SCROOGE and MARLEY (Deceased)

SCROOGE and MARLEY (Deceased)

A POEM by Paul Curtis
BASED ON THE STORY by
Charles Dickens “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”


STAVE
1
MARLEY’S GHOST


VERSE 1 – THE PREAMBLE

Marley was dead let there be no doubt about that
The register was duly signed and can be looked at
To argue with the evidence proves to be of no avail
Poor Old Jacob Marley was as dead as a doornail
So there was no doubt of Marley's demise as I said
Of course Ebeneezer Scrooge knew he was dead
They were in partnership for years very profitably
And at his death Scrooge was the sole beneficiary
Despite a long association Scrooge was not so sad
Though he wasn’t deeply upset nor was he glad
Doubtless Jacob Marley was dead, as we now know
This must be distinctly understood from the get go
Or nothing wonderful can ever come from this tale
An almost magical story that I wish now to detail

VERSE 2 – SCROOGE AND MARLEY

As Scrooge and Marley the Company was known
And above the warehouse door the sign was shown
Scrooge never painted old Jacob Marley's name out
And years afterwards it was clearly visible without
Scrooge was a tight fisted and covetous old sinner
Hard as flint, self contained, and solitary as an oyster
He had cold frozen old features and a pointed nose
Mean from his shriveled cheeks to his stiffened toes
His thin curled lips emitted chilling grating tones
Enough to send an icy shiver right to your bones
Nobody asked him for directions or the time of day
And old blind men and beggars kept out of his way
No acquaintance ever inquired of him “How are you?”
And certainly no stranger ever asked “How do you do?”

VERSE 3 – IN THE COUNTING HOUSE

Once upon a time on a Christmas Eve Scrooge sat
Busy in his counting house with his open ledgers fat
It was cold, bleak, biting weather with freezing fog
And the streets were enveloped in a thick Grey smog
In the gloom people could be heard out in the street
Stamping hard on the pavements to warm their feet
The city of London clocks had only just gone three
But with the weather it was dark as night already
The door of Scrooge's counting house was left open
That he might keep his eye upon his clerk in his pen
Mr. Scrooge had a very small fire burning in his grate
But the clerk's fire was so small so as to be third rate
It looked like only one small solitary coal in the gloom
Ebeneezer Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room
When the clerk came in with a shovel for more coal
He was threatened with his dismissal for his console
Thereupon the clerk put on his comforter and his hat
And tried to warm himself at a candle and that was that

VERSE 4 – A NEPHEW COMES A CALLING

“Merry Christmas, uncle” Cried a voice “God save you”
It was the hearty cheerful voice of Scrooge's nephew
Who had quickly entered through his uncle’s open door
"Bah!" said Scrooge "Humbug!" he said to his visitor
He had a ruddy and handsome face and sparkling eyes
And his uncle’s response came, as little or no surprise
"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew
"You don't mean that, I am sure." Scrooge said, "I do,"
"Merry Christmas! What reason, have you to be merry?
You're poor enough." Scrooge continued harshly
"Come then, what right have you to live so dismally?
You're rich enough uncle" returned the nephew gaily
Scrooge having no better answer to show his disdain
Said "Bah!" and followed it up with "Humbug." again
“Uncle! I did not come here today in order to upset you
Please don’t be cross, sir!" said the cheerful nephew
"What else can I be, when I live in such a world of fools?
Merry Christmas! Greetings festiveness and Yule’s
What is Christmas but a time for buying things
With no money and the unhappiness that brings
And a time for finding yourself another year older
And finding you’re not an hour nor a penny richer
If I could only work my will," said Scrooge indignantly
"Every idiot with a Merry Christmas' on his lips I see
Would be boiled with his own pudding for a start
And buried with a stake of holly through his heart"
"Uncle! Its Christmas" said the nephew pleadingly
"Nephew!" returned uncle Ebeneezer very sternly
"You are welcome to keep Christmas in your own way
Allow me to keep it in mine is all that I need to say"
"Keep it!" replied the nephew. "But you don't keep it."
"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge in a fit
"Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done!"
He almost spat out the words at his dear sister’s son
"There are many things from which” returned the nephew
“I may have derived good by which I did not profit a sou
Christmas among the rest and I have always believed,
Of this time when it has come round, to be conceived
Apart from the veneration due it’s sacred name and origin
If anything belonging to it can be apart from that to begin
As a good time, kind, forgiving, charitable, and pleasant
A time, merry, joyful and festive and clearly heaven sent
The only time I know of, in the calendar of the year,
When men and women open their hearts without fear
Though it has never put a scrap of gold in my pocket,
It has done me good, and will do me good God bless it!"
The clerk involuntarily applauded at what was said
Then came to his senses and he poked the fire instead
"If I hear another sound from you," said Scrooge in irritation
"You'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation”
“Well Nephew you're quite the powerful speaker"
Said Scrooge "I wonder you don't go into Parliament sir"
"Don't be angry, uncle. Come! Dine with us tomorrow."
Scrooge vehemently declined filling the boy with sorrow
"But why? I don’t understand " Scrooge's nephew queried
Uncle Scrooge asked him "Why did you get married?"
"I married because I fell in love with her uncle Ebeneezer"
"Because you fell in love!" said Scrooge, “what an answer”
“Why can’t we be friends? I want nothing from you”
"Good afternoon," said Scrooge "Good afternoon nephew,"
"I am heartily sorry to find you so resolute against me
We have never had a quarrel to the best of my memory”
So uncle Ebeneezer I wish A Merry Christmas, to you"
"Good afternoon," said Scrooge "Good afternoon nephew,"
"And uncle I wish the very Happiest New Year to you!"
"Good afternoon!" said Scrooge "Good afternoon nephew,"
He left the room without an angry word or remark
Stopping at the door to offer greetings to the clerk
Though chilled to the bone and weakened physically
He was warmer than Scrooge in returning them cordially
"There's a fellow fool," muttered Scrooge “indeed”
"My own clerk with a wife and six children to feed
With fifteen shillings a week to keep a roof over head
Talking about a merry Christmas, Bah Humbug I said”

VERSE 5 – TWO GENTLEMEN COME A CALLING

No sooner had Scrooge's nephew gone out of view
Than entered a party of gentlemen numbering two
They were both pleasant looking portly gentlemen
Who now stood, hats off, in Scrooge's office environ
They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed
One produced a list of which he was obviously proud
"Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the men
After scanning down a list of names with the point of a pen
"Is it Mr. Scrooge I’m addressing or Mr. Marley instead?"
"Mr. Marley’s been dead these seven years," Scrooge said
"It was in fact that he died seven years ago this very night"
Scrooge said examining their credentials by candlelight
"We have no doubt,” said the larger gentlemen of the pair
“His liberality is well represented by his surviving partner"
At the very ominous word "liberality," Scrooge frowned
And he handed their credentials back without a sound
"At this festive season of the year" said one gentleman,
"It’s desirable that we should make provision if we can
For the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at this time
Many thousands are in want, which is really such a crime
They lack common necessaries and common comforts, sir."
"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge sitting in his chair
"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman without hesitation
"And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?"
"They are, I wish they were not" replied one gentleman
"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?"
Scrooge asked and was told "They’re both very busy, sir"
Scrooge smiled and seemed to relax back into his chair
"Oh well I'm very glad to hear it" Ebeneezer scrooge said
“I was afraid that something had occurred to stop them dead”
“I’m relieved to hear they continue in their useful course”
Undeterred the gentlemen continued with some remorse
"A few of us are raising a fund to buy the Poor some meat
And drink and means of warmth or a blanket and a sheet
We choose this time when want is keenly felt by the poor
And abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?"
Both men looked expectant Scrooge replied "Nothing!"
"You wish to be anonymous?" asked one man nodding
"I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge "Since you ask me
What I wish, gentlemen, that is the answer I decree
I don't make merry myself at Christmas on the contrary
And I certainly can’t afford to make idle people merry
I have mentioned the establishments I help to support
And those who are badly off must go there for comfort"
The two gentlemen shook their heads at Scrooge’s reply
"Many cannot go there and many would rather die."
Scrooge’s response was the most savage declaration
"They should do it and decrease the surplus population”
Scrooge returned "The poor are not my business,
It's enough for a man to know his own business
And not to interfere in other people's in anyway
Mine occupies me constantly gentlemen Good day!"
Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue
And with spirits depleted the gentlemen withdrew

VERSE 6 – IN THE COUNTING HOUSE AGAIN

Mr. Scrooge returned to his labors with renewed vigor
And an improved opinion of himself as a moral figure
He was left in peace for the remainder of the working day
Save for Carolers who he unceremoniously shooed away
The hour of shutting up the counting house arrived duly
And with an ill-will Scrooge dismounted his stool tacitly
The poor expectant clerk instantly snuffed his candle out
And adjusted his clothing in preparation of going without
"You'll want all day to-morrow?" said Scrooge sharply
"If its quite convenient, sir." The clerk replied meekly
"It's not convenient and it’s unfair. If I was to stop your pay
Scrooge ranted “you'd think yourself ill-used, I'll dare say"
"And yet," said Scrooge pointing at his cowering clerk
"You don't think me ill-used, when I pay wages for no work."
The poor clerk observed that it was only once a year.
This retort merely enraged Scrooge even more I fear
"And that’s a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket
Every twenty-fifth of December!" he said in a blue fit
"But I suppose you must have the whole day” he said
“But you be here all the earlier next morning instead"
The clerk promised faithfully that he would without doubt
And growling disapproval Ebeneezer Scrooge walked out

VERSE 7 – CLERKING ABOUT

The office was closed in the merest twinkling of an eye
And the clerk in the spirit of the season bad the office goodbye
With the ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist
He made his way home to Camden Town with great haste
Stopping only to take turns with a group of boys on a slide
Only about twenty times at the end of the lane near Cheapside

VERSE 8 – A VERY UNEXPECTED VISITOR

Ebeneezer Scrooge took his melancholy dinner alone
In his usual melancholy tavern “The Regents Throne”
And after all the daily newspapers had been duly read
Scrooge buttoned up his coat and went home to bed
He lived in the chambers, which were once the property
Of his deceased friend and partner Mr. Jacob Marley
They were a gloomy suite of rooms in a crumbling pile
Tucked away in a back alley Close to the square mile
It was old, dreary and but for Scrooge nobody lived in it
As all the other rooms all being used as offices to be let
The fog and frost hung about the doorway of the building
So That Scrooge could only find the keyhole by feeling
Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular
About the knocker on the door neither strange or peculiar
Except that it was large and in the form of a lion’s head
Though in all other respects it was quite usual as I said
It’s a fact, that Scrooge had seen it night and morning
From his first day there to the last and every one during
Bearing in mind that Scrooge had not thought in any way
Of Marley since mention of his dead partner earlier that day
So then how could it happen that Scrooge, key in the door
Saw in the knocker, Marleys face who wasn’t alive anymore
Not an angry face but looked as he did before he was dead
With ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead
Moments past As Scrooge looked hard at this phenomenon
And then it was a knocker again and Marleys face was gone
To say that he was not startled or scared would be untrue
He unlocked the door and entered what else was he to do
He did pause for a moment before he shut the door
And he did look cautiously behind it but did no more
There were only screws and nuts to hold the knocker
So he said "Pooh, pooh!" and slammed it like thunder
He fastened the door, and walked slowly across the hall
And up the stairs lit by his candle careful not to fall
The staircase was so wide and gloomy, as the light was dim
He notioned he saw a hearse and six white horses ahead of him
Scrooge dismissed it a trick of the light or lack of it
And continued slowly up the huge stair case to the summit
It would have been easy to have had the entrance lit
But the Darkness is cheap, and Mr. Scrooge liked it
Nonetheless before he shut and bolted his heavy door
He walked through his suite of rooms just to make sure
Nobody was under the bed or behind the door there
Nobody was under the table or indeed under the sofa
Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in
Thus secured against surprise he began his undressing
Putting on his slippers, nightcap and his dressing-gown
He prepared to take supper by the fire where he sat down
On a bitter night it was a very low fire with little fuel
Scrooge sat very close to the fire while he took his gruel
The fireplace was paved with tiles adorned with pictures
They were many and varied and illustrated the Scriptures
Out of one of these pictures Marleys head was seen to zoom
"Humbug!" said Scrooge and got up to pace the room
After several turns, he sat down again and his gaze fell
In the direction of a dusty corner and an old disused bell
It was with great astonishment, and with a strange dread
He saw this bell start swinging as he sat gazing ahead
It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound
But soon every bell in the house rang loud and echoed around
This might have lasted a minute, but it seemed like an hour
Then the bells ceased just as they had begun, together
They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below
Scrooge thought maybe chains dragging but he didn’t know
Then he heard the noise coming up the stairs much louder
Then coming straight towards his door louder and louder
"It's humbug still!" shouted Scrooge. "I won't believe it."
His color changed though and he was scared more than a bit
When, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door
Passing into the room before his eyes then moving no more
Scrooge thought its Marley in his usual waistcoat not dead
From his tights and boots even to the hair upon his head
The chain he drew was clasped and about his middle it went
It was long, and wound about him like tail of a serpent
It was made of cash-boxes, keys, and had padlocks on
And ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in iron
His body was transparent, so that Scrooge, observing him
And looking through him could see the wall though dim
Scrooge thought this is Marley but he is decidedly dead
From his tights and boots even to the hair upon his head
He looked at the phantom but no matter what his mind says
He was still incredulous, and fought against his senses
Said Scrooge caustically "What do you want with me?"
“Much!" said the unmistakable voice of Jacob Marley
"Who are you?" Ebeneezer Scrooge asked hesitantly
"Why not ask me who I was." Replied the entity
"Who were you then?" said Scrooge with irritation
"You're very particular indeed spirit, for an apparition
"In life I was your partner,” said the spirit “Jacob Marley"
At this scrooge turned paler and his legs turned to jelly
"Can you -- can you sit down?" he asked his old partner
Doubtful of the ghosts ability to actually use a chair
"I can,” said Marley surprised at the question
"Do it then." Scrooge instructed with apprehension
"You don't believe in me," observed the ghost Marley
"I do not,” said Scrooge spitting out the words defiantly
"What evidence would you want to have of my reality
Beyond that of your senses?" asked the strange entity
"I don't know," said Scrooge replying to the question
"Why do you doubt your own senses?" asked the apparition
"Because” said Scrooge “The slightest thing affects them
A slight disorder of the stomach makes cheats of them
You may be an undigested bit of beef quite possibly
Or a blob of mustard, a crumb of cheese, or piccalilli
A fragment of an underdone potato should I continue?
There's certainly more of gravy than of grave about you”
Scrooge was very pleased indeed with his little jest
But he still worried about offending his uninvited guest
"You see this toothpick?" Ebeneezer Scrooge then said
"I do," Jacob Marley answered without moving his head
"You are not looking at it" Scrooge pointed out
"But I see it" said the Ghost "without any doubt"
"Well I have but to swallow without hesitation
And I’ll be plagued goblins all of my own creation
Its all a Humbug” said Scrooge “Humbug I tell you!”
At this the spirit raised up causing a terrible to do
Shaking his chains as well as wailing and screaming
Poor Scrooge could only hide behind his chair shaking
"Mercy!" Scrooge pleaded "Why do you trouble me?"
"Do you believe in me or not?" shouted Marley
"I do," said Scrooge. "I must oh yes spirit I do”
“But why do spirits walk the earth tell me I beg you”
"It is required of every man that the spirit within
Should walk forth, far abroad among his fellowmen
But if the spirits do not go forth during their life time
They are condemned to do so after deaths chime”
Again the spirit raised up causing a terrible to do
Shaking his chains screaming as well as wailing too
“Wandering and witnessing what they cannot share
But might have shared on earth bringing happiness there"
"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," was the ghosts reply
"I forged this chain link by link, and yard by yard
Made of my own free will and toiled on very hard”
“The chain that you wear yourself” he said in monotone
“Was as full and as heavy and as long as my own
Seven Christmas Eves ago you’ve labored on it since
Now it is a truly ponderous chain" he saw Scrooge wince
Scrooge glanced about him and could see nothing
"Jacob speak comfort to me Jacob!" he said imploring
"I have no comfort to give," replied Jacob Marley
"That comes from other regions and ministers than me
My spirit never walked beyond our office so help me
Never roamed beyond our money changing hole you see”
"But Jacob you were always a good man of business”
"Business!" cried the Ghost "Mankind was my business
The common welfare was my business and forbearance
My business should have been charity mercy and benevolence
The poor should have counted in my business dealings”
Scrooge was horrified by his old partners rantings
"Hear me!" cried the Ghost. "My time is nearly gone"
"I will," said Scrooge "Please lets just have it done”
"How I appear before you in the form I cannot say
I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day"
Scrooge found the idea was not at all an agreeable one
And shivered at the very thought of being spied upon
"I am here to-night to warn you” Marley began to dictate
“That you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate”
Scrooge replied "You were always a good friend to me"
"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "By spirits Three"
On hearing this news made Scrooges temples throb
"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?"
Ebeneezer demanded, in a faltering voice "It is yes"
"I -- I think I'd rather not," said Scrooge in distress
"Without their visits," Jacob Marley's Ghost said
"You cannot hope to shun the dreadful path I tread
Ebeneezer expect the first of the visitors to come”
Marley continued “Tomorrow, when the bell tolls one"
"Jacob Couldn't I take all three of them together”
Scrooge suggested nervously “And have it all over”
"Expect the second at the same hour on the next night
The third upon the next night on the stroke of midnight”
Jacob Marley wailed “Look to see me no more Ebeneezer”
“And look at what has passed between us and remember”
After these words, the spectre backed slowly away
With each step the window inched up a little way
When Marley reached the window it was wide open
And he beckoned Ebeneezer Scrooge to join him then
When they were within two paces of each other
Marley's Ghost held up its hand to stop him coming closer
Scrooge suddenly became aware of a mournful sound
Marley's went out the window hovering above the ground
Jacobs ghost was joined by a throng of other spectre's
They had chains and scrooge knew some of these others
Marley and the other spirits and the voices faded together
And they then just disappeared into the misty weather
Scrooge then closed the window in against the night
He was shivering with the cold as well as from fright
Then he examined the door by which the Ghost entered
The double-locks and bolts were all undisturbed
He was about to say "Humbug!" but in the end didn’t
Being drained from emotion it was in fact he couldn’t
Then overcome by the fatigues of a long strange day
He went to bed falling asleep almost straight away




STAVE
2
THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS

VERSE 1 - AWAKENING

It was so dark when scrooge awoke from his slumber
That he could scarcely see across his bedchamber
He was trying to pierce the dark with ferret eyes
And he peered out the window at the darkened skies
When he was startled by the church clock chimes
As it suddenly struck out the quarters all Four times
With the sound reverberating from the church tower
Scrooge listened for the great clock to strike the hour
To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on
From six to seven to eight, and regularly past eleven
In fact it struck all the way to twelve then silence
Twelve? It was two when he retired it made no sense
The clock must be wrong and most probably it was broken
Ice must have got into the works if he was not mistaken
Twelve? Scrooge touched the spring of his repeater
To correct this most preposterous public chronometer
The repeater’s rapid little pulse beat twelve and ceased
"Why, it isn't possible," He said with forehead creased
"That I can have slept through a whole day, it isn’t right
And furthermore that I should sleep far into another night
It isn't possible anything has happened to the sun
And it’s twelve at noon." This idea was an alarming one
He could see nor hear signs of life on the street below
After he had rubbed the frost off his bedroom window
If it were noon there would be people making their way
Unquestionably if night had beaten off bright day
Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought
And thought it over and over and over as best he ought
The more he thought, the more perplexed he became
The more he tried not to think, he thought all the same
Jacob Marley's Ghost still bothered him exceedingly
When he thought of him a chill ran up his back icily
He resolved within himself that it was all a dream
And that things could not possibly be as they seem
His mind flew back, like a strong spring released
"Was it a dream or not?" his uneasiness hadn’t ceased
Scrooge lay restless and uneasy in his four poster bed
Then Ebeneezer suddenly recalled what Marley had said
He warned him of a visitation when the bell tolled one
He resolved to stay awake until the thing was done
"Ding, dong!” “A quarter past," said Scrooge, counting.
"Ding dong!" "Half past!" said Scrooge almost shouting
"Ding dong!" "A quarter to it," Scrooge said nervously
"Ding dong!" "The hour itself," he said triumphantly
"And nothing else!" He spoke before the hour was done
Which it then did with a deep, hollow, melancholy one
Suddenly light filled the room bright as dawn
And his bed curtains were simultaneously drawn

VERSE 2 – AN UNEARTHLY VISITATION

Scrooge was startled into a half-recumbent position
Found himself face to face with an unearthly visitation
It was a strange figure almost like a child yet not so
And almost like a very old man but not one though
The odd figure was certainly of child like proportion
Yet it was a muscular and athletic looking apparition
It had long flowing hair which was white as if with age
The beings general demeanor was that of an old sage
Yet the face had not a single wrinkle not even a trace
And the tenderest bloom was on the creatures face
The figure held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand
And its dress was trimmed with a summer flower band
But the oddest thing about it was the crown of light
It wore upon its head spouting a jet clear and bright
And by the crown on its head everything was visible
But it carried a cap to make the light extinguishable
"Are you the Spirit whose coming was foretold to me?"
Asked Scrooge "I Am." The soft voice replied gently
"What are you?" "I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past"
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge curtly "No your past."
Scrooge had a special desire to see the cap on the Spirit
Over the illuminating light and begged him to cover it
"Would you so soon put out the light I give right now?
Eternally for such as you, I wear it low upon my brow!"
Scrooge disclaimed all intention of offending the spirit
Or any knowledge of having made him wear a bonnet
Then boldly inquired what business brought him there.
The ghostly apparition calmly replied "Your welfare"
Regarding his welfare Scrooge thought what was best
Was without a doubt a long night of unbroken rest
He soon realized that his thoughts The Spirit could read
For it then said "Your reclamation, then so Take heed"
It put out its strong hand and clasped Scrooge gently
Taking his arm as he said "Rise And walk with me"
Ebeneezer Scrooge was reluctant to leave his warm bed
The grasp, gentle as a woman’s was not to be resisted
He was a little alarmed wearing only his nightclothes
When the spirit led him in the direction of the windows
He clasped his robe in supplication "I am just a mortal,"
“Please spirit” Scrooge remonstrated "I’m liable to fall"
The spirit said "Bear a touch of my hand on your heart,"
"And you shall be upheld in more than this lest we part."
They passed through the wall as the words were spoken
And stood on a road with fields and all around was open

VERSE 3 - SCHOOLDAYS

The city had entirely vanished Nothing was to be seen
The darkness and the mist had gone and all was clean
There was no bustle and there was barely a sound
It was a clear, winter day, with snow on the ground
"Heavens" said Scrooge, clasping his hands together
As he looked around "I was bred here I was a boy here"
The Spirit watched him mildly, as he was absorbing
The sights and sounds and smells that he was sensing
"Your lip is trembling," it said Scrooge couldn’t speak
The ghost continued "And what is that upon your cheek?"
Scrooge only muttered, An unusual catch in his voice
He begged the Ghost to lead him to a place of his choice
"You recollect the way?" inquired the amused Spirit
Ebeneezer Scrooge cried with fervor "Remember it?"
"I could walk it blindfolded I know it so well spirit"
Scrooge then again cried with fervor "Remember it!"
"Strange then to have forgotten it for so many years,"
The Ghost said, "Lets go on, you know the way it appears”
They walked along the road the snow white and crunchy
And Scrooge recognized every gate, and post, and tree
Then in the distance vale a little market town appeared
With its bridge, its church, and a river wound and veered
Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting their way
With boys on their backs, and they were happy and gay
They called to other boys in country gigs and buggy
All the boys were in such great spirits shouting happily
"These are but shadows of the things that have been,"
Said the Ghost. "As real as they are we cannot be seen”
The jocund travelers came in view and then were gone
As they came Scrooge knew and named every one
Ebeneezer was filled with joy as he stood to listen
It made his old heart glad and his cold eye glisten
He wondered why he was filled with such gladness
When they wished each other a Merry Christmas
As they all parted at the cross-roads and-bye ways
Heading for their homes for the Christmas holidays
What was a merry Christmas to Scrooge anyway?
What good had it ever done for him? He might say
"The school is not quite deserted," said the spirit.
"A solitary child, left by his friends, is left to sit"
Scrooge said he knew that And he sobbed quietly
And he and the spirit continued on the road slowly
They left the main road, by a well-remembered lane
And soon came to a mansion of red brick, dull and plain
It was quite a large house but it had seen better days
Crumbling brick and peeling paint on window bays
The walls all ran with damp and green in a mossy way
The windows were broken and everything was in decay
Fowls were clucking and strutting outside of the class
And coach-houses and sheds were over-run with grass
Throughout was a musty odor of the ancient and old
Inside of the dreary hall was poorly lit vast and cold
The Ghost and Scrooge walked silently across the hall
To a room with barely any noteworthy furnishings at all
Desks and forms filled a long bare and melancholy room
On one of the forms a lonely boy sat reading in the gloom
Scrooge sat down upon a form overcome by melancholy
And wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be
The Spirit touched his shoulder to comfort his distress
“How sad it is to be all alone and friendless at Christmas”
Scrooge bristled at the thought of pitying his boyhood
But then how could a mere shade ever have understood
“This youth had self reliance and strength of character
And he was never alone while he had his books there”
Scrooge said “And his friends were great and many
Ali Baba, Robinson Crusoe and Friday as good as any”
He sat down again once more overcome by melancholy
And wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be
"I wish," he muttered, drying his eyes with his sleeve
"But it's too late now to change that Christmas Eve"
"What ever is the matter?" asked the concerned Spirit
"Nothing," said Scrooge. "Nothing I’m happy to admit
Some boys were Caroling at my door last nightfall
I should like to have given them something that was all"
The Ghost smiled thoughtfully, waved its hand thus
Saying as it did so, "Let us see another Christmas!"
At the words Scrooge's former self grew lankier
And the room became a little darker and dirtier
But the situation remained unchanged in other ways
Alone again, with the other boys gone for the holidays
Not reading now he was despairingly pacing the floor
While old Scrooge glanced anxiously towards the door
It opened; and a little girl, much younger than the boy
Came darting in filling both old and young with joy
She put her arms about his neck tight like a mother
Kissing him she addressed him as "Dear, dear brother."
She said "I have come to bring you home dear brother!"
Clapping her hands and laughing "Home, Ebeneezer!"
"Home, little Fan?" young Ebeneezer said questioningly
"Yes! Home dear brother" said the child, brimful of glee
"Yes home, for good and all. Home, forever and ever
Father is so much kinder than he used to be Ebeneezer
That home is almost like Heaven!” Fan spoke so sweetly
“As I went to bed one night Father spoke so gently to me
That I was not afraid to ask him and indeed felt no dread
To ask once more if you may come home, and yes he said
You should and he sent me in a coach to bring you there”
She clapped her hands and laughed "Home, Ebeneezer!"
“And you're to be a man!" she said proud as a mother
"And you are never to come back here dear brother
But first, we're to be together for the whole Christmas
No one in the world will have a merriest time than us"
"You are quite a woman, little Fan!" exclaimed the boy
She clapped her hands and laughed to show her joy
Then she began to drag him, in childish eagerness
Towards the door; and he could feel her happiness
And the happy pair passed quickly through the door
And Master Scrooge's trunk was then duly called for
With the trunk tied on the carriage it was time to go
And the carriage was away spraying frost and snow
"She was Always a delicate creature”, the spirit offered
“A delicate creature whom a breath might have withered,"
"But she had a large heart!" the ghost added a complement
"So she had, you're right" cried Scrooge in total agreement
"She died a woman," said the Ghost, "And she had, children."
"One child," Ebeneezer Scrooge corrected the apparition
"Yes just one child" said the Ghost. "Your nephew! Fred"
Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind “Yes" he said

VERSE 4 - OLD FEZZIWIG’S

They had but that moment left the school’s vicinity
And were then in the busy thoroughfares of a city
Where shadowy figures passed this way and that way
And many varied carts and coaches battle in the Grey
It was plain enough to see by the mode of decoration
In the shop windows that it was Christmas time again
But it was the evening time and all the streets were lit
Stopping by a door Scrooge was asked if he knew it
"Know it!" said Scrooge. "Was I not apprenticed there?"
They went in and saw an old gentleman sat in a chair
At the sight of the old gentleman in the Welsh wig
Scrooge cried in great excitement giving a kind of jig
"Why, it's old Fezziwig! Bless his heart alive again!"
He adjusted his waistcoat as the clock struck seven
Fezziwig looked at the clock and laid down his pen
He laughed to himself and he closed his ledger then
Laughing in a manner benevolent and comfortable
Called out loudly in a voice oily, rich, fat and jovial
"Yo ho, there! Ebeneezer! Dick!" he said in a bellow
Young apprentice Scrooge appeared with his fellow
"Dick Wilkins" said Scrooge to the Ghost "Bless me”
There he is. He was much attached to me was Dicky"
"Yo ho, boys!" said Fezziwig. "No more work to-night.
Its Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebeneezer all right”
“So Let's have the shutters up," old Fezziwig cried
"Before you can say Jack Robinson,” he said with pride
The two boys went about their task with great vigor
Pursued by the exuberant Fezziwigs jovial figure
He skipped about offering the occasional “Hilli- ho”
Or even a “Chirrup” whereever the boys had to go
The room was completely cleared of every moveable
Floor swept, lamps trimmed and fire made as desirable
Then no sooner was the room snug and warm in there
In came a fiddler with music and climbed upon a chair
Then came Mrs. Fezziwig, smiling vast and substantial
In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable
And the daughters suitors and then friends of the family
The cook and housemaid and various other employees
Until eventually the large room was full to overflowing
And the music began in earnest, which led to dancing
There was cold roast and boiled meat and beer a plenty
And the Fezziwigs danced as if they were only twenty
Shining in every part of the dance like stars in heaven
Then the ball broke up when the clock struck eleven
Either side of the door the Fezziwig took up stations
And shook hands with all offering seasons felicitations
When all the guests had departed from the premises
They wished the same to their two young apprentices
As the Fezziwigs made off chatting like they’d never stop
The lads went to their beds, which were in the back-shop
During the whole time of the unfolding merriment
His heart and soul were with his former embodiment
He corroborated everything, remembered everything
Enjoyed it all, but his agitation was the strangest thing
It was only went the boys bright faces turned away
That he remembered the spirit who lighted the way
"A small matter," it said "To fill them with gratitude."
"Small matter!" echoed Scrooge in a bemused attitude
The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices
Who were pouring out their hearts to Fezziwigs praises
Then the spirit added, "Why! Is it so praise worthy!
He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money
"It isn't that spirit" said Scrooge, heated by the remark
Speaking unconsciously like his former self as a clerk
"It isn't that, He has the power to make us happy or not
To make our working life light or burdensome in out lot
A pleasure or a toil. His words and looks could entune
The happiness he gives, is as great as if it cost a fortune"
He felt the Spirit's glance upon him and went silent
"What is the matter?" asked the Ghost in amusement
"Nothing in particular," said Scrooge quite abruptly
"Something, I think?" said the apparition insistently
"No," said Scrooge, "No. I should like to be able to
Speak to my clerk now that's all Just a word or two”
As the younger Scrooge turned down the lamps light
The older and the Ghost stood side by side in the night
"My time grows short," observed the Spirit. "Quick!"
Then were once again removed like in a magic trick

VERSE 5 – SWEET YOUNG BELLE

Again Scrooge saw himself a young man but older
A man in the prime of life but His face was harsher
It did not wear the rigid lines that his own face did
But there were signs of avarice that could not be hid
He was not alone, but sat beside a girl young and fair
Tears filled her eyes and light sparkled on them there
"It matters little," she said, softly. "Very little to you”
“Another idol has displaced me clearly in your view
And if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come
As I would have tried to do, then your idol is welcome
I have no just cause to grieve. For what you have done"
"What Idol?" he demanded she replied "A golden one."
The younger Scrooge turned away from the girl smartly
"This is the great hypocrisy of life!" he said sharply
"There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty
Yet condemns pursuit of wealth with such severity”
"You fear the world too much," she answered, gently
"All your other hopes have merged together singly
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one
Until now Gain possessed you as It has now done?"
"What then? Even if I have grown much wiser,” he said
“I am not changed towards you." She shook her head
"Am I?" his question hung unanswered in the air
For a few moments she sat thoughtfully silent there
She said, "Our contract is an old one made long ago
Made when we were both poor and content to be so,
Until in good season we could” she continued softly
“Improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry”
You are changed. For when our contract was made
You were another man entirely Ebeneezer I’m afraid
"I was a boy," he said impatiently. “We were children”
“But you are different now to what you were then
Your own feelings tell you that this is indeed true
With all this understood Ebeneezer I can release you."
"Have I ever sought release?" Angrily he turned on her
She returned in equal measure "In words? No. Never."
"In what, then?" "In a changed nature and a spirit altered
In another different atmosphere of life” she answered
“In everything that made my love of value in your sight
And In everything that made your love of me feel right
Tell me Ebeneezer If this had never been between us,"
The girl said looking mildly at him but with steadiness
"Would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!"
He seemed to agree with her but he tried not to show
After a moments thought "You think not?" he countered
"I would gladly think otherwise if I could," she answered
"Heaven knows. When I have learned a Truth like this
I know how strong and irresistible it must be to resist.
But if you were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday,
Can I believe you would choose a dowerless girl, say?
You who weigh everything by gain would not rebuff
In choosing her, if for a moment you were false enough
To your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know
That your repentance and regret would surely follow?”
Then she said sadly “I do; and I release you Ebeneezer
With a full heart, for the love of him you once were."
He was about to speak; but with her head turned away
She resumed. "You may have pain in this yes you may
But only for the briefest time, and then it will seem
Its memory will be dismissed as an unprofitable dream
From which it happened well that you had awoken.
So may you be happy in the life you have chosen."
Then She left him, and he stood gazing at the floor
"Spirit!" said Scrooge; "I beg you show me no more!
Conduct me home, why do you delight to torture me?"
The ghost then exclaimed "One more shadow to see!"
"No more!" cried Scrooge! “I don't wish to see it!
Show me no more! I beg of you oh merciful spirit"

VERSE 6 – MATRONLY BELLE

Despite his appeals the spirit would have none
And they were once again removed and it was done
They were then in another scene and place, in a room
Not very large or handsome, but a comfort filled room
Near to the winter fire sat the beautiful girl again
Though not so young the signs of beauty still remain
Scrooge recognized Belle the instance that he saw her
Though she was a comely matron sat with her daughter
There were other children all making the noise of forty
All was happy the mother and daughter laughed heartily
The scene was then disturbed by a knocking at the door
And such a rush immediately ensued across the floor
Then the flushed and boisterous group returned rather
Louder than ever, just in time to greet their father
Who came home attended amid the great excitements
By a man laden with Christmas toys and presents
Then the shouting and struggling began in earnest
Under the onslaught the poor porter did his best
To stand his ground and to repel their advances
As they tried to separate him from his packages
A good time was had by all in the family parlor
As the noise was lowered to an acceptable roar
"Belle," said the husband, turning to his wife smiling,
"I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon darling"
"Who was it?" she asked "Guess!" was his only reply
"Oh I don’t know,” she said exasperated “How can I?”
“Just Guess Belle” The laughing husband urged her
“Oh I really don’t know” Belle began in despair
Then almost in the same breath as she shook her head
And laughing as he laughed she suddenly said
"Mr. Scrooge" and laughed again “Oh I don’t know”
"Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed by his office window
As it was not shuttered and he had his candle lit
I could see him clear and was curious I must admit
His partner Marley lies on the point of death, I hear
And there he sat quite alone I do believe my dear"
"Spirit!" said Scrooge his voice breaking slightly
"Remove me from this place." He said pleadingly
"The shadows are of things that have been you see,"
"That they are what they are, do not blame me!"
"Remove me!" Scrooge exclaimed, "I cannot bear it!"
He turned round to the Ghost “Remove me please spirit
Then he turned upon the ghost “Haunt me no longer”
As he noticed the spirits light was glowing stronger
Scrooge seized the extinguisher cap from the spirit
And tried to put out the light that shone bright from it
The spirit was covered but he could not dim the light
Which now spilled upon the ground both left and right
He was overcome by exhaustion and a sense of doom
And was vaguely aware of being in his own bedroom
He gave the cap a final squeeze to push the spirit deep
Then he reeled to his bed and sank into a heavy sleep



STAVE
3
THE SECOND OF THE THREE SPIRITS



VERSE 1 – REAWAKENING

He woke in the midst of a prodigiously tough snore
And sat up to get his thoughts together once more
Scrooge had no occasion at all to be told by anyone
That the church bell was again upon the stroke of one
He felt that he had awoken just at the right moment
To meet Jacob Marley's second visitor to represent
But turned uncomfortably cold as he became unsure
Which of his curtains this new specter would draw
So decided he would open every one himself instead
And lying down again could see out all round the bed
Despite his preparation the spirits arrival he still feared
But when the Bell struck One, no apparition appeared
He was taken with a fit of trembling wondering why
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes went by
Yet nothing came and All this time, he lay on his bed
Then he saw under the adjoining door a glow of red
He got the idea that this glow must have appeared
At the time of the clock striking the hour occurred
He slid into his slippers and shuffled across the floor
And he reluctantly approached the adjoining door

VERSE 2 – A MOST CURIOUS VISITOR

The moment Scrooge's hand was on the door opener
A strange voice called his name, and bade him enter
He obeyed and soon found himself in his own room
There was no doubt though it lacked its normal gloom
It was the most surprising transformation he’d seen
The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green
That it looked a perfect grove full of nature’s livery
With bright gleaming berries glistening full and juicy
The crisp green leaves of the holly, mistletoe, and ivy
Reflected the light like mirrored stars small and shiny
And such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney
Not seen since well before the days of Jacob Marley
Heaped up on the floor, to form a huge kind of throne
Were turkeys, geese, game, poultry and meat on the bone
Sucking pigs, mince pies and long wreaths of sausages
Plum-puddings, chestnuts, apples, and juicy oranges
Pears, twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch
That made the room steam and smell of Christmas lunch
Upon the couch, there sat a jolly Giant glorious to see:
Who bore a glowing torch not unlike the horn of Plenty
He held it high to shed its light on Scrooge and more
As the little man came peeping round the chamber door
"Come in, and know me better, man." said the ghost
He entered timidly, and hung his head before his host
He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been of old
And though the Spirit's eyes were clear and not cold
He did not like to meet them though they were kindly
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present Look upon me."
The huge ghost was clothed in one simple green mantle
And the robe was bordered with white fur also simple
This flowing garment hung so loosely on the figure
That its great capacious breast was almost totally bare
Beneath the ample folds of the green garments fur
Its feet were just observable and they were also bare
And on its head it wore no other covering than a wreath
Made of holly set with shining icicles above and beneath
It had a genial face and long free dark brown curly hair
Its sparkling eyes and general demeanor had a joyful air
It wore an antique scabbard around it coated in dust
But no sword and the sheath was eaten up with rust
Scrooge reverently stood with his back to the door
It said, "You have never seen the like of me before!"
"Never," Scrooge made answer to it quite nervously
"Have you never walked forth with any of my family
Either younger brothers or any of my elder brethren
Born in these later years?" it persisted about its kin
"I don't think I have I’m afraid not” he answered it
Then asked, “Have you had many brothers, Spirit?"
"More than eighteen hundred," said the apparition
"A large family for whom to have to make provision"
He muttered as The Ghost of Christmas Present rose.
"Spirit," said Scrooge submissively and almost froze
"Conduct me wherever you will oh ghostly apparition”
He continued “I went forth last night on compulsion
And I learnt a great lesson, which is working now spirit
To-night, what you have to teach me, let me profit by it."
"Touch my robe." The green giant soberly instructed
Scrooge did so, and held fast and was thus transported

VERSE 3 – IN THE CITY ON CHRISTMAS MORN

Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, game and poultry,
Meat, puddings and punch, had all vanished instantly
And the room, fire, night hour and the ruddy glowing
And they stood in city streets on Christmas morning
It was cold, bleak, biting weather with freezing fog
And the streets were enveloped in thick Grey smog
The throng of people could be heard in the street
Stamping hard on the pavements to warm their feet
The house fronts were black and the windows more so
Contrasting with the smooth and white sheet of snow
In the road the snow was dirtier and left in deep furrow
By carts and beneath snow and ice the mud was yellow
There was nothing very cheerful to see in this place
And yet there was an air of cheerfulness you could trace
The people who shoveled away snow were full of glee
Throwing snowball their joviality was plain to see
Poulterers, fruiterers and grocers were still just open
To accommodate last minute ladies and gentlemen
The myriad of jolly shopkeepers acted out their charade
Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the last minute trade
Soon the bells called good people to church and chapel
And away they flocked through streets to answer the bell
And at the same time scores of peoples began emerging
From scores of bye-streets, lanes and nameless turning
And the innumerable people all talking ten to the dozen
Were carrying their dinners to cook in the bakers' oven
The sight of these poor revelers interested the Spirit
For outside the bakers he stopped and stood beside it
And taking off the covers as their bearers passed by
Sprinkled incense on the dinners from his torch up high
It was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice
When the behavior of dinner-carriers was not very nice
He shed drops of water on them from his horn of plenty
And their good humor was once again restored directly
They said, it was a shame to quarrel on Christmas Day
Scrooge was curious to know what changed their way
In time the bells ceased, and the bakers were closed
And the late churchgoers stride out smartly clothed
Scrooge got up courage to enquire of his companion
"Is there a peculiar flavor,” he asked of the apparition
“In what you sprinkle from your torch like cone?"
The ghost looked at Scrooge "Yes there is. My own."
"Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?"
"To any kindly given. To a poor one most. I would say"
"Why to a poor one most?" asked Scrooge enquiringly.
"Because it needs it most." The spirit answered curtly
"Spirit," after a moment's thought Scrooge spoke thus,
"I wonder you, of all the beings in the worlds about us
Should desire to stop these people's innocent enjoyment."
"I!" cried the spirit incredulously “I desire to prevent?”
"You deprive them of their means of dining every Sunday
The spirit cried "I!" and scrooge said, “Yes I would say?"
"You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day,"
Said Scrooge. "And it comes to the same thing in a way"
"I seek!" exclaimed the Spirit “If I am wrong forgive me
It’s done if not in your name, then in that of your family,"
"There are some upon this earth " returned the apparition
"Who claim to know us, and do their deeds of passion,
Pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, and bigotry in our name,
Who are strange to us and our kith and kin all the same
Remember, and put the blame on themselves, not us."
Scrooge promised and apologized for all the fuss
And they went on, invisible, as they had been before
Into the suburbs of the town and stopped beside a door

VERSE 4 – IN CAMDEN TOWN

They stood in Camden Town outside a poor mans door
It was the home of Bob Cratchit’s they stood before
The spirit indicated to Scrooge that they would enter
Scrooge held the spirits robe with boney hand and finger
The Spirit stopped on the threshold of the door smiling
With a sprinkle from his torch he blessed Bob’s dwelling
Just think, a fifteen bob a week clerk of no consequence
Has the Ghost of Christmas Present bless his residence
Once inside the four roomed house in Camden Town
They saw Bob’s wife, dressed in a twice-turned gown
Though not dressed in the height of fashion, indeed poorly
Brave in ribbons, which for sixpence decorate cheaply
And she laid the tablecloth, assisted ably by Belinda
Also brave in ribbons who was her second daughter
While Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into a pot
In search of a potato to see if it was cooked or not
And now two smaller Cratchit’s, boy and girl, tore in
“We smelt the goose at the bakers” they were screaming
Soon all the young Cratchit’s danced about the table
All squealing in excitement with a hop and gambol
This went on until the slow potatoes began bubbling
Knocking loudly at the saucepan-lid noisily cooking
"Wherever has your father got too what’s keeping him?"
Said Mrs. Cratchit "And your dear brother, Tiny Tim”
And Martha wasn't as late as this last Christmas Day"
"Here's Martha, mother," said a girl unbarring her way
The two young Cratchit’s cried, “Mother here's Martha!”
"Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are!"
Kissing her daughter a dozen times, Mrs. Cratchit said
While taking off her shawl and the bonnet off her head
"We'd a deal of work to finish up last night," said Martha
"And we had to clear it away this morning, mother"
Mrs. Cratchit said "Never mind so long as you are here ".
"Sit down before the fire and have a warm, my dear”
"Father’s coming," the two young Cratchit’s loudly cried
They were everywhere at once. "Hide, Martha, hide!"
So Martha hid herself, and in came Bob, the father,
In his comforter and with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder
He set down the boy who used a crutch tiny as his name
And had too have his limbs supported by an iron frame
"Why, where's our Martha?" cried Bob looking round
"Not coming," said Mrs. Cratchit staring at the ground
"Not coming!" said Bob, “Not coming” his wife said
"Not coming on Christmas Day?" he hung his head
Martha didn't like to see the disappointed on his face
Even in a joke so she came out from her hiding place
And she ran into her fathers arms and embraced him
While the two young Cratchits carried young Tiny Tim
Off into the washhouse that he might hear the pudding
As it boils violently in the copper there loudly singing
When Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content
Then hugged his wife whom he neglected in his merriment
"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit
Watched only by Ebeneezer Scrooge and the spirit
"As good as gold," said Bob, "And better my dear
He gets thoughtful so much by himself sitting here
And thinks the strangest things you’ve heard honestly
When we were coming home he said to me earnestly
That he hoped that the people in the church saw him
As he was a cripple, as it may be pleasant for them
To remember on this Christmas Day, he told me
Who it was made the lame walk, and blind men see."
Bob's voice trembled when he told this news to her
And more so as he said Tiny Tim grew much stronger
His active little crutch was heard noisily upon the floor
And Tiny Tim appeared through the wash house door
He was led to his fireside stool by his brother and sister
Bob put a jug of gin and lemons on the hob to simmer
Peter and the young Cratchit's went to fetch the goose
Returning from the bakers with it spitting in its juice
Such a bustle ensued at the returning goose procession
That you may have thought a goose the rarest acquisition
Mrs. Cratchit made gravy hissing hot and full of flavor
Master Peter mashed potatoes with incredible vigor
Belinda made the apple-sauce Martha dusted plates
Bob took Tiny Tim beside him at the table and waits
The two young Cratchit’s set the chairs for everyone
At last dishes were set, and grace was said and done
It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit,
Looking at the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it
In the breast of the modest goose, but when she did
The gush of stuffing issued from where it had been hid
One murmur of delight arose all round the family table
One and all beat on the table with the their knife handle
And all cried Hurrah! As the festivities were let loose
Bob said in all sincerity “There never was such a goose”
Indeed Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness
Were the themes of universal admiration and happiness
Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes all agreed
It was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed
Mrs. Cratchit said surveying a scrap with great delight
That they hadn't eaten everything to the very last bite
Yet every one had had enough which plainly satisfies
And all were stuffed with sage and onion to the eyes
The dirty plates were cleared away by Miss Martha
And then the clean plates being laid by Miss Belinda
Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone to fetch the pudding
From the wash house and bring it to the table steaming
Suppose it should not be done enough? Well it ought
Suppose it should be done too much? No She thought
Suppose it should break in turning out? Oh damn it
Suppose somebody should have got in and stolen it
All was merry with the goose and gave satisfaction
But all sorts of horrors plagued her in her supposition
The pudding was out of the copper and steaming
In half a minute she returned flushed, but smiling
With the pudding looking like a speckled cannon-ball
Hard and firm, blazing in brandy and holly atop it all
Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob said, and calmly too
Though it was the greatest success ever in his view
Mrs. Cratchit said it was a weight off her mind really
She confessed she had doubts about the flour quantity
Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody
Said or thought it was a small pudding for a large family
At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared
The hearth swept, and the fire made up until it roared
The gin and lemons were tasted and passed acceptable
And a plate of apples and oranges were put on the table
Then a shovel-full of chestnuts were then put on the fire
And all the family drew around the hearth like a choir
At Bob’s elbow stood the family set of glass on display
Plus Two tumblers and a cup with handle broke away
These held the gin and lemons from the jug, however
A set of golden goblets could not have done better
Bob served out the hot punch while beaming happily
As the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily
Then Bob Cratchit reverently proposed a toast thus
"A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us."
Which the family re-echoed "God bless us every one!"
Said Tiny Tim, the last to say when the others had done.
He sat close to his father's side upon his little chair
Holding his withered hand he gave the hand a stare
Loving his son and wishing to keep him by his side
His dread that he might loose him he could not hide

“Spirit,” said Scrooge with previously unfelt interest
"Tell me if Tiny Tim will live." He asked in earnest
"I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "In the corner
And a crutch carefully preserved without an owner
The child will die if these shadows remain unaltered”
"No," said Scrooge. "Kind Spirit. Say he will be spared."
"If these shadows do remain unaltered by the Future,
The ghost said, “None other of my race will find him here”
“What then? If he be like to die” continued the apparition
“He had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
Scrooge hung his head low in penitence and disbelief
To hear his own words and was overcome with grief
“You should hold your tongue and not speak wickedly
Until you discover what the surplus is, and where it be.”
Scrooge cowered and could not meet the spirit’s eye
“And Will you decide who shall live and who shall die?
It may be, you are more worthless in the sight of Heaven
And less fit to live than millions of poor men's children”
Scrooge bent low before the Ghost's rebuke trembling
But raised his eyes speedily on hearing Bob speaking

"Mr. Scrooge!" said Bob addressing them like a priest
"I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!"
"The Founder of the Feast indeed! I wish I had him here
I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, my dear
And I hope he would have a very good appetite for it."
Finished the volatile and reddening Mrs. Cratchit
"My dear," said Bob, "The children. Christmas Day."
"It should be Christmas Day, I am sure I would say,
On which one drinks the health of such an odiously
Unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge so cruel hard and stingy
Nobody knows better than you about Scrooges way"
"My dear," was Bob's mild answer, "Christmas Day."
"I'll drink his health for your sake and the Day's,"
Said Mrs. Cratchit, "Not for him and his miserable ways
Long life A merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
He’ll be very merry and very happy, I’m quite sure”
The children drank the toast after her long address
It was the first of their rituals having no heartiness
Tiny Tim drank last of all, but didn't care much for it
Scrooge was the ogre of the whole family of Cratchit
Mention of his name cast a dark shadow on the party
Lasting full five minutes until they were again hearty
After it had passed away, they were ten times merrier
With thought of Scrooge behind them they were happier
Bob Cratchit told them how he had in his eye a situation
For Master Peter, which would bring in, as contribution
If obtained, full five-and-sixpence weekly for their son
Which that sums receipt would be a bewildering income
The rest of the time passed by in family conversation
While chestnuts and jug went round without cessation
Martha, who was an apprentice at a millinery locally
Told them what kind of work had kept her so busy
And by-and-bye there were songs sung quite by choice
Even Tiny Tim, who had a very plaintive little voice
They were not remarkable they were quite ordinary
They were not a handsome or a well-dressed family
Their shoes were far from being proof against weather
Scanty clothed and were not strangers to the pawnbroker
But, were happy, grateful, pleased with one another
And contented with their lot and their time together
They left the Cratchit family in their happy reveling
The spirit gave a sprinkle from his torch in parting
And Ebeneezer Scrooge had kept his eye upon them
Until the very last moment and especially on Tiny Tim

VERSE 5 – WIDELY ABROAD

By this time it was getting dark, and snowing heavily
And as they went along the spirit used his torch merrily
Brightness spilled from each kitchen or parlor window
Doors open to welcome visitors to the fireside glow
Every person they passed received a liberal sprinkling
Of the spirits torch his eyes were constantly twinkling
Even the lamplighter received a blessing that night
As he ran the dusky streets dotting them with light
And so it was the spirit blessed all who came before
Then suddenly they stood on a bleak deserted moor

Monstrous masses of rude stone were cast randomly
A course barren place where the wind moaned eerily
"What place is this?" asked Scrooge uneasy at the sound
"A place where Miners live, who labor under ground"
Returned the Spirit. "But they know me. Look and see."
A light shone out from the window of a hut distantly
Swiftly they moved to it as the wind continued to moan
And they passed through the wall of mud and stone
Inside the dwelling they found a cheerful company
Made up of several generations of the same family
They were all happily assembled round a glowing fire
And everyone was decked out gaily in holiday attire
The oldest man led them in the Christmas singing
As loud and hearty at the end as in the beginning
Then they passed through the mud wall once more
To once again stand upon the grim desolate moor
The Spirit and Scrooge did not however tarry here
They sped away with Scrooge tried to hide his fear

To Scrooge's horror they flew off across the dark sea
Looking back, he saw the last of the land fading quickly
Below were ragged rocks pounded by thundering waves
There treachery sending many men to watery graves
Built on this reef of sunken rock and out cropping
There stood a solitary lighthouse to warn all shipping
But even out here, the two men who watched the light
Had made a fire and were making merry on the holy night
Again the Ghost sped on, above the black heaving sea
On until far from shore they saw a ship blown fiercely

They lighted on the ship and stood beside the helmsman
Who fought with the wheel watched by a midshipman
But every man of them as against the wind they fought
Hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought
Or spoke to a companion of some bygone Christmas Day
And every man on board spoke in a much friendlier way
Then the ship suddenly faded away and the wind died
And laughter pervaded as they stood under a city sky

VERSE 6 – A VISIT TO FRED’S

They stood outside a house were laughter emanated
Then he and the spirit into the house they permeated
It was a bright, gay, gleaming room that met their view
To his surprise the laughter came from his nephew
Scrooge stood with the Spirit who was smiling happily
Looking at Scrooge’s nephew with approving affability
"Ha, ha!" laughed Scrooge's nephew. "Ha, ha, ha!"
It would be hard to find a man to laugh heartier
If a man more blessed in a laugh than his nephew
Existed then Scrooge would want to know him too
His head rolled and he shook his ample proportions
And twisted his face into extravagant contortions
Scrooge's niece, by marriage, laughed as heartily as he
And their assembled friends also roared out lustily
"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" "He said that,” cried his nephew
“Christmas was a humbug, as I live! He believed it too."
"More shame for him, Fred." said his wife indignantly
Scrooge forgave her, as she was exceedingly pretty
With a dimpled peaches and cream complexion
And a smile that gave her the sunniest disposition
"He's a comical old fellow," said Fred affectionately
"That’s the truth: and not so pleasant as he might be.
However, his offenses carry their own punishment,
And I have nothing to say against him in testament"
Then his wife said "I'm sure he is very rich, Fred,"
"At least you always tell me that is so." She hinted
Fred said to her in reply "What of that, my dear?"
"His wealth is of absolutely no use to him at all I fear”
Fred continued “He doesn't do any good with it.
And he doesn't make himself comfortable with it.
He hasn't even the satisfaction of thinking so far
That he is ever going to benefit us with it" ha, ha, ha!
"I have no patience with him," Scrooges niece said
Her sisters, and the ladies, expressed the same to Fred
"Oh, I have” Fred said to everyone with some pride
I’m sorry for him I couldn't be angry with him if I tried
After all who is it who really suffers by his ill whim?”
Answering his own question Fred said “Always him”
Here, uncle Scrooge takes it into his head to dislike us,
And he won't come and dine with us every Christmas.
And the result? He misses out on a moderate dinner"
Fred said to the room smiling broadly like a sinner
"I think he loses out on a very good dinner, indeed"
Interrupted his wife and everyone in the room agreed
"Well. I'm very glad to hear it," he said of his slurs
"Because I lack faith in these young housekeepers”
Pausing for a hearty laugh “What do you say, Topper?"
Topper clearly had his eye on the little plump sister
He answered what a wretched outcast was a bachelor
With no right to an opinion on the subject set before
His obvious admiration went from her hair to her boots
Where upon the plump niece blushed to her roots
"Do go on, Fred," his wife said with hands clapping
Scrooge's nephew reveled in another fit of laughing
He stifled the laugh and said, "I was only going to say
That the consequence of his taking dislike to us this way
And not making merry with us, is, that he loses many
Pleasant moments, which could do him no harm surely.
Losing pleasanter companions than he can find ever
In his thoughts, either in his office or his chamber
So I mean to give him the same chance every year,
Whether he likes it or not, for I pity my uncle dear.
He may rail at Christmas all he likes until he dies
But year after year I will continue until he complies”
The festivities continued with the happy company
Merriment abounded and the bottle passed joyously
After tea they had music with songs about the piano
Fred wife played well on the harp tunes from long ago
With the music Scrooge recalled what he had seen
What the Ghost had shown him and where he’d been
It all came upon his mind all what had gone before
And with the gay music he softened more and more
But they didn't devote the whole evening to music
Topper was encouraged to perform a magic trick
Then they played parlor games for amusement
First blind mans bluff caused such great merriment
With topper clearly cheating as pursued high and low
The plump sister catching her beneath the mistletoe
Blind-man’s buff was not the game for Scrooges niece
Who was comfortably in a corner safe and in peace
With footstool and large comfy chair in a snug corner
Where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her
But she however excelled when she joined in forfeits
And warmed Scrooges heart and raised his spirits
She beat them all hollow from her large comfy chair
And likewise at the game of How, When, and Where
There might have been twenty people there present
Young and old, but they all joined in the merriment
Even Scrooge, who forgot he wasn’t there at the party
And shouted the answers ever more loud and hearty
But despite Scrooge quite often getting the answers
Often very loudly his voice made no sound in their ears
This didn’t bother him and he didn’t think it to be rude
The Ghost was very pleased to find him in this mood
Scrooge intimated that he would be broken hearted
If he were not allowed to stay until the guests departed
But this the Spirit told Scrooge could not be done
"One more game," said Scrooge. "Please Spirit, only one."
So they stayed for one more Game called Yes and No
And when the game was over it was time for them to go
Before Scrooges eyes the room before him unravels
And he and the Spirit were again upon their travels.

VERSE 7 – ABROAD AGAIN

Much they saw, and far they went, people to attend
Many homes they visited, but always a happy end
The Spirit stood by sick beds, and they were cheerful
Comforting the old and frail and those who were fearful
On foreign lands, and at home; beside struggling men,
Those patient in their hope; by poverty, and rich again
In almshouse, hospital, workhouse treadmill and jail
In misery's every refuge where people try and fail
Where vain man in his little brief authority no doubt
Had not made fast the door and barred the Spirit out
He left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.
And not lost on Scrooge were the spirits concepts
It was a long night, if only a night which he doubted
Scrooge had now seen his error and his heart shouted
It was strange, that while Scrooge appeared unaltered
The Ghost grew older, clearly and his voice faltered.
Scrooge had seen this change, but never spoke of it,
Until leaving a children's party he addressed the spirit
"Are spirits' lives so short?" he asked gravely his host
"My life on this globe, is very brief," replied the Ghost
"It ends to-night." It said and Scrooge replied "To-night!"
"My time upon this earth ends To-night at midnight
The time draws near." He said neath the clock tower
“Hark!” and the chimes rang a quarter to the hour
“Forgive me for asking” said Scrooge in puzzlement
He was looking intently at the spirits long garment
"But I see something strange down there on the floor
Protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?"
"It might be a claw, for all the flesh there is on it,"
Was its sorrowful reply. "Look here." Said the spirit
From the folds of its robe, it brought two creatures
Children, wretched, abject, with frightful features
They knelt down at its feet, and clung on in fear
"Oh, Man, look here! Look, look, down here!"
Exclaimed the Ghost. To Scrooge who was nervous
It was a boy and girl though it was not obvious
"Spirit, are they yours?" Scrooge could say no more.
"They are Man's," It said looking at them on the floor
"Appealing from their fathers they cling to me there
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. So beware”
His voice was grave and solemn and held no joy
“Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy
For on his brow I see that the word doom is written
Unless the writing be erased beware these children”
The spirit cried stretching its hand toward the city
“If you deny it! Or slander those who tell it to ye.
Admit it for your factious purposes, or defend
And then make it worse. And you will abide the end."
"Have they no refuge or resource?" Scrooge cried.
"Are there no prisons?" ironically the Spirit replied,
"Are there no workhouses?" for the very last time
Using his own words on him at the midnight chime
At the stroke of the bell Scrooge looked all about
But the ghost was gone he was alone without doubt
As the last stroke ceased he lifted up his eyes to see
He suddenly remembered the prediction of Marley
And beheld a solemn draped and hooded apparition
Coming, like a mist along the ground, in his direction



STAVE
4
THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS

VERSE 1 – THE PHANTOM OF THE FUTURE

The Phantom approached slowly, gravely, silently
When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee
For the very air which this spirit moved through
It seemed to scatter gloom and mystery in his view
The phantom was shrouded in a deep black uniform
Which concealed its head and face its limbs and form
And left nothing visible save one outstretched hand
Scrooge managed to summon up the courage to stand
It was not easy to separate the figure from the night
By the virtue that it was surrounded by a lack of light
Though it was tall and stately fear filled Scrooge’s head
And the presence of it filled him with a solemn dread
Surprisingly it was a very motionless and silent spirit
And reluctantly Scrooge was prompted to question it
"Are you the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?" he said
The Spirit did not answer, but nodded with its head
"You will show me things that have not happened yet,
But will happen in the time before us, is that so, Spirit?"
The slightest movement of its head could be perceived
An inclination was the only answer Scrooge received
Although by this time well used to ghostly company
Scrooge feared the dark and silent phantom greatly
So much so that his legs trembled beneath his body
And when he prepared to follow it his steps were heavy
Scrooge exclaimed, "I fear you Ghost of the Future!"
More than any spirit I have seen more than any specter
But as I know spirit that to do me good is your plan
And as I hope to live my life and to be another man
From what I was, I am prepared to bear you company,
And do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?"
It gave him no reply. The hand pointed straight on
"Lead on spirit,” said Scrooge tiredly. "Just Lead on.
The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me,
So lead on" The Phantom moved off effortlessly

VERSE 2 – THE PLACE OF MERCHANT’S

The phantom’s shadow seemed to carry Scrooge along
Then suddenly they were in amongst the city’s throng
They didn’t enter it they just seemed to enter the city
The city actually sprang up about them in reality
But they were in its heart amongst the merchants
With the chinking of money and mongers chants
The Spirit stopped beside a knot of businessmen
They were known to Scrooge who’d met them often
Observing the spirit stop Scrooge halted his walk
The spirit pointed so Scrooge listened to their talk.
"No," said a great fat man with a even fatter head,
"I don't know much about it, I only know he's dead."
"When did he die?" inquired another. "Last night"
The general tone was not at all grave but rather light
"What was the matter with him?" asked a third,
"I thought he'd never die." Not even a little absurd
"God knows," said the first, yawning in assent
"What about his money?" asked a red-faced gent
"I haven't heard, perhaps he left it to his company”
He said “All I know is that he hasn't left it to me."
They responded with a laugh to this pleasantry
"It will be a very cheap funeral more than likely,"
Said the same speaker "For on my life I don't know
Of anybody who knew him who would want to go,
I suppose we could make up a party and volunteer?"
"Only if a lunch is provided," said one with a sneer
And then another laugh echoed around the mall
"Well, I am the most disinterested of you, after all,"
Said the first speaker,"I never ever eat lunch and
Black gloves are never ever seen upon my hand
But I will offer to go, if somebody else will also
I think I was his most particular friend you know”
With that the group broke up going separate ways
And the speakers and the listeners strolled away
To mix with other groups. Scrooge knew the men
And looked towards the Spirit for some explanation

The Phantom did not speak yet glided on to a street
Its finger pointed to where two persons would meet
Scrooge listened, thinking it maybe the explanation
He knew these men who were now in conversation
They were great men of business and very wealthy
Of great importance and of good opinion worthy
Scrooge made a point of standing well in their esteem
But only in a business point of view it would seem
"How are you?" said one of the men "How are you?"
Returned the other. "Well!" said the first to be true
"Well Old Scratch has got his own at last, then hey."
"So I’m told," returned the second. “And so they say”
"Cold, isn't it." Said the first of the business men
"Seasonable for Christmas. Do you like skating”?
"No. No. Something else to think of. Good morning."
Not another word was said, that was their meeting,
That was their conversation, and then their parting.
Scrooge was surprised the Spirit thought important
Conversations apparently so trivial and insignificant
But feeling assured they must have some relevancy
He set himself to consider what it was likely to be
He reasoned they had no baring on Marley’s demise
Jacob died in the past so he didn’t see how it applies
He could not think of any person connected to him
And was at a loss to explain what had provoked them
But he did not doubt there was in the scenes content
Some moral to be learned for his own improvement
He resolved to treasure what he saw and every word
And to observe his shadow and act on what he heard
For he decided that the conduct of his future entity
Would render him the solution of these riddles easy
He looked about the merchants for his own figure
But another man stood in his corner in the future
But before the significance of this could sink in
The phantom stood beside him its hand pointing
When he roused himself from his thoughtful quest
And turned his full attention to his phantom guest
He felt the unseen eyes were looking at him keenly
It made him shudder, and feel very cold suddenly
They left the busy scene both familiar and renown
And went instantly into an obscure part of the town

VERSE 3 – OLD JOE’S

Scrooge had never been here before and it didn’t suit
Although he knew it’s situation, and its bad repute
The ways were foul and narrow the houses squalid
The people wretched, drunken, ugly and slipshod
Offensive smells were disgorged from every alley
The whole quarter reeked of crime, filth, and misery
Far in this den of infamy was a rag and bone shop
To Scrooges surprise it was here that he had to stop
The floor within the shop had piles and heaps upon
Of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, and refuse iron
Sitting in among what he dealt in, by a charcoal stove
Was a seventy five year old and gray-haired cove
Screened from the cold air behind a curtain of rags
And smoked his pipe amidst piles of clothes and bags
The Phantom entered with Scrooge close by his side
Just as a woman with a heavy bundle slunk inside
But she had scarcely entered, when another woman
Similarly laden came in closely followed by a man
It was clear that all four were known to each other
And they stood embarrassed eyeing one another
Then after quite a short period of blank astonishment
They all three burst into a laugh of nervous merriment
"Let the charwoman go first!" cried the first woman
"The laundress second and third the undertaker's man
After all Joe here’s a chance that all three haven’t met”
She continued “All together without us meaning it!"
"You couldn't have met in a better place," said old Joe
And removed his pipe from his mouth and said, “lets go
Come into the parlor, let me just shut the shop door
How it skreeks, there’s nothing here that’s rusted more
And I'm sure there's no bones here old as mine. Ha, ha!
We're suited to our calling, we're well matched we are
Come into the parlor then all it’s a cold, cold night
Come into the parlor." Joe said, “I’ll trim the light”
They all followed after the old rag and bone broker
The old man then raked the fire over with a poker
While he did this, the woman who had already spoken
Threw her bundle on the floor as a gesture or token
Then she sat down in a flaunting manner on a chair
And then she gave her two companions a defiant stare
"Well what odds then. Mrs. Dilber." said the woman.
"Everyone has a right to look to themselves if they can.
He always did." She said in a tone of self-righteousness
"True, indeed, No man more so " said the laundress
"Why then, who's to be the wiser? And who knows?
We're not going to pick holes in each other, I suppose?"
"No, indeed," said Mrs. Dilber and the man together
"We should hope not." Said the solemn old undertaker
"Very well, then! Who's the worse, goodness knows
For the loss of these things? Not a dead man, I suppose."
"No, indeed," said Mrs. Dilber, laughing nervously anew
"If he wanted to keep them after death, wicked old screw,"
Pursued the woman, "Why wasn't he more natural in life?
If he had been, he'd have had somebody in his strife
To look after him when he was struck with death,
Instead of lying alone gasping out his last breath"
"It's true it's a judgment on him," said Mrs. Dilber.
The woman replied "I wish it had been a bit heavier
And it would have been, you may depend upon it,
If I could have lain my hands on more I will admit
Open the bundle, old Joe, and let me know the value
You can speak plain old Joe in front of those two
I'm not afraid to be the first, nor for them to see
Come on then old Joe open the bundle and tell me
We knew we were helping ourselves before we met
I believe. It's no sin. Open the bundle, Joe. Let’s see it"
But the gallantry of her friends would not allow her
And the man stepped forward and produced his plunder
It wasn’t much, a pair of sleeve-buttons, A seal or two
A pencil case and a brooch all of them no great value.
Old Joe severely examined and appraised them all
Then chalked the sum he was to give on the wall
"That's yours done, and not another penny or so
Not if I was to be boiled for not doing it.” Said Joe
“Who's next?" Mrs. Dilber was next. Sheets and towel,
Sugar tongs, silver tea spoons, a little wearing apparel,
Her account was stated on the wall in the same way
"I always give too much to ladies it’s the price I pay
It's my weakness and that's the way I ruined myself,
That's yours said Joe putting the goods on the shelf
If you asked me for a penny more than I’ve writ down
I'll repent of being so liberal and knock off half-a-crown."
"And now undo my bundle, Joe," said the first woman.
Joe went down on his knees difficult for an old man
And undid the bundle revealing something uncertain
"What do you call this?" said old Joe. "A Bed-curtain?"
"Ah”! She replied leaning forward her face cracking
"Bed-curtains Joe " continued the woman, laughing
"You don’t mean to say you took them down, so
Rings and all with him lying there?" asked old Joe
"Yes I do," replied the woman. "Why not though?"
"You were born to make your fortune," said Joe,
Joe laughed heartily “and you will certainly do it."
"I certainly shan't hold my hand, when I can get
Anything in it by reaching, for the sake of a so and so
Such a man as he was, I promise you that old Joe,"
Returned the woman. Joe examined the next item
"Don't drop oil upon the blankets, don’t spoil them"
"His blankets?" asked Joe. "Whose would they be?"
She replied "He won’t get a chill without them, will he?"
"I hope he didn't die of any thing catching. Eh?"
Said old Joe, stopping in his work, and looking at her
"Don't you be afraid of that, if he did" said the woman.
"I wasn’t so fond of him that I'd loiter with the man
And you may look through that shirt till your eyes ache
You’ll find no hole, nor threadbare place and no mistake
It's the very best he had, and a fine one too as you see
And they'd have wasted it, if it hadn't been for me."
"And What do you call wasting of it?" asked old Joe.
"Putting it on him to be buried in, don’t you know,"
She said with a laugh "Somebody was fool enough
To put it on, but I took it off and dressed him in rough
If calico ain't good enough for the purpose of burying
It isn't good enough for anything. It's quite as becoming”
She said, “He can't look uglier than he did in that one."
Scrooge listened to this horrified at what they’d done
As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light
He was filled with detestation and disgust at the sight
"Ha, ha!" laughed the same woman, as Joe paid out
Laughter still rang in his ears as they went without
"Spirit," said Scrooge, shuddering from head to toe
"I see, The case of this man might be my own I know”
Shaking with rage and fear “I know” he began again
“My life tends that way, now. Oh Merciful Heaven,”
“What is this?" he said fearing that he was deranged
And he recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed

VERSE 4 – RIP

They stood in a room by a bare and uncurtained bed
On which, beneath a ragged sheet lay something dead
The room was very, very dark, too dark to see clear
But Scrooge glanced round anyway driven by fear
A shaft of pale moonlight fell straight upon the bed
The Phantom steady hand was pointed to the head
Scrooge looked at the phantom then again at the man
The plundered and bereft, unwept and uncared for man
The sheet was so loosely arranged that any movement
Would have exposed the cadaver’s embodiment
Scrooge thought of how easy it would be to do it
But was as powerless to do so as to dismiss the spirit
Though he was willing He could not expose the face
"Spirit," Scrooge said, "This is a cold fearful place.
I shall not leave this lesson, trust me. Let us not linger."
Still the Ghost pointed to the head with a bony finger
"I understand you," Scrooge said "And I would do it,
If I only could. But I have not the power to, Spirit."
The phantom seemed to look coldly down on him
"If there is any person in the town, who has in them”
Scrooge said, “Any emotion caused by this man's death,
Show them to me, I beg you with my last breath."
The Phantom spread its dark robe out like a wing
And then a new scene appeared on its withdrawing

VERSE 5 – A SHOW OF EMOTION

The scene revealed was a room illuminated by the day
Where a mother watched her children quietly play
She was expecting some one with anxious eagerness
For she began pacing up and down in her distress
She started at every sound and looked out the window
Then glanced at the clock the tried in vain to sit and sew
She could hardly bear the noise of her playing children
But the expected and feared knock was heard then
Hurrying to the door she found her husband there
A young man who’s depressed face was full of care
But there was a remarkable expression in it now
A kind of serious delight about his eyes and brow
The feelings of delight of which he felt ashamed
And he struggled hard to repress the joy unnamed
He sat down near to his wife beside the fireside
Her obvious anxiety was quite impossible to hide
Then she asked him to tell her the news that he had
When he didn’t answer "Is it good." she said, "or bad?"
"Bad," he answered. "We are quite ruined." Said she
"No. Caroline” he replied “There is hope yet you see"
"If he relents then nothing is past hope,” Caroline said
"He is past relenting," said her husband. "He is dead."
Caroline was mild and pleasant still in her youth
An open young creature whose face showed the truth
She was thankful in her soul to hear it and was happy
She prayed forgiveness next moment, and was sorry
"What the half-drunken woman actually said to me
About him being ill and not allowing me to see
When I tried to see him and obtain a week's delay
And I told you last night dear that I was sent away
I thought that it was an excuse and she was lying
Well it was true but he wasn’t only very ill, but dying"
"To whom will our debt be transferred to though?"
She asked him and he replied to her "I don't know.
But before that we shall have the money for them
And if not we’ll not find a successor as mean as him”
“Caroline we may sleep with lighter hearts tonight
Yes for the future does indeed look exceeding bright”
Even the children became brighter with each breath
And it was a much happier house for this man's death.

VERSE 6 – BACK IN CAMDEN TOWN

Now the only emotion that the phantom could show
Caused by the death, was only one of pleasure though
"Let me see some tenderness connected with a death,"
Said Scrooge; “Some tenderness spirit is my request”
The Ghost conducted him through alley and street
Road, lane and thoroughfare all of them familiar to his feet
And as they went along, Scrooge looked here and there
To find himself, but he could not see himself anywhere
They reached poor Bob Cratchit's humble house again
And found around the fire sat mother and children
It was Quiet. Very quiet unnaturally so in Scrooges views
Even The noisy little Cratchit’s were as still as statues
Sat in a corner, looking up at Peter, who was reading
The mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing
It was very quiet as he read from the book before him
"And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them."
The mother laid her work upon the table at her side
Put her hand to her face to hide the tear she’d cried
"The color hurts my eyes," she said to the children
Then Mrs. Cratchit said, "They're better now again,
Sewing by candlelight makes them weak rather
And I wouldn't want to show weak eyes to your father
Not for the world I wouldn’t” she heard a bell chime
“No not when he comes home, It must be near his time."
"Past it rather," Peter answered, shutting up his book.
Then he walked to the window so that he could look
Then he said "But I think he's walked a little slower
These last few evenings, than he used to, mother"
They were quiet again. Until she broke the silence
And in a steady, cheerful voice, only faltering once
"I have known him walk with Tiny Tim on his shoulder
Very fast indeed." "And so have I, often" cried Peter
"And so have I," exclaimed another. So had they all.
"He was very light to carry," she continued to recall
Resuming her work, "And his father loved him so,
That it was no trouble” she faltered “No trouble, no”
“There your father at the door!" continued the mother
She hurried to meet him as Bob stood in his comforter
He sat beside the fire as his wife prepared some tea
And they all tried to settle him down comfortably
Then the two young Cratchit’s got up on his knees
And each child kissed his cheek to set him at ease
He feigned good cheer and spoke to them all pleasantly
And Bob saw their work and he praised the industry
And the speed that Mrs. Cratchit and the girls display
He said they would be done long before next Sunday
"Sunday Robert! You went to-day, then?" she said
"Yes I went their today, my dear," Bob responded
"I wish you had come, you could have seen It then
Seen how green a place it is but you'll see it often.
I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday”
His words deserted him then and he could only say
“My little, little child!" cried Bob. "My little son!"
He broke down the loss was to great of his little one
He couldn't help it. It was the price of feeling love
He left the room, and went up to the room above,
Which was lit cheerfully, and hung with Christmas.
And he entered and saw the cause of his distress
There was a chair set close beside the child’s bed
And he composed himself and kissed the little head
When he was reconciled to the loss of his little son
He went down stairs content to be with everyone
They drew about the fire, and huddled against the chill
And talked at length the girls and mother working still
Bob told them of the act of extraordinary kindness
By Mr. Scrooge's nephew who witnessed his distress
When they had met that very day in Camden town
And noticing that Bob looked more than a little down
Inquired what had happened to distress Bob Cratchit
"And as he is a nice fellow" said Bob, "I told him all of it.
'I am heartily sorry for it, Mr. Cratchit’, he said to me,
'And heartily sorry for your good wife most heartily’.
“By the bye, how he ever knew that, I don't know."
"Knew what, my dear?” she said continuing to sew
"Why, that you were a good wife," Bob said warmly
"Everybody knows that," said Peter very proudly
"Very well observed," cried Bob. "I hope they do.
'Heartily sorry,' he said, 'sorry for the both of you.
If I can be of service to you in any way,' said he,
Giving me his card, 'I live here. Pray come to me.”
It really seemed as if he knew our Tiny Tim, and felt it"
"I'm sure he's a good dear soul," said Mrs. Cratchit.
“I shouldn't be at all surprised so mark what I say,”
Bob said, “If he got Peter a better situation one day
And Peter will make his way in some way or other
But however and when ever we part from one another,
I am sure we shall none of us forget poor Tiny Tim”
"Never, father!" cried them all. “We’ll never forget him”
"I know, my dears, that when we recollect how patient
And how mild he was and how happy and content
And although he was a little, little child we shall not
Easily quarrel, among ourselves” Bob said “and forget
Poor Tiny Tim in doing it." "No, never!" they all said
"I am very happy," said Bob, "I am very contented!"
Mrs. Cratchit kissed him; his daughters kissed him,
The two young Cratchit’s kissed him and he kissed them
Peter shook his father’s hands and gave a foppish nod
Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God

VERSE 7 – WRITING ON THE STONE

“Specter! Something tells me but I don’t know how”
Said Scrooge “That our parting moment is at hand now
Tell me what man that was whom we saw lying dead?"
The spirit did not speak yet conveyed him on instead
The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come led him, as before
Through a different time, to another place in the future
"This court," said Scrooge, “Is a very familiar location
And that’s my counting house and place of occupation
Spirit of the future let me behold what I shall be
In the days to come and see what becomes of me "
The Spirit stopped but the hand pointed elsewhere.
"Its here" He exclaimed. "Why do you point there?"
But the bony spectral finger continued to point away
Scrooge rushed over to his office window anyway
He looked in, It was an office still, but not his own
The furniture was not the same and décor unknown
And the figure in the chair was not Scrooge clearly
The Phantom just pointed as before disinterestedly
Scrooge rejoined it once again and they continued
Until through iron gates a churchyard he viewed
Here then in a churchyard the man who lay dead
Under the sheet now lay beneath the earth instead
The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed to one
Scrooge advanced to it trembling, as it must be done
"Spirit before I draw nearer to that stone’s location,"
Pleaded Scrooge, "Answer me just one question.
Are these the shadows of the things that will be,
Or are they shadows of things that May be, only?"
Still the Ghost pointed to the grave it was stood by
Despite no response Scrooge was resigned to try
"Men's courses will foreshadow,” he began to plead
Certain ends, which, if persevered in, they must lead,"
"But if the courses be departed from, the ends will be
Changed, Say it is thus with what you show me."
Scrooge crept towards the grave trembling madly
And read on the cold stone, Ebeneezer Scrooge. R.I.P.
"Am I that man who lay upon the bed?" he cried,
Slumped to his knees he begged the spirit to confide
The finger went from the grave to him and back again.
"No, Spirit! Please don’t send me to that dark domain"
"Good Spirit!" he cried, clutching at its robe tightly,
The finger still was there pointing. "Spirit hear me”
I’m not the man I was and I wont be that man again
That I must have been but for this spiritual campaign
Why show me this, if I am past all hope good spirit?"
"Oh Good Spirit," he pursued and fell down before it
“Assure me that, by an altered life, you guarantee
I may change these shadows you have shown me."
Then Scrooge with his hands trembling held his head
"I will honor Christmas in my heart”, Scrooge said
And I will try to keep it all the year you can be sure
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future
And within me shall strive The Spirits of all Three
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach me
Oh, please tell me” Scrooge cried in a pleading tone
That I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"
In his agony, he caught the spectral hand of the spirit
It sought to free itself, but he was strong, and held it
The Spirit, stronger, shook him and left him prostrate
He held up his hands in a last prayer to save his fate
He saw a change in hood and dress of his spirit host
It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled into a bedpost


STAVE
5
THE END OF IT


VERSE 1 – REDEMPTION

Yes! And the bedpost was his own as was the bed
The room was his and the curtains on the bedstead
But the Best and happiest of all and most amazing
The Time before him was his, to make amends in!
"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!"
He repeated, as he scrambled out of bed “I assure”
"The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
On my knees I say it on my knees, old Jacob Marley!
Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this
He was fluttered and glowing and brimful of bliss
He had sobbed hard in his struggle with the spirit
And his face was wet with tears as evidence of it
He folded a bed-curtain about him as if held in a spell
Then he cried "They are not torn down, rings as well
They are here, I am here and the would be shadow
Will be dispelled all the shadows will be! That I know"
All this time his hands busied with his shirt and gown
Pulling them inside out and turning them upside down,
Scrooge was both laughing and crying simultaneously
And the said “I don't know what to do! I don’t really"
"I am as light as a feather,” he said skipping with joy
“I’m happy as an angel, I’m merry as a schoolboy
I’m giddy as a drunken man” he staggered and twirled
“Merry Christmas and happy New Year to the world!"
He had danced off into the sitting room in his excess
And was now standing there winded and breathless
"There's the saucepan that the gruel was in!" he cried
Setting off again, and dancing around about the fireside
"There's the door, by which Marley’s Ghost entered at
And the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present, sat
There's the window where I saw the wandering Spirits.
It’s all true, it all happened. And I haven’t lost my wits!"
He laughed heartily amazing for a man out of practice
It was a splendid illustrious laugh born of joy and bliss
Even he didn’t believe the brilliant laughter was his
Then he said, "I don't know what day of the month it is,"
"I don't know how long I've been among the Spirits
I don't know anything. And I don't care.” He admits
He was halted suddenly by the church bells ringing out
The lustiest peals he had ever heard without any doubt
He ran to the window, opened it, and put out his head.
No fog, no mist, but clear, bright, stirring, cold instead
Golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air, glorious
And the merry-bells pealed out oh, glorious Christmas!
Scrooge called down to a boy in Sunday clothes, “Hey!”
Scrooge paused to chuckle “You boy What's to-day?"
"Eh?" returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.
"What's to-day, my fine fellow?" Scrooge called louder
"To-day?" replied the boy. "Why, its Christmas Day."
"I haven't missed it.” Scrooge said “its Christmas day!
The Spirits have managed to do it all in one night
Well they can do anything they like, that’s right
Yes of course they can. Hallo, my fine young fellow!"
"Hallo!" returned the boy still standing down below
"Do you know the Poulterer's, in the next street but one
On the corner?" he inquired smiling when he had done.
The boy replied a little puzzled "I should hope I did,"
"An intelligent boy!" said Scrooge. "A remarkable kid!
Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey?
That was hanging up there, the great big one obviously?"
The boy replied smartly "What, the one as big as me?"
"What a delightful boy!" said Ebeneezer laughingly
"It's a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my young fellow"
"It's hanging their now," replied the boy. “That I know”
"Is it?" said Scrooge. "Go and buy it my young lad"
"What!" exclaimed the boy “You must be raving mad”
"No, no," said Scrooge, "I am in earnest, Go and buy it,
Tell them to bring it here, and I will give an address for it”
At first the boy seemed a little reluctant to do the job
“Then come back with the man, and I'll give you a “bob”.
Do it under five minutes and I'll make it half-a-crown."
The boy was off like a shot to find the Poulterer’s in town
"I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's!" Scrooge whispered low
And laughed heartily as the boy ran off through the snow
"It will be a surprise it's twice the size of Tiny Tim”
Sadly he reflected Bob would not suspect it sent by him

VERSE 2 – A POULTRY SUM AND TWO PORTLY GENTLEMEN

The hand he wrote the address in was not a steady one
But he wrote it and went down-stairs when it was done
As he stood, awaiting arrival of the Poulterer’s man
The knocker caught his eye, he thought how it all began
He touched it gently and admired its kind expression
The Turkey arrived and he labeled it with its destination
The Poulterer’s man was dispatched to Camden in a cab
And Scrooge duly paid half a crown out to the lad
Throughout his dealings with the Turkey and the boy
Scrooge chuckled unable to suppress his obvious joy
After shaving he dressed himself up all in his best
And at last got out into the streets and felt well blessed
People were by this time pouring forth to great extent
As they had when with the Ghost of Christmas Present
Scrooge walked with his hands behind him for a while
And he regarded every one with a most delighted smile
He looked so irresistibly pleasant that more than a few
Said, "Good morning, sir. A merry Christmas to you."
Scrooge had not gone very far along his way when
Coming towards him he beheld the portly gentlemen
Who walked into his counting house on Christmas Eve
And said to him, "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe."
A pang of regret crossed his heart as he recalled it
They may wish to avoid him he was forced to admit
But their displeasure he would just have to face
"My dear sir," said Scrooge, quickening his pace,
And taking the older gentleman by both his hands
"How do you do. I hope you succeeded in your plans”
He then turned his attention to the other man’s partner
“It was very kind of you. A merry Christmas to you, sir!"
"Mr. Scrooge?" the man said his dislike obvious to view
"That’s my name, and I fear not a pleasant one to you
Allow me to ask your pardon. And have the goodness"
Here Scrooge whispered in his ear and eased his distress
"Lord bless me!" he cried as if his breath were taken
"My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious? Am I mistaken?"
"If you please," said Scrooge. "And not a farthing less.
A great many back-payments are included in it, I confess
Will you do me that favor?" Scrooge asked of them
"My dear sir," said the other, shaking hands with him
"We don't know what to say to such munificence. Sir"
"Please say nothing," He retorted “I would prefer”
"Come and see me. Will you come and see me?"
"We will!" they both cried who would do it clearly
"Thank you both, I am much obliged Bless you!"
After his meeting it was the church that he went to
He walked the streets watching people come and go
Sharing smiles and hello’s as they hurried to and fro
Scrooge found that everything could yield him pleasure
A simple walk gave him happiness beyond measure

VERSE 3 – CALLING ON A NEPHEW

In the afternoon he turned his steps in another direction
Towards his nephew's house to accept his invitation
He passed the door a dozen times before his visit
When he found the courage he made a dash at it
He asked the girl "Is your master at home, my dear?"
"Yes, sir." She replied in a voice polite and clear
"Where is he, my love?" He said with some finesse.
"He's in the dining-room, along with my mistress
I'll show you up-stairs, if you please." The girl said
"Thank you. He knows me, he’s my nephew Fred"
Scrooge said, his hand already on the dining-room lock.
"I'll go in here, my dear." He entered without a knock
He sidled his face in, round the door silent and supple
Fred and his young wife were looking at the laden table
The table was spread in great array for the festivities
And the young housekeeper doubtful about her abilities
“Fred!" said Ebeneezer Scrooge a little fainthearted.
Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started.
Scrooge forgot about her sitting in the quiet corner
With footstool, or he would not have startled her
"Why bless my soul!" cried Fred, "Who's that there?"
"It's I. Your Uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner.
Does the invitation hold? Will you let me in, Fred?"
“Let you in? I couldn’t be happier,” the nephew said
When uncle and wife were introduced Scrooge hesitated
And said “May god forgive me for the years I’ve wasted”
Let him in indeed Fred could not have been happier
He was at home nothing could have been heartier
Scrooge saw that his niece looked just the same.
So did Topper and the plump sister when they came
There was wonderful happiness and much partying.
But he was early at his counting house next morning.

VERSE 4 – BACK TO THE COUNTING HOUSE

Oh he was early there. If he could only be there first
And catch Bob Cratchit come late! And see him cursed
That was the thing Scrooge had set his heart upon
And so he did and he sat and saw nine o’clock gone
The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob.
It was undoubtedly so that he was tardy for his job
He was full eighteen minutes behind his usual time
Bob knew that to Scrooge it was a cardinal crime
Bob’s hat was off even before he opened the door
His comforter too was taken off his neck before
Scrooge sat with his door wide open, so he might see
As Bob Cratchit crept in toward his desk silently
He was on his stool in a jiffy and picked up his pen
An accustomed voice growled “What time is this then?”
"What do you mean by coming here this time of day?"
Bob’s heart sank as he thought he was about to pay
"I am behind my time,” said Bob "I'm very sorry, sir"
"You are" observed Scrooge. "Yes. I think you are.
Step this way, if you please Mr. Cratchit" he said
"It's only once a year, sir, It shall not be repeated.
I was making rather merry yesterday, sir." he pleaded
"Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," Scrooge said
"I am not going to stand this sort of thing any more”
He continued, leaping from his stool “And therefore,"
Then he dug Bob in the arm with his finger quite firmly
And said "And therefore I am about to raise your salary."
Bob trembled, and thought about calling a constable
Then Scrooge smiled and he felt more uncomfortable
"A merry Christmas, Bob," He smiled and laughed again
He spoke with an earnestness that could not be mistaken
"A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, I fear”
He continued “Than I have given you for many a year.
I'll raise your salary, and assist your struggling family
I am in earnest Bob and I mean to help you honestly
And we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon,
Over a Christmas bowl in the Saracens Head saloon
Make up the fires, and buy another coalscuttle Bob
Before you dot another I, cross another t or any job!"

VERSE 5 – THE END OF IT

He was better than his word. He did it all and more rather
And to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.
He became as good a friend, and master, and man
As anyone in any city, town, borough or world can
Some people laughed to see the great alteration in him,
But Scrooge let them laugh, and he little heeded them
He had no further intercourse with any sort of Spirit
It was said if any man alive had the knowledge of it
That scrooge knew very well how to keep Christmas
And may that always be truly said of us, and all of us!
Now our story of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s redemption is done
And as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA

THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA

Part one – Genesis of the Gift Giver

During this narrative I will be answering the eternal question which is all pervading during the festive season namely does Santa Claus really exist?
Obviously the answer we want is a resounding yes and so it will be.
Secondly I will be exploding the popular myth that it was the Coca Cola Company who were responsible for the red suited image of Santa.

St Nicholas is known by many different names around the world and he undoubtedly a legend.
The legend began in the 4th century A.D. in what is now Demre in modern Turkey.
Nicholas was a Christian priest and was born in 280 A.D. in the Lycian city of Patara near the ancient city of Myra where he later became Bishop.

Nicholas was the son of a wealthy man and when he inherited his father’s wealth he traveled the land helping the poor and sick and he was greatly admired for his piety and kindness.
He became the subject of many legends for example he was said to have brought a dead child back to life and he once saved the life of a prisoner by putting himself between the condemned man and his executioner also he is said to have stopped a storm in order to save three sailors from drowning.
But the most enduring and perhaps the best known of the Nicholas legends was when he secretly left golden dowries at the house of a poor man who was on the verge of selling his three daughters into slavery or prostitution.
The dowries meant the three poor sisters could be married.
This remarkable event has led to a tradition we still celebrate to this day as the sisters had left there stockings by the fire to dry and it was in the stocking where Nicholas placed the gold.
Despite his many secret late night visits to the homes of the poor and needy of the city he is forever known as the gift giver of Myra.

In the year 303 A.D., Diocletian the Roman emperor commanded all citizens of the Roman Empire to worship him as a god.
Nicholas and his fellow Christians believed in but one god and in all conscience could not obey the Emperor.
In his Anger Diocletian threatened the Christians with imprisonment if they did not comply.
Many Christians including Nicholas defied The Emperor and were imprisoned.
Nicholas was confined to a small cell for almost ten years and suffered greatly but never wavered in his beliefs.
It was In 313, when Constantine replaced Diocletian to become the first Christian Emperor and Constantine’s first act was the release of the Christians and upon his release Nicholas returned to his post as Bishop of Myra where he continued his good works until his death on December 6, 343.
On his death he was sainted to become St Nicholas the patron saint of Children and sailors.

THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA

Part two – Growth and Prohibition

In the eyes of the Catholic church, a saint is a person who’s lived such a holy life that even after death and their ascent to heaven they are still able to help the earth bound souls.
It was believed that the white bearded St Nicholas clad in his red bishop’s robes continued to help the less fortunate through his gift giving.
So In the years following his death the St Nicholas legend grew.

As Christianity flourished within the Holy Roman Empire so did St Nicholas and by the year 450 many churches in the Eastern provinces of the empire in Asia Minor and Greece were being named to honor him and by the year 800 he was the most popular saint in the Eastern Catholic Church.

Such was his growing popularity as a Saint and his high regard amongst Christians that his mortal remains, which had been held in his church in Myra since his death, were stolen by a band of Italian sailors in 1087 A.D. and taken to Italy where they remain to this day, housed in the Basilica de St. Nicola in Bari.

The St Nicholas legend spread ever wider around the world and in 13th century France December sixth became the feast of St Nicholas or Bishop Nicholas Day
And as the his fame spread north his red bishops robe was replaced by more practical suit of clothes, still red, but trimmed with white fur and his bishops mitre was replaced by red fur trimmed hat.
Then By the end of the 15th century, St Nicholas was with the exception of Jesus and Mary the most popular religious figure in the Christian world.

Even after the protestant reformation when the worship of saints and relics was discouraged the people kept faith with Nicholas.

When in the 17th century the puritan Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England he banned anything about Christmas the might be construed as enjoyable.
He banned any kind of feasting, drinking or dancing he even banned the hanging of holly.
In America the puritans went further by banning even the mention of St. Nicholas as well as gift-giving, candle-lighting and carol-singing.
But this only served to make people believe in St Nicholas even more

THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA

Part three – The literal St Nicholas

After the demise of the puritans in Europe and America the St Nicholas legend went from strength to strength.
He has over recent centuries become known by different names for example in Holland he is known as Sinter Klaas and when the Dutch arrived in New York or New Amsterdam as it was then the red suited Sinter Klaas arrived with them but the name has since become Americanized into Santa Claus.

The first time the Name Santa Claus appeared in print was in 1773 but the first description of the most traditional image of Santa Claus was by popular author Washington Irving In his History of New York, published in 1809.

But he was finally immortalized along with his eight reindeer in 1823 in the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” more commonly known to all of us as “The Night Before Christmas” written by Clement Clarke Moore an Episcopal minister.
Moore, who wrote the poem for his three daughters, depicted Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" with a supernatural ability to ascend up a chimney with a simple nod of his head.

The familiar round jolly white bearded image of Santa Claus was definitively illustrated by the political cartoonist Thomas Nast for Christmas issues of Harper's Weekly magazine in 1881.
It was Nast who revealed the details of Santa's workshop at the North Pole and alerted the world to the existence of what have become known as the naughty and nice lists.

Haddon Sundblom further reinforced Santa’s image when, in 1931, he drew a representation of the jolly red faced Saint for the Coca-Cola Company as part of their advertising campaign which was so successful that he has been used every year since.

Through literary references and descriptions of Christmas the legend of St Nicholas spread and became ingrained in all of us and Along the way the legend of the gift giver became intertwined with other country’s myths and folk lore figures and St Nicholas became known by a wide variety of names.
As well as Santa Claus or Sinter Klaas he is named Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, der Weinachtsmann and Papa Noel to name but a few.

So I can say to you all with hand on heart to young and old wherever you might live there is most definitely a Santa Claus.

A WINTER’S TALE

A WINTER’S TALE

It was in sixteenth century Germany, or so the legend has it, in a town called Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt.
That the founder of the protestant church, Martin Luther, was the first to decorate a Christmas tree with lighted candles.
Apparently when he was walking home through the forest one dark and frosty winter’s night, his attention was drawn to the myriad of bright stars that he could see sparkling and twinkling through the branches of the fir trees.
The beauty of the nights display had a great effect on him and he proceeded home very excited.
When he arrived home he relayed to his family what he had seen and what had excited him so and almost immediately he set about decorating his Christmas tree with candles and then to his families surprise he lit them.
Goodness only knows what his family thought, that he was possessed possibly.
And what of the other people in the town what did they think of him and his antics.
It probably caused more consternation than the reformation.

CHRISTMAS MOURNING

CHRISTMAS MOURNING

The Ronettes where playing on the radio, It was Christmas morning.
The children were rushing about like they’d had a caffeine injection; excitedly showing off there new toys while my wife was wrestling a turkey into the oven.
As I sat in my arm chair sipping my coffee my mind drifted back to the previous week.

The wipers swished rhythmically as they cleared the lightly beating sleet that was spattering the windscreen and the heater struggled to demist the inside.
All this was of no consequence as the car wasn’t actually moving.
It was the last Friday before Christmas and I was sat in a jam in the evening rush hour.
Half an hour I‘d been stuck in it and I was still only half a mile from where I worked.
I had time to take in the colourful and sometimes overly extravagant festive decoration on the houses which contrasted sharply with the meagre and tired looking display put on by the local council.
After another half an hour I reached the main road.
Nothing to see here through the wet steamy windows except the red tail lights of other frustrated drivers.
Twenty minutes after that accompanied by some over cheerful DJ on the radio I could see the roundabout.
The sleety rain was falling harder now and it was difficult to see through the murkiness.
After crawling to the roundabout I could just make out a flashing blue light which I suspected had nothing to do with Christmas.
As I got closer I could see it was attached to a police car which was blocking my exit.
Without any explanation the police had closed the road.
So I was faced with a choice, go back the way I came or take the exit off the roundabout which would take me in the opposite direction from where I lived.
I did the latter.
By the time I eventually arrived home I was in a black mood.
I shouted at the kids, moaned at my wife and tried to kick the cat.
My mood was not improved when my half cremated dinner was removed from the oven and what had once been gravy was now only a stain on the plate.
The weekend was spent doing all the pre Christmas stuff with the family and all too soon it was over.
When I returned to work on Monday I related my tale of woe to my workmate’s and we all had a big laugh about it.
Except for Harry, who lived locally, he just looked down at the ground grave faced.
Later, when we were alone, he told me the road was closed because a young woman had been knocked down and killed.
I was dumbstruck, I had no words just a feeling of shame at my selfishness.
A week before Christmas, she had died.
While I was cursing at being inconvenienced, ranting at being stuck in a jam.
A poor young woman lay dead in the rain soaked street.
Somebody’s wife and lover, also a daughter and mother and she was mourned by two children, a sister and a brother.

The sound of church Bells ringing out brought me back to Christmas morning and my family.
But I still couldn’t help thinking of other families for whom Christmas morning would be less joyous.
With the bells still ringing out I gave thanks for being alive.
Also I vowed to be more patient, more tolerant and more understanding in the future.
But I probably won’t keep it.

A QUESTION OF POOH

A QUESTION OF POOH

Its Christmas time again, as if anyone could fail to notice.
Even without leaving my house I can see more than half a dozen house decorated to the hilt.
Every coloured light imaginable, Santa’s on the roof or climbing a ladder, sleighs, elves, snowmen, bells, stars baubles and last but by no means least standing almost four feet high that perennial favourite Winnie the Pooh.
Wait a minute though you might well be saying what does Pooh have to do with Christmas? Well every other house seems to have one so there must be something in it.
I don’t recall mention of him in the bible and in the many nativity plays I have seen over the years he was conspicuous by his absence and although there is a donkey its not Eeyore.
The stable did not house Piglet and the wise men did not travel from the east with Tigger baring gifts of Huney.
Nor in any of the Christmas traditions around the world is there a single reference to Pooh as one of Santa’s helpers.
There’s Black Peter, The Jolly Elf even the devil figure Krampus but no Pooh but people still give him pride of place on their lawns at Christmas.
Go figure.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP, ELECTRICKERY AND OTHER DISASTERS

THINGS THAT GO BUMP, ELECTRICKERY AND OTHER DISASTERS

It was in the early hours of Christmas morning when I was awoken by a loud crash from the direction of the chimney breast.
I look arround and my wife who is a very light sleeper hadn’t stirred.
Now given the time of the year and the time of night someone younger or more impressionable might have thought it was Father Christmas about his work in the chimney.
However being a grizzled old cynic I thought it more likely to be either a burglar or perhaps the wind blowing over my chimney or even subsidence.
I lay awake for about ten minutes trying to work out what the noise was and hearing no further noises I decided it must have been a dream and went back to sleep.

A few hours later awoken suddenly again this time by three excitement crazed children dragging their sacks of presents behind them on thing was for sure there would be no return to sleep after this disturbance.
When the children had opened all their stocking presents they rushed off downstairs for breakfast leaving a scene of devastation behind them.

After breakfast I went back upstairs and showered and then went into the bedroom to dress for the day.
On opening the wardrobe door I discovered the source of the crash that had woken me up several hours earlier.
The rail in the wardrobe had collapsed and all the clothes were in a heap at the bottom on top of the shoes.
“So it wasn’t a dream then” I said to myself.
Five minutes later and wearing a slightly creased shirt I made my way back downstairs to what sounded like bedlam.

The rest of the morning went according to plan; the children opened their main presents from under the tree and disappeared off to play with their favourites.

By twelve o’clock the dining table was laid complete with my late mother’s best table cloth, Christmas napkins, party favours, best china, glassware and the brand new table centre while emanating from the kitchen was the sound of steam rattling the saucepan lids together with the mouth watering aroma of roasting Turkey.
In the lounge my wife was holding court with myself and her parents looking on as she was opening the few presents that still remained.
I left the group to go and boil the kettle for a drink as I entered the kitchen I looked at the electric cooker and there was one ring lit with nothing on it so I checked the other rings to make sure that the saucepan with the potatoes had heat under it which it did.
So I went to switch off the vacant ring only to discover it was already switched off.
Now there had been a little water spilled on the hob from where one of the pans had begun to boil over so I mopped up the spillage and using reverse psychology I turned the rogue ring on believing this would in fact turn it off, it didn’t it just tripped the breaker in the meter cupboard instead.
I went to the cupboard and reset the breaker and it tripped immediately.
So then we decided to wait for ten minutes before we repeated the exercise which ended with the same result.
It was decided that we could not use the cooker as it was just too dangerous.
With my wife almost in tears I said “it’s not the end of the world darling, and nobody died”.
So with true Dunkirk spirit we made the best of a bad situation.
As luck would have it the Turkey was cooked as was the stuffing, sausages and the Potatoes where boiled.
The remaining vegetables we were able to cook in the microwave and all we had to forgo were the roast potatoes and parsnips.
Now it wasn’t the most successful Christmas lunch we ever had but it could have been a lot worse.
“Bad things always come in three’s” I think we all thought it but equally all refrained from saying it out loud.

The next day, Sunday, passed off without incident for us anyway, my wife had to hit the stores in the Boxing Day sales to choose a new cooker.

Its late in the evening when, sitting down in front of the TV we see the news for the first time that day and we here the dreadful news about the Tsunami for the first time and even then it didn’t even hint at just how big a tragedy it really was.
Two hundred and fifty thousand dead in a heartbeat from Indonesia to sir Lanka and beyond and still counting.

We had our new cooker delivered on Thursday 30th December we were inconvenienced for five whole days.
Five days before normality was restored to our household.
Many of The survivors of the Tsunami will never have their lives restored to what they knew before Boxing Day.

Count your blessing, and make the best of what you have because it’s a lot more than many.