Ridea, your host and narrator, and today, we're just going to jump right into the final story for the year, Charles Dickens Immortal, A Christmas Carol, Staves 4 and 5, with no history lesson, unfortunately.

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I'm combining both staves to save some time.

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Stave 4, The Last of the Spirits.

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The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached.

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When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee, for in the very air, Through which this spirit moved, it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.

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It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand.

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But for this, it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness, by which it was surrounded.

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He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread.

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He knew no more for the spirit neither spoke nor moved.

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I am in the presence of The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come said Scrooge.

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The spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.

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You are about to show me the shadows of things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us.

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Scrooge pursued.

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Is that so, spirit?

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The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the spirit had inclined its head.

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That was the only answer he received.

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Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found That he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it.

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The spirit paused a moment as observing his condition and giving him time to recover.

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But Scrooge was all the worse for this.

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It thrilled him with a vague, uncertain horror to know that behind the dusky shroud there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand, and one great heap of black.

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Ghost of the future, he exclaimed, I fear you more than any spectre I have seen.

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But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.

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Will you not speak to me?

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It gave him no reply.

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The hand was pointed straight before them.

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Lead on, said Scrooge.

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Lead on.

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The night is waning fast and it is precious time to me, I know.

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Lead on, spirit.

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The phantom moved away as it had come towards him.

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Scrooge followed in the shadow of its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and carried him along.

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They scarcely seemed to enter the city, for the city rather seemed to spring up about them and encompass them of its own act.

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But there they were, in the heart of it, on exchange amongst the merchants, who hurried up and down, and chinked the money in their pockets, and conversed in groups, and looked at their watches, and trifled thoughtfully with their great gold seals, and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them often.

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The spirit stopped beside one little knot of businessmen.

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Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk.

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No, said a great fat man with a monstrous chin.

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I don't know much about it, either way.

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I only know he's dead.

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When did he die?

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inquired another.

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Oh, last night, I believe.

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Why, what was the matter with him?

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asked a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of a very large snuff box.

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I thought he'd never die.

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Oh, God knows! said the first, with a yawn.

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What has he done with his money?

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asked a red faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose that shook like the gills of a turkey cock.

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Oh, I haven't heard, said the man with the large chin yawning again.

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Left it to its company perhaps, he hasn't left it to me.

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That's all I know.

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This pleasantry was received with a general laugh.

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It's likely to be a very cheap funeral.

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Said the same speaker, for Upon my life, I don't know of anybody to go to it.

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Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?

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I don't mind going.

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If a lunch is provided, observed the gentleman with the excrescence on his nose.

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But I must be fed, if I make one.

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Another laugh.

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Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all, said the first speaker,'for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch.

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But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will.

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When I come to think of it, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend, for we used to stop and speak wherever we met.

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Bye bye! Speakers and listeners strolled away, mixed with other groups.

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Scrooge knew the men and looked towards the spirit for an explanation.

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The phantom glided on into a street, its finger pointed to two persons meeting.

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Scrooge listened again, thinking that the explanation might lie here.

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He knew these men also perfectly.

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They were men of business, very wealthy, and of great importance.

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He had always made a point of standing well in their esteem.

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In a business point of view, that is.

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Strictly in a business point of view.

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How are you, said one.

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Ah, how are you, returned the other.

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Well, said the first.

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Old Scratch has got his own at last, eh?

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Mm, so I am told, returned the second.

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Mm, cold, isn't it?

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Seasonable for Christmas time, yes.

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You're not a skater, I suppose.

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No, no, something else to think of.

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Good morning.

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Not another word.

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That was their meeting, their conversation, and their parting.

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Scrooge was, at first, inclined to be surprised that the spirit should attach importance to conversations apparently so trivial, but, feeling assured that they must have some hidden purpose, He set himself to consider what it was likely to be.

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They could scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost's province was the future.

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Nor could he think of anyone immediately connected with himself to whom he could apply them.

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But nothing doubting that to whomsoever they applied, they had some latent moral for his own improvement.

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He resolved to treasure up every word he heard, and everything he saw, and especially, to observe the shadow of himself when it appeared.

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For he had an expectation that the conduct of his future self would give him the clue he missed, and would render the solution of these riddles easy.

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He looked about in that very place for his own image, but another man stood in his accustomed corner, and, though the clock pointed to his usual time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of himself among the multitudes that poured in through the porch.

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It gave him little surprise, however, for he had been revolving in his mind a change of life.

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And thought, and hoped, he saw his newborn resolutions carried out in this.

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Quiet and dark, beside him stood the phantom, with its outstretched hand.

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When he roused himself from his thoughtful quest, he fancied from the turn of the hand, and its situation in reference to himself, that the unseen eyes were looking at him keenly.

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It made him shudder and feel very cold.

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They left the busy scene, and went into an obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognized its situation, and its bad repute.

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The ways were foul and narrow, the shops and houses wretched, the people half naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly.

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Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offenses of smell and dirt and life upon the straggling streets, and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery.

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Far in this den of infamous resort, there was a low browed beadling shop, below a penthouse roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal were bought.

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Upon the floor within were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds.

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Secrets that few would like to scrutinize were bred and hidden in the mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and sepulchers of bones, Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal stove Made of old bricks, was a grey haired rascal, Nearly seventy years of age, Who had screened himself from the cold air without, By a frowzy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, Hung upon a line and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement.

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Scrooge and the Phantom came into the presence of this man just as a woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the shop.

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But, she had scarcely entered when another woman, similarly laden, came in too, And she was closely followed by a man in faded black, who was no less startled by the sight of them than they had been upon the recognition of each other.

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After a short period of blank astonishment, in which the old man with the pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a laugh.

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Ha! Let the charwoman alone to be the first, cried she who had entered first, let the laundress alone to be the second, and let the undertaker's man alone to be the third.

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Look here, old Joe, here's a chance.

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If we haven't all three met here without meaning it.

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You couldn't have met in a better place, said old Joe, removing his pipe from his mouth.

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Come into the parlor.

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You were made free of it long ago, you know, and the other two ain't strangers.

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Stop until I shut the door of the shop.

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Ah, how it squeaks! There ain't such a rusty bit of metal in the place as its own hinges, I believe, and I'm sure there's no such old bones here as mine.

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Ha ha! We're all suitable to our calling.

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We're well matched.

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Ah, come into the parlor.

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Come on into the parlor.

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The parlor was the space behind the screen of rags.

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The old man raked the fire together with an old stair rod, and having trimmed his smoky lamp, for it was night, with the stem of his pipe, Put it in his mouth again.

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While he did this, the woman, who had already spoken, threw her bundle on the floor and sat down in a flaunting manner on a stool, crossing her elbows on her knees and looking with a bold defiance at the other two.

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What odds, then?

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What odds, Mrs.

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Dilber?

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said the woman.

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Every person has a right to take care of themselves.

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He always did.

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'at's true indeed, said the laundress.

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No man more so.

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Why, then, don't stand staring as if you was afraid, woman.

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Who's the wiser?

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We're not going to pick holes in each other's coats, I suppose.

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No, indeed, said Mrs.

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Dilber, and the man together.

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We should hope not.

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Very well, then, cried the woman.

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That's enough.

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Who's the worse for the loss of a few things like these?

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Not a dead man, I suppose.

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No, indeed, said Mrs.

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Dilber, laughing.

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If he wanted to keep'em after he was dead, wicked old screw, pursued the woman, why wasn't he more natural in his lifetime?

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If he had been, he'd have had someone to look after him when he was struck with death, instead of lying, gasping out his last there, alone by himself.

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It's the truest word that was ever spoke, said Mrs.

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Dilber.

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It's a judgment on him.

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I wish it was a little heavier judgment, replied the woman.

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And it should have been, you may depend on it, if I could have laid my hands on anything else.

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Open that bundle Old Joe, and let me know the value of it.

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Speak out plain.

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I'm not afraid to be the first, nor afraid for them to see it.

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We know pretty well that we were helping ourselves before we met here, I believe.

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It's no sin.

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Open the bundle, Joe.

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But the gallantry of her friends would not allow of this, And the man in faded black, mounting the breach first, produced his plunder.

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It was not extensive.

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A seal or two, a pencil case, a pair of sleeve buttons, and a brooch of no great value were all.

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They were severally examined and appraised by Old Joe, Who chalked the sums he was disposed to give for each, upon the wall, and added them up into a total, when he found there was nothing more to come.

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That's your account, said Joe, And I wouldn't give another sixpence if I was to be boiled for not doing it.

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All right, who's next?

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Mrs.

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Dilber was next.

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Sheets and towels, a little wearing apparel, two old fashioned silver teaspoons, a pair of sugar tongs, and a few boots.

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Her account was stated on the wall in the same manner.

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I always give too much to ladies.

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It's a weakness of mine, and that's the way I ruin myself, said old Joe.

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That's your account.

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If you ask me for another penny, and made it an open question, I'd repent on being so liberal, and knock off half a crown.

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And now undo my bundle, Joe, said the first woman.

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Joe went down on his knees for the greater convenience of opening it, and having unfastened a great many knots, dragged out a large and heavy roll of some dark stuff.

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What do you call this?

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said Joe.

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'Bed curtains! Ha! returned the woman, laughing and leaning forward on her crossed arms.

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'Bed curtains!' You don't mean to say you took'em down rings and all with him lying there?

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said Joe.

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Yes, I do, replied the woman.

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'Why not?

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Ha! You were born to make your fortune, and you'll certainly do it, said Joe.

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Well, I certainly shan't hold my hand when I can get anything in it by reaching out.

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For the sake of such a man as he was, I promise you, Joe.

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Returned the woman coolly.

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'Up.

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Don't drop oil upon the blankets now.

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His blankets?

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asked Joe.

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Whose else's do you think?

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replied the woman.

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'He isn't likely to take cold without them, I dare say.

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I hope he didn't die of anything catching, eh?

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said old Joe, stopping in his work and looking up.

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'Don't you be afraid of that, returned the woman.

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I ain't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about him for such things if he did.

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You may look through that shirt till your eyes ache, but you won't find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place.

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It's a best he had, and a fine one, too.

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Ah, they'd have wasted it if it hadn't been for me.

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All right, what do you call wasting of it?

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asked old Joe.

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Putting it on him to be buried, for sure.

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replied the woman with a laugh.

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Someone was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again.

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If Calico ain't good enough for such a purpose, it ain't good enough for anything.

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It's quite as becoming to the body.

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He can't look uglier than he did in that one.

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Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror.

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As they sat grouped about their spoil In the scanty light afforded by the old man's lamp, he viewed them with a detestation and disgust, which could hardly have been greater, though they had been obscene demons marketing the corpse itself.

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Ha ha! laughed the same woman when old Joe, producing a flannel bag with money in it, told out their several gains upon their ground.

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This is the end of it, you see.

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He frightened everyone away from him when he was alive to profit us when he was dead.

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Ha ha ha! Spirit, said Scrooge, shuddering from head to foot,'I see, I see.

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The case of this unhappy man might be my own.

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My life tends that way now.

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Merciful Heaven, what is this?

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He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed, and now he almost touched a bed, a bare un curtained bed, on which, beneath a ragged sheet, there lay a something covered up, which, though it was dumb, announced itself in awful language.

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The room was very dark, too dark to be observed with any accuracy, though Scrooge glanced round it in obedience to a secret impulse, anxious to know what kind of a room it was.

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A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell straight upon the bed, and on it, plundered and bereft, unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of this man.

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Scrooge glanced towards the phantom.

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It's steady hand was pointed to the head.

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The cover was so carelessly adjusted that the slightest raising of it, the motion of a finger upon Scrooge's part, would have disclosed the face.

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He thought of it, felt how easy it would be to do so, and longed to do it.

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But had no more power to withdraw the veil than to dismiss the spectre at his side.

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O cold, cold, rigid, dreadful death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command, for this is thy dominion, but of the loved, revered, and honored head thou canst not turn one hair to thy dread purpose, or make One feature odious, it is not that the hand is heavy, and will fall down when released.

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It is not that the heart and pulse are still, but that the hand was open, generous, and true, the heart brave, warm, and tender, and the pulse a man's.

00:18:04.446 --> 00:18:11.747
Strike, Shadow, strike, and see his good deeds springing from the wound to sow the world with life immortal.

00:18:12.497 --> 00:18:18.027
No voice pronounced these words in Scrooge's ears, and yet he heard them when he looked upon the bed.

00:18:18.666 --> 00:18:23.507
He thought, if this man could be raised up now, what would be his foremost thoughts?

00:18:24.186 --> 00:18:30.817
Avarice, hard dealing, griping cares, They have brought him to a rich end, truly.

00:18:31.777 --> 00:18:44.487
He lay in the dark, empty house, With not a man, a woman, or a child, To say that he was kind to me, in this or that, And for the memory of one kind word, I will be kind to him.

00:18:45.368 --> 00:18:51.239
A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats Beneath the hearthstone.

00:18:52.038 --> 00:18:59.111
What they wanted in the room of death, and why they were so restless and disturbed, Scrooge did not dare to think.

00:18:59.861 --> 00:19:03.280
Spirit, he said, this is a fearful place.

00:19:03.921 --> 00:19:06.330
In leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson.

00:19:06.411 --> 00:19:07.000
Trust me.

00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:08.201
Let us go.

00:19:08.951 --> 00:19:12.191
Still, the ghost pointed with an unmoved finger to the head.

00:19:13.096 --> 00:19:20.026
I understand you, Scrooge returned, and I would do it if I could, but I have not the power, Spirit.

00:19:20.026 --> 00:19:21.655
I have not the power.

00:19:22.405 --> 00:19:24.125
Again it seemed to look upon him.

00:19:24.875 --> 00:19:33.435
If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man's death, said Scrooge, quite agonized, show that person to me, Spirit.

00:19:33.586 --> 00:19:34.715
I beseech you.

00:19:35.465 --> 00:19:45.096
The phantom spread its dark robe before him for a moment, like a wing, and, withdrawing it, Revealed a room by daylight, where a mother and her children were.

00:19:45.846 --> 00:19:48.766
She was expecting someone, and with anxious eagerness.

00:19:48.826 --> 00:20:01.006
For she walked up and down the room, started at every sound, looked out from the window, glanced at the clock, Tried, but in vain, to work with her needle, And could hardly bear the voices of her children in their play.

00:20:02.211 --> 00:20:05.161
At length, the long expected knock was heard.

00:20:05.820 --> 00:20:23.240
She hurried to the door and met her husband, a man whose face was careworn and depressed though he was young, there was a remarkable expression in it now, a kind of serious delight of which he felt ashamed, and which he struggled to repress.

00:20:23.990 --> 00:20:36.691
He sat down to the dinner that had been hoarding for him by the fire, and when she asked him faintly what news, which was not until after a long silence, he appeared embarrassed how to answer.

00:20:37.441 --> 00:20:40.673
Is it good, she said, or, or bad?

00:20:41.203 --> 00:20:41.784
To help him.

00:20:42.534 --> 00:20:44.223
Bad, he answered.

00:20:44.973 --> 00:20:47.163
We, we are quite ruined.

00:20:48.834 --> 00:20:52.624
No, no there, there is hope yet, Caroline.

00:20:53.374 --> 00:20:54.513
If he relents.

00:20:54.884 --> 00:20:56.513
She said, amazed, There is?

00:20:57.054 --> 00:21:00.044
Nothing is past hope, if such a miracle has happened.

00:21:00.794 --> 00:21:03.124
He is past relenting, said her husband.

00:21:03.983 --> 00:21:04.693
He is dead.

00:21:05.443 --> 00:21:09.084
She was a mild and patient creature, if her face spoke truth.

00:21:09.644 --> 00:21:15.423
But she was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so with clasped hands.

00:21:15.933 --> 00:21:21.824
She prayed forgiveness the next moment, and was sorry, but the first was the emotion of her heart.

00:21:22.574 --> 00:21:34.223
What the half drunken woman whom I told you of last night said to me when I tried to see him and obtain a week's delay, and what I thought was a mere excuse to avoid me, turns out to have been quite true.

00:21:34.834 --> 00:21:38.374
He was not only very ill, but dying then.

00:21:39.124 --> 00:21:41.534
To whom will our debt be transferred?

00:21:42.361 --> 00:21:43.040
I don't know.

00:21:43.211 --> 00:21:54.056
Before that time, we shall be ready with the money, and even though we were not, It would be a bad fortune indeed to find so merciless a creditor in his successor.

00:21:54.185 --> 00:21:57.865
We may sleep tonight with light hearts, Caroline.

00:21:58.615 --> 00:21:58.965
Yes.

00:21:59.313 --> 00:22:02.202
Soften it as they would, their hearts were lighter.

00:22:02.942 --> 00:22:08.673
The children's faces, hushed and clustered round to hear what they so little understood, were brighter.

00:22:09.373 --> 00:22:12.313
And it was a happier house for this man's death.

00:22:13.012 --> 00:22:19.843
The only emotion that the ghost would show him caused by the event was one of pleasure.

00:22:22.423 --> 00:22:33.428
Uh, let me see some tenderness connected with the death, said Scrooge, or that dark chamber spirit which we left just now will be forever present to me.

00:22:34.958 --> 00:22:45.807
The ghost conducted him through several streets familiar to his feet, and as they went along Scrooge looked here and there to find himself, but nowhere was he to be seen.

00:22:45.807 --> 00:22:48.403
They entered poor Bob Cratchit's house.

00:22:49.613 --> 00:22:55.692
The dwelling he had visited before, and found the mother and the children seated round the fire.

00:22:57.752 --> 00:22:58.323
Quiet.

00:22:59.462 --> 00:23:00.343
Very quiet.

00:23:01.262 --> 00:23:10.442
The noisy little cratchits were as still as statues in one corner, and sat looking up at Peter, who had a book before him.

00:23:11.522 --> 00:23:17.252
The mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing, but surely they were very quiet.

00:23:18.002 --> 00:23:21.583
And he took a child and set him in the midst of them.

00:23:22.333 --> 00:23:23.863
Where had Scrooge heard those words?

00:23:24.232 --> 00:23:25.252
He had not dreamed them.

00:23:26.153 --> 00:23:30.012
The boy must have read them out as he and the spirit crossed the threshold.

00:23:30.682 --> 00:23:31.982
Why did he not go on?

00:23:32.232 --> 00:23:36.833
The mother laid her work upon the table and put her hands up to her face.

00:23:37.999 --> 00:23:40.855
The color hurts my eyes, she said.

00:23:41.605 --> 00:23:42.246
The color?

00:23:43.506 --> 00:23:46.215
Ah, poor tiny Tim.

00:23:46.965 --> 00:23:48.046
They're, they're better now.

00:23:48.046 --> 00:23:50.296
Again, said Cratchit's wife.

00:23:51.131 --> 00:23:53.205
It, it makes them weak by candlelight.

00:23:53.385 --> 00:23:56.115
And I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father when he comes home.

00:23:56.115 --> 00:23:56.986
Not for the world.

00:23:57.615 --> 00:23:59.026
It must be near his time.

00:24:00.346 --> 00:24:01.276
Past it, rather.

00:24:01.756 --> 00:24:09.326
Peter answered, shutting up his book, but I think he has walked a little slower than he used these few last evening's, mother.

00:24:10.076 --> 00:24:11.425
They were very quiet again.

00:24:12.401 --> 00:24:27.540
At last, she said, and in a steady, cheerful voice, that only faltered once, I have known him to walk with, I have known him to walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very fast indeed.

00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:31.340
And so have I, cried Peter, quite often.

00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.090
And so have I, exclaimed another.

00:24:35.141 --> 00:24:36.510
And so had all.

00:24:37.260 --> 00:24:39.550
But he was very light to carry.

00:24:39.871 --> 00:24:41.671
She resumed intent upon her work.

00:24:42.221 --> 00:24:46.330
And his father loved him so, that he was no trouble, no trouble at all.

00:24:47.421 --> 00:24:49.721
Oh, and there is your father at the door.

00:24:50.471 --> 00:24:51.921
She hurried out to meet him.

00:24:52.401 --> 00:24:56.570
And Bob, in his comforter, he had need of it, poor fellow, came in.

00:24:57.691 --> 00:25:02.881
His tea was ready for him on the hob, and they all tried who should help him to it the most.

00:25:03.631 --> 00:25:13.421
Then the two young Cratchits got upon his knees and laid each child a little cheek against his face, as if they said, Don't mind it, father.

00:25:14.030 --> 00:25:14.931
Don't be grieved.

00:25:15.681 --> 00:25:20.030
Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke pleasantly to all the family.

00:25:20.780 --> 00:25:25.050
He looked at the work upon the table, and praised the industry and speed of Mrs.

00:25:25.070 --> 00:25:26.141
Cratchit and the girls.

00:25:26.951 --> 00:25:29.631
They would be done long before Sunday, he said.

00:25:31.669 --> 00:25:33.159
You went today then, Robert?

00:25:33.909 --> 00:25:35.613
Yes, my dear, returned Bob.

00:25:36.442 --> 00:25:37.673
I wish you could have gone.

00:25:39.012 --> 00:25:42.853
It would have done you good to see how green a place it is.

00:25:43.603 --> 00:25:46.133
But you'll, you'll see it often.

00:25:47.663 --> 00:25:50.643
I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday.

00:25:50.643 --> 00:25:55.999
My, my little, little child! Cried Bob.

00:25:56.618 --> 00:26:04.638
My poor little child! He broke down all at once.

00:26:05.308 --> 00:26:06.189
He couldn't help it.

00:26:06.848 --> 00:26:11.568
If he could have helped it, he and his child would have been farther apart perhaps than they were.

00:26:12.318 --> 00:26:18.959
He left the room and went upstairs into the room above, which was lighted cheerfully and hung with Christmas.

00:26:19.788 --> 00:26:25.788
There was a chair set close beside the child, and there were signs of someone having been there lately.

00:26:27.169 --> 00:26:36.128
Poor Bob sat down in it, and when he had thought a little, and composed himself, kissed the sweet little face.

00:26:36.878 --> 00:26:41.848
He was reconciled to what had happened, and went down again, quite happy.

00:26:42.598 --> 00:26:46.628
They drew about the fire and talked, the girls and mother working still.

00:26:47.269 --> 00:26:50.298
Bob told them of the extraordinary kindness of Mr.

00:26:50.298 --> 00:27:03.999
Scrooge's nephew, whom he had scarcely seen but once, and who, Meeting him in the street that day, and seeing that he looked a little, uh, just a little down, you know, said Bob, inquired what had happened to distress him.

00:27:04.749 --> 00:27:09.818
On which, said Bob,'for he is the pleasantest spoken gentleman you ever heard.

00:27:10.249 --> 00:27:10.999
I told him.

00:27:12.128 --> 00:27:14.348
I am heartily sorry for it, Mr.

00:27:14.348 --> 00:27:18.179
Cratchit, he said,'and heartily sorry for your good wife.

00:27:18.989 --> 00:27:21.548
By the by, how he ever knew that, I don't know.

00:27:22.246 --> 00:27:23.006
Knew what, my dear?

00:27:24.385 --> 00:27:26.566
'Why, that you were a good wife.

00:27:26.833 --> 00:27:27.643
replied Bob.

00:27:28.893 --> 00:27:31.383
Oh, everybody knows that, said Peter.

00:27:32.633 --> 00:27:35.452
Yes, well observed, my boy, cried Bob.

00:27:35.583 --> 00:27:36.762
I hope they do.

00:27:37.732 --> 00:27:40.782
Heartily sorry, he said, for your good wife.

00:27:41.252 --> 00:27:46.762
If I can be of any service to you in any way, he says, giving me his card, that's where I live.

00:27:46.942 --> 00:27:47.952
Pray come to me.

00:27:48.732 --> 00:27:56.442
Now, it wasn't, cried Bob, for the sake of anything that he might be able to do for us, so much as for his kind way.

00:27:56.938 --> 00:27:59.107
That this was quite delightful.

00:27:59.887 --> 00:28:06.208
It really seemed as if he had known our tiny Tim and felt with us.

00:28:06.958 --> 00:28:09.768
I'm sure he's a good soul, said Mrs.

00:28:09.788 --> 00:28:10.208
Cratchit.

00:28:10.958 --> 00:28:16.538
You would be surer of it, my dear, returned Bob, if you saw and spoke to him.

00:28:17.417 --> 00:28:18.938
I shouldn't be at all surprised.

00:28:19.107 --> 00:28:23.567
Mark what I say, if he got Peter a better situation.

00:28:24.728 --> 00:28:27.557
Oh, only hear that, Peter, said Mrs.

00:28:27.557 --> 00:28:27.887
Cratchit.

00:28:28.637 --> 00:28:34.147
And then, cried one of the girls, Peter will be keeping company with someone and setting up for himself.

00:28:35.137 --> 00:28:37.907
Go on with you, retorted Peter, grinning.

00:28:38.657 --> 00:28:40.647
It's just as likely as not, said Bob.

00:28:40.948 --> 00:28:41.817
One of these days?

00:28:42.387 --> 00:28:44.228
Though there's plenty of time for that, my dear.

00:28:45.817 --> 00:28:54.968
However, and whenever we part from one another, I am sure we shall none of us forget poor Tiny Tim, shall we?

00:28:55.788 --> 00:28:59.107
Or this first parting that there was among us?

00:28:59.857 --> 00:29:01.938
Never, father, cried they all.

00:29:02.688 --> 00:29:19.288
And I know, said Bob, I know, my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was, although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it.

00:29:20.038 --> 00:29:22.867
No, never, father, they all cried again.

00:29:23.617 --> 00:29:26.698
I am very happy, cried Bob.

00:29:27.637 --> 00:29:29.587
I am so very happy.

00:29:30.337 --> 00:29:30.678
Mrs.

00:29:30.678 --> 00:29:31.667
Cratchit kissed him.

00:29:31.867 --> 00:29:33.008
His daughters kissed him.

00:29:33.018 --> 00:29:34.928
The two young Cratchits kissed him.

00:29:35.188 --> 00:29:37.488
And Peter and himself shook hands.

00:29:38.238 --> 00:29:43.137
Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God.

00:29:43.887 --> 00:29:49.498
Spirit, said Scrooge, something informs me that our parting moment is at hand.

00:29:50.097 --> 00:29:52.347
I know it, yet I know not how.

00:29:53.097 --> 00:29:57.417
Tell me what man that was, whom we saw lying dead.

00:29:58.167 --> 00:30:03.488
The ghost of Christmas yet to come conveyed him, as before, though at a different time, he thought.

00:30:03.958 --> 00:30:12.669
Indeed, there seemed to be no order in these latter visions, save that they were, in the future, into the resorts of businessmen, but showed him not himself.

00:30:13.409 --> 00:30:23.719
Indeed, the spirit did not stay for anything, but went straight on, as to the end, just now desired, until besought by Scrooge to tarry for just a moment.

00:30:24.469 --> 00:30:32.308
This court said Scrooge through which we hurry now is where my place of occupation is and has been for a length of time.

00:30:32.999 --> 00:30:34.169
I see the house.

00:30:34.469 --> 00:30:37.233
Let me behold what I shall be in days to come.

00:30:37.983 --> 00:30:39.034
The spirit stopped.

00:30:39.544 --> 00:30:41.493
The hand was pointed elsewhere.

00:30:42.243 --> 00:30:44.794
No, the house is yonder, Scrooge exclaimed.

00:30:44.794 --> 00:30:45.888
Why do you point away?

00:30:46.638 --> 00:30:49.878
The inexorable finger underwent no change.

00:30:50.868 --> 00:30:54.338
Scrooge hastened to the window of his office and looked in.

00:30:55.189 --> 00:30:57.818
It was an office still, but not his.

00:30:58.338 --> 00:31:02.578
The furniture was not the same, and the figure in the chair was not himself.

00:31:03.288 --> 00:31:06.028
The phantom pointed as before.

00:31:06.778 --> 00:31:14.558
He joined it once again, and, wondering why and whither they had gone, accompanied it until they reached an iron gate.

00:31:15.409 --> 00:31:20.199
He paused to look round before entering a churchyard.

00:31:21.249 --> 00:31:27.719
Here then, the wretched man, whose name he had now to learn, lay underneath the ground.

00:31:28.469 --> 00:31:42.199
It was a worthy place, walled in by houses, overrun by grass and weeds, the growth of vegetation's death, not life, choked up with too much burying, fat with repleted appetite, a worthy place.

00:31:43.848 --> 00:31:48.368
The spirit stood among the graves and pointed down to one.

00:31:49.689 --> 00:31:51.759
He advanced towards it, trembling.

00:31:52.689 --> 00:31:59.229
The phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape.

00:31:59.979 --> 00:32:06.588
Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, said Scrooge, answer me one question.

00:32:07.538 --> 00:32:10.878
Are these the shadows of the things that will be?

00:32:11.644 --> 00:32:15.334
Or are they the shadows of things that may be only?

00:32:16.084 --> 00:32:19.814
Still the ghost pointed down to the grave by which it stood.

00:32:21.084 --> 00:32:27.614
Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead, said Scrooge.

00:32:28.163 --> 00:32:31.834
But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.

00:32:32.493 --> 00:32:38.134
Say it, it is thus, with what you show me! The spirit was immovable as ever.

00:32:38.884 --> 00:32:51.854
Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went, and, following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.

00:32:52.604 --> 00:32:58.384
No, no, am I that man who lay upon that bed?

00:32:58.763 --> 00:33:00.183
he cried upon his knees.

00:33:01.044 --> 00:33:05.034
The finger pointed from the grave to him and back again.

00:33:05.864 --> 00:33:10.804
No, spirit, no, no, no! The finger still was there.

00:33:11.554 --> 00:33:21.943
Spirit! he cried, tight clutching at its robe,'Hear me! I am not the man I was, I will not be the man I must have been, but for this intercourse.

00:33:22.094 --> 00:33:24.513
Why show me this, if I am past all hope?

00:33:25.263 --> 00:33:27.403
For the first time the hand appeared to shake.

00:33:28.193 --> 00:33:33.104
'Oh, good spirit! he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it.

00:33:34.034 --> 00:33:43.034
Your nature intercedes for me and pities me, assure me that I yet may change the shadows you have shown me by an altered life.

00:33:44.653 --> 00:33:46.314
The kind hand trembled.

00:33:47.273 --> 00:33:51.884
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.

00:33:52.124 --> 00:33:55.144
I will live in the past, the present, and the future.

00:33:55.304 --> 00:33:57.733
The spirits of all three shall strive within me.

00:33:57.973 --> 00:34:01.054
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach me.

00:34:01.094 --> 00:34:06.263
Oh, tell me that I may sponge away the writing on this stone.

00:34:06.963 --> 00:34:09.873
In his agony, he caught the spectral hand.

00:34:10.244 --> 00:34:11.503
It sought to free itself.

00:34:11.534 --> 00:34:14.324
But he was strong in his entreaty and detained it.

00:34:14.534 --> 00:34:17.083
The spirit stronger yet repulsed him.

00:34:17.653 --> 00:34:21.014
Holding up his hands in a last prayer to save his fate reversed.

00:34:21.074 --> 00:34:24.643
He saw an alteration in the phantom's hood and dress.

00:34:25.289 --> 00:34:30.509
It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost.

00:34:32.259 --> 00:34:33.259
Stave five.

00:34:33.938 --> 00:34:34.789
The end of it.

00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:43.759
A bedpost, yes, and the bedpost was his own, the bed was his own, the room was his own.

00:34:44.208 --> 00:34:49.579
Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in.

00:34:50.278 --> 00:34:56.398
I will live in the past, the present, and the future, Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of the bed.

00:34:57.043 --> 00:34:59.773
The spirit of all three shall strive within me.

00:34:59.893 --> 00:35:03.983
Oh, Jacob Marley, Heaven, and the Christmas time, be praised for this.

00:35:04.193 --> 00:35:07.603
I say it upon my knees, old Jacob, on my knees.

00:35:08.304 --> 00:35:15.793
He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions that his broken voice could scarcely answer to his call.

00:35:15.914 --> 00:35:21.704
He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the spirit, and his face was wet with tears.

00:35:23.483 --> 00:35:28.414
They are not torn down, cried Scrooge, folding one of his bed curtains in his arms.

00:35:29.114 --> 00:35:31.094
They are not torn down rings and all.

00:35:31.213 --> 00:35:32.103
They are here.

00:35:33.213 --> 00:35:33.903
I am here.

00:35:34.193 --> 00:35:37.423
The shadows of the things that would have been may be dispelled.

00:35:37.583 --> 00:35:38.813
Oh, they will be.

00:35:39.284 --> 00:35:40.594
I know they will be.

00:35:41.293 --> 00:35:51.333
His hands were busy with his garments all this time, turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance.

00:35:51.333 --> 00:36:01.563
Ha ha ha, I, I don't know what to do, cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath, and making a perfect loon of himself with his stockings.

00:36:02.103 --> 00:36:23.623
I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am as giddy as a drunken man, a merry Christmas to everybody, a happy new year to all the world.

00:36:24.324 --> 00:36:29.114
He had frisked himself into the sitting room, and was now standing there, perfectly winded.

00:36:29.753 --> 00:36:36.034
'Oh, there's the saucepan that the gruel was in, cried Scrooge, starting off again and going round the fireplace.

00:36:36.134 --> 00:36:40.063
'Oh, there's the door by which the ghost of Jacob Marley entered.

00:36:40.423 --> 00:36:43.833
Oh, there's the corner where the ghost of Christmas present sat.

00:36:44.893 --> 00:36:47.773
There's the window where I saw the wandering spirits.

00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:49.478
It's all right.

00:36:49.478 --> 00:36:50.179
It's all true.

00:36:50.188 --> 00:36:51.579
It all happened.

00:36:52.278 --> 00:37:03.148
Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh, the father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.

00:37:05.789 --> 00:37:09.608
I don't know what day of the month it is, said Scrooge.

00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.699
I don't know how long I've been among the spirits.

00:37:13.023 --> 00:37:13.963
I don't know anything.

00:37:13.963 --> 00:37:15.974
Oh, I'm quite a baby.

00:37:16.954 --> 00:37:17.974
No, never mind.

00:37:18.014 --> 00:37:18.934
I don't care.

00:37:19.083 --> 00:37:20.523
I'd rather be a baby.

00:37:21.094 --> 00:37:21.403
Hello.

00:37:21.414 --> 00:37:21.583
Whoop.

00:37:22.114 --> 00:37:22.764
Hello there.

00:37:22.764 --> 00:37:31.083
He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing out the lustiest peals he had ever heard.

00:37:31.784 --> 00:37:33.414
Oh, glorious, glorious.

00:37:34.304 --> 00:37:37.634
Running to the window he opened it and put out his head.

00:37:38.329 --> 00:38:03.905
No fog, no mist, clear, bright, jovial, staring, cold, cold, piping for the blood to dance to, golden sunlight, heavenly sky, sweet, fresh air, merry bells, oh, glorious, glorious! You there! You, my boy! What's to day! cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.

00:38:04.606 --> 00:38:04.945
Eh?

00:38:05.606 --> 00:38:08.036
returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.

00:38:08.735 --> 00:38:10.505
What's to day, my fine fellow?

00:38:10.693 --> 00:38:11.382
said Scrooge.

00:38:11.913 --> 00:38:12.512
'Today?

00:38:12.992 --> 00:38:22.443
Replied the boy,'why, it's Christmas Day!'It's Christmas Day! It's Christmas Day! said Scrooge to himself.

00:38:22.452 --> 00:38:23.632
'I haven't missed it.

00:38:24.322 --> 00:38:26.362
The spirits have done it all in one night.

00:38:26.552 --> 00:38:28.532
Well, yes, they can do anything they like.

00:38:28.543 --> 00:38:29.233
Of course they can.

00:38:29.382 --> 00:38:30.023
Of course they can.

00:38:30.023 --> 00:38:34.278
H h hello, my fine fellow! Hello, returned the boy.

00:38:35.068 --> 00:38:38.938
Do you know the poulterers in the next street but one at the corner?

00:38:39.126 --> 00:38:40.096
Scrooge inquired.

00:38:40.826 --> 00:38:43.106
I should hope I did replied the lad.

00:38:44.335 --> 00:38:46.166
Intelligent boy said Scrooge.

00:38:46.556 --> 00:38:47.755
Remarkable boy.

00:38:48.266 --> 00:38:48.686
Yes.

00:38:48.746 --> 00:38:52.916
Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?

00:38:53.005 --> 00:38:55.585
Not the little prize Turkey, the the big one.

00:38:56.286 --> 00:38:56.646
What?

00:38:56.706 --> 00:38:59.005
The one as big as me Returned the boy.

00:38:59.396 --> 00:39:02.755
What a delightful boy, it's a pleasure to talk to him.

00:39:02.876 --> 00:39:03.115
Yeah.

00:39:03.115 --> 00:39:03.920
Yes, my buck.

00:39:04.621 --> 00:39:07.367
Yeah, it's hanging there now replied, the boy.

00:39:07.768 --> 00:39:08.277
Is it?

00:39:08.463 --> 00:39:09.213
Said Scrooge.

00:39:09.391 --> 00:39:10.951
Right! Go and buy it.

00:39:11.650 --> 00:39:13.628
Walker! Exclaimed the boy.

00:39:14.327 --> 00:39:14.898
No, no.

00:39:14.958 --> 00:39:16.157
I am in earnest.

00:39:16.217 --> 00:39:21.137
Go and buy it and tell him to bring it here, that I may give them the direction where to take it.

00:39:21.648 --> 00:39:23.867
Come back with the man and I'll give you a shilling.

00:39:24.318 --> 00:39:28.338
Come back with him in less than five minutes and I'll give you half a crown.

00:39:29.432 --> 00:39:31.452
The boy was off like a shot.

00:39:31.952 --> 00:39:37.322
He must have had a steady hand at a trigger, who could have got off a shot like that, half so fast.

00:39:38.023 --> 00:39:42.963
I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's, whispered Scrooge, rubbing his hands and splitting with a laugh.

00:39:43.802 --> 00:39:45.253
He shan't know who sends it.

00:39:45.742 --> 00:39:48.501
Why, it's twice the size of Tiny Tim.

00:39:49.202 --> 00:39:59.922
The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady one, but write it he did somehow, and went downstairs to open the street door, ready for the coming of the poulterer's man.

00:40:00.362 --> 00:40:04.291
As he stood there, waiting his arrival, the knocker caught his eye.

00:40:04.927 --> 00:40:11.186
Oh, I, I shall love it for as long as I live, cried Scrooge, patting it with its hand.

00:40:11.806 --> 00:40:13.726
I scarcely ever looked at it before.

00:40:13.876 --> 00:40:21.706
What an honest expression it has in its face! It's a wonderful knocker! Oh, oh, here's that turkey! Hello! Whoop! How are you, sir?

00:40:21.947 --> 00:40:25.237
Merry Christmas! It was indeed a turkey.

00:40:25.737 --> 00:40:28.106
He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird.

00:40:28.606 --> 00:40:32.447
He would have snapped'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing wax.

00:40:33.146 --> 00:40:37.556
Oh, why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden Town, said Scrooge.

00:40:37.856 --> 00:40:39.186
You must have a cab.

00:40:39.887 --> 00:40:59.117
The chuckle with which he said this, and the chuckle with which he paid for the turkey, and the chuckle with which he paid for the cab, and the chuckle with which he recompensed the boy, were only to be exceeded by the chuckle with which he sat down breathless in his chair again and chuckled till he cried.

00:41:00.137 --> 00:41:04.726
Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand continued to shake very much.

00:41:05.177 --> 00:41:09.447
And shaving requires attention, even when you don't dance while you're at it.

00:41:09.947 --> 00:41:17.376
But if he had cut the end of his nose off, he would have put a piece of sticking plaster over it, and have been quite satisfied.

00:41:18.197 --> 00:41:23.047
He dressed himself all in his best, and at last got out into the streets.

00:41:23.827 --> 00:41:35.166
The people were by this time pouring forth, as he had seen them with the ghost of Christmas present, and walking with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded everyone with a delighted smile.

00:41:35.836 --> 00:41:53.827
He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good humoured fellows said, Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you! And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.

00:41:54.327 --> 00:41:57.146
He had not gone far when coming on toward him.

00:41:57.297 --> 00:42:05.146
He beheld the portly gentleman who had walked into his counting house the day before and said Scrooge and Marley's, I believe.

00:42:05.646 --> 00:42:11.317
It sent a pang across his heart to think how this old gentleman would look upon him when they met.

00:42:11.777 --> 00:42:15.757
But he knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it.

00:42:16.456 --> 00:42:24.766
Oh, my dear sir, said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and taking the old gentleman by both hands, How do you do?

00:42:25.266 --> 00:42:26.746
I hope you succeeded yesterday.

00:42:26.757 --> 00:42:28.286
It was very kind of you.

00:42:28.726 --> 00:42:32.492
A Merry Christmas to you, sir! Scrooge?

00:42:33.193 --> 00:42:38.802
Yes, said Scrooge,'that is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you.

00:42:39.273 --> 00:42:51.742
Allow me to ask your pardon, sir, and will you have the goodness I Here, Scrooge whispered in his ear, Lord, bless me! cried the gentleman, as if his breath were taken away.

00:42:52.552 --> 00:42:53.583
'My dear Mr.

00:42:53.583 --> 00:42:55.092
Scrooge, are you serious?

00:42:55.184 --> 00:42:59.536
'If you please, sir, said Scrooge,'and not a farthing less.

00:42:59.847 --> 00:43:02.827
A great many back payments are included in it, I assure you.

00:43:03.516 --> 00:43:04.757
Will you do me that favour?

00:43:05.717 --> 00:43:11.606
'Oh, my dear sir, said the other, shaking hands with him,'I don't know what to say to such...

00:43:11.777 --> 00:43:15.097
Oh, no, don't say anything, please, retorted Scrooge.

00:43:15.467 --> 00:43:16.536
'Come and see me.

00:43:16.586 --> 00:43:17.786
Will you come and see me?

00:43:18.487 --> 00:43:23.047
I will, cried the old gentleman, and it was clear he meant to do it.

00:43:24.121 --> 00:43:25.702
Thank you, said Scrooge.

00:43:25.802 --> 00:43:27.851
I am much obliged to you.

00:43:28.092 --> 00:43:29.731
I thank you fifty times.

00:43:29.771 --> 00:43:30.402
Bless you.

00:43:31.101 --> 00:43:47.311
He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up into the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure.

00:43:48.112 --> 00:43:53.521
He had never dreamed that any walk, that any thing, could give him so much happiness.

00:43:54.452 --> 00:43:58.652
In the afternoon, he turned his steps towards his nephew's house.

00:43:59.782 --> 00:44:07.791
He passed the door a dozen times before he had the courage to go up and knock, but he made a dash and did it.

00:44:08.492 --> 00:44:11.251
Uh, is your master at home, my dear?

00:44:11.467 --> 00:44:12.637
said Scrooge to the girl.

00:44:12.878 --> 00:44:14.498
Nice girl, very nice.

00:44:15.597 --> 00:44:16.228
Yes, sir.

00:44:16.927 --> 00:44:18.217
Where is he, my love?

00:44:18.385 --> 00:44:19.085
said Scrooge.

00:44:19.784 --> 00:44:22.795
Oh, he's in the dining room, sir, along with his mistress.

00:44:23.204 --> 00:44:24.954
I'll show you upstairs, if you please.

00:44:25.735 --> 00:44:31.302
Oh, thank you, but he knows me, said Scrooge, with his hand already on the dining room lock.

00:44:31.731 --> 00:44:33.271
I'll go in here, my dear.

00:44:33.972 --> 00:44:38.411
He turned it gently and sidled his face in round the door.

00:44:39.206 --> 00:44:48.467
They were looking at the table, which was spread out in great array, for these young housekeepers are always nervous on such points, and like to see that everything is right.

00:44:49.166 --> 00:44:51.016
Fred, said Scrooge.

00:44:51.717 --> 00:45:02.856
Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started! Scrooge had forgotten, for the moment, about her sitting in the corner with the footstool, or he wouldn't have done it on any account.

00:45:03.556 --> 00:45:07.726
Why, why, bless my soul, cried Fred, who's that?

00:45:09.217 --> 00:45:11.496
It is I, your Uncle Scrooge.

00:45:12.336 --> 00:45:13.717
I have come to dinner.

00:45:14.306 --> 00:45:16.217
Will you let me in, Fred?

00:45:17.536 --> 00:45:18.396
Let him in?

00:45:19.416 --> 00:45:21.856
It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm off.

00:45:22.186 --> 00:45:24.317
He was at home in five minutes.

00:45:24.376 --> 00:45:25.947
Nothing could be heartier.

00:45:26.177 --> 00:45:28.027
His niece looked just the same.

00:45:28.597 --> 00:45:35.197
And so did Topper when he came, and so did the Plump Sister when she came, so did everyone when they came.

00:45:35.327 --> 00:45:41.646
A wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, wonderful happiness.

00:45:42.527 --> 00:45:48.166
But, he was early at the office next morning, oh yes, he was early there.

00:45:48.777 --> 00:45:56.686
If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming in late, oh, that was the thing he had his heart set upon.

00:45:57.686 --> 00:45:58.447
And he did it.

00:45:58.447 --> 00:45:59.306
Yes, he did.

00:46:00.146 --> 00:46:03.237
The clock struck nine and no Bob.

00:46:04.547 --> 00:46:05.496
A quarter passed.

00:46:06.197 --> 00:46:06.817
No Bob.

00:46:07.396 --> 00:46:12.266
He was a full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time.

00:46:12.967 --> 00:46:19.586
Scrooge sat with his door wide open that he might see him come into the tank.

00:46:20.286 --> 00:46:22.336
His hat was off before he opened the door.

00:46:22.476 --> 00:46:23.496
His comforter, too.

00:46:23.547 --> 00:46:29.737
He was on his stool in a jiffy, driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.

00:46:30.436 --> 00:46:31.126
Allo?

00:46:31.306 --> 00:46:35.836
growled Scrooge in his accustomed voice, or as near as he could feign it.

00:46:36.536 --> 00:46:39.856
What do you mean, sir, by coming here at this time of day?

00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:43.764
I am very sorry, sir.

00:46:44.125 --> 00:46:46.364
Said Bob, I am behind my time.

00:46:47.065 --> 00:46:49.034
You are, repeated Scrooge.

00:46:49.545 --> 00:46:52.355
Yes, I think you are.

00:46:53.315 --> 00:46:55.215
Step this way, sir, if you please.

00:46:55.914 --> 00:47:00.175
It, it's only once a year, sir, pleaded Bob, appearing from the tank.

00:47:00.675 --> 00:47:02.264
It shall not be repeated.

00:47:02.454 --> 00:47:04.965
I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.

00:47:06.054 --> 00:47:06.394
Oh.

00:47:07.434 --> 00:47:08.155
Oh.

00:47:08.905 --> 00:47:11.934
I'll tell you what, my friend, said Scrooge.

00:47:12.755 --> 00:47:35.364
'I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer, and therefore, he continued, leaping from his stool and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the tank again,'and therefore I am about to raise your salary! Bob trembled and got a little nearer to the ruler.

00:47:36.135 --> 00:47:43.105
He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it, holding him and calling to the people in the court for help, and a straight coat.

00:47:43.804 --> 00:47:51.175
Ha ha, yes, a Merry Christmas, Bob, said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back.

00:47:52.050 --> 00:47:57.190
A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year.

00:47:57.670 --> 00:48:07.769
I'll raise your salary and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of Christmas punch, eh, Bob?

00:48:08.469 --> 00:48:14.300
Make up the fires and buy another coal scuttle before you dot another I, Bob Cratchit.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:17.239
Scrooge was better than his word.

00:48:17.269 --> 00:48:20.030
He did it all, and infinitely more.

00:48:20.579 --> 00:48:25.940
And to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.

00:48:26.690 --> 00:48:37.699
He became as good a friend, as good a master, as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any good old city, town, or borough in the good old world.

00:48:38.510 --> 00:48:41.280
Some people laughed to see the alteration in him.

00:48:41.929 --> 00:48:58.159
But he let them laugh and little heeded them for He was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe for good, at which some people did not have their feel of laughter in the outset, and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway.

00:48:58.864 --> 00:49:05.914
He thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms.

00:49:06.405 --> 00:49:09.824
His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him.

00:49:10.525 --> 00:49:13.405
He had no further intercourse with spirits.

00:49:13.954 --> 00:49:20.985
And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

00:49:21.815 --> 00:49:25.655
May that be truly said of us, and all of us.

00:49:26.184 --> 00:49:33.744
And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one.

00:49:35.494 --> 00:49:39.445
And that concludes A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

00:49:39.585 --> 00:49:43.664
And that concludes our yearly foray into forward into the past.

00:49:44.434 --> 00:49:50.704
I want to take this time and thank every single one of you who have taken the time to download and listen to this podcast.

00:49:50.704 --> 00:49:51.954
It truly means a lot to me.

00:49:53.224 --> 00:49:54.974
May you have a very happy holiday.

00:49:55.574 --> 00:49:57.184
May your year be blessed.

00:49:58.025 --> 00:50:02.914
And may you continue to find stories to share with your families.

00:50:03.614 --> 00:50:04.664
As always, friends.

00:50:05.054 --> 00:50:11.394
Thanks for listening, keep sharing the stories, and be a good human.

00:50:12.235 --> 00:50:13.284
Bye for now.