"SCROOGE" ""Hark the Herald Angels Sing"" ""Glory to the new born king!"" ""Peace on earth and mercy mild,"" ""God and sinners reconciled."" ""Joyful all ye nations rise,"" ""Join the triumphs of the skies,"" ""With angelic hosts proclaim,"" ""Christ is born in Bethlehem."" ""Hark the herald angels sing,"" ""Glory to the new born king!"" "Old Marley was as dead as a doornail." "This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the story I'm going to relate." "The registry of burial was signed by Scrooge and Scrooge's name was good on the London Exchange for anything he chose to put his hand to." "Ah, Mr. Scrooge." "Your servant, sir." "Are you ooff home to keep Christmas?" "I am not in the habit of keeping Christmas, Sir." "Then why are you leaving so early?" "Because, Sir, Christmas is in habit of keeping men from doing business." "Come it's the nature of things that ants toil and grasshoppers sing and play, Mr. Scrooge." "An ant is what it is, and a grasshopper is what it is, and Christmas, Sir, is a humbug, good day." "Ha ha ha ha ha." "Mr. Scrooge, Sir." "Who are you?" "Samuel Wilkins, Sir." "Oh yes, You owe me a little matter of twenty-odd pounds, I believe." "Well if you want to pay it, come to my place of business." "I don't conduct my aoffairs in the teeth of inclement weather." "I" " I can't pay you, Sir." "I'm not surprised." "Not unless you give me more time." "Did I ask you for more time to lend you the money?" "Oh, no, Sir!" "Then why should you ask me for more time to pay it back?" "Can't take me wife to a debtors' prison." "Then leave her behind." "Why should she go to a debtors' prison anyway?" "She didn't borrow the twenty pounds, you did." "Eh... what does your wife got to do with it?" "For that matter, what have I got to do with it?" "Good afternoon." "But, Mr. Scrooge, it's Christmas!" "Christmas has even less to do with it, my dear sir, than your wife has or I have." "You still owe me twenty pounds and you are not in the position to repay if it was in the middle of a heat wave on August bank holiday." "Good afternoon." ""Holy infant so tender and mild,"" ""Sleep in heavenly peace."" "Be ooff with you!" "Will." "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?" "Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years." "In fact, he died seven years ago this very day." "Well, we have no doubt that his generosity is well represented by his... surviving partner." "At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute." "Are there no prisons?" "Plenty of prisons." "And the union work houses, are they still in operation?" "They are." "I wish I could say they were not." "And the Treadmill and the Poor Law, they're still in full vigor, I presume?" "Both very busy, Sir." "Oh, from what you said at first" "I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course." "I'm very glad to hear it." "I don't think you quite understand us, Sir." "A few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth." "Why?" "Because it is at Christmas time, that want is most keenly felt." "and abundance rejoices." "Uh, what can I put you down for?" "Ha!" "...nothing." "You wish to be anonymous?" "I wish to be left alone." "Since you ask me what I wish, Sir, that is my answer." "I helped to support the establishments I have mentioned." "Those who are badly ooff must go there." "Many can't go there." "And some would rather die." "If they would rather die, they'd better do it and decrease the surplus population." "Besides, it's not my business." "Isn't it, Sir?" "No." "It is enough for a man to understand his own business without interfering with other peoples', mine occupies me constantly." "Good afternoon, gentlemen." "Who's that?" "Your nephew, Uncle." "It's you, is it?" "Well, what do you want?" "Neither to borrow money or beg a mortgage, Uncle." "Only to wish you a Merry Christmas!" "Keep Christmas in your own way and leave me to keep it in mine." "But you don't keep it!" "And let me leave it alone then." "Much good may it do you to keep it." "Much good it has ever done you." "It's certainly done me no harm." "No, your wayward nature has done that." "And your marriage." "My marriage was the making of me." "The ruin of you, you mean." "Why don't you come and see for yourself, if you won't take my word for it." "Come and dine with us tomorrow." "No... thank you." "But why?" "..." "Why?" "Why do you marry against my wishes?" "Because I fell in love." "You fell in love." "With a woman as penniless as yourself." "Oh, good evening, Nick." "We've never had any quarrel that I've ever been party to." "I ask nothing of you." "I came here in the spirit of bright good will and I won't let you dampen it." "So a Merry Christmas to you any way, Uncle." "Good evening." "And a Happy New Year." "Good Evening." "Humbug!" "How is Mrs. Cratchit and all the small assorted Cratchits?" "Very well, Sir." "Thank you." "All chomping at the bit for Christmas to begin, eh?" "Oh yes, Sir, all very eager." "And the little lame boy." "Which one is he?" "Tim, Sir." "That's right." "How is he?" "We're in high hopes he's getting better, Sir." "Good." "A Merry Christmas to you." "Thank you, Sir, and a Merry Christmas to you, Sir, I'm sure." "Thank you." "Come along Tim, my dear, I've got to go." "Did you have a lovely time looking at all the wonderful things?" "Yes, thank you, Ma-ma." "Did you get the big goose?" "It's the biggest goose you ever did see." "As big as you and as fast as a beetle." "Wait 'til your father sees it." "His eyes will pop right out of his head and he'll forget all about ornery old Mr. Scrooge." "Ha ha ha!" "You're not feeling too tired are you, dear?" "Not a bit, Ma-ma!" "If your father was here, he'd carry you home on his shoulder." "Yes, I love having a ride on his shoulder." "It's been almost as cruel to keep him working in that cold little room just as late as he possibly can." "Christmas Eve or no Christmas Eve, the old Ogre." "You want the whole day ooff tomorrow, I suppose?" "If quite convenient, Sir?" "It's not convenient!" "And it's not fair." "If I stopped your half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used, wouldn't you?" "Hmm!" "?" "But you don't think me ill-used, if I pay a days wages for no work," "'Tis only once a year, Sir." "That's a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25th of December." "Yes, Sir." "I'm sure." "I'm very sorry, Sir, to cause you such an inconvenience." "It's the family more than me, Sir." "They put their hearts into Christmas as it were, Sir." "Yes, and put their hands into my pockets as it were, Sir." "I suppose you better have the whole day." "But be back all the earlier the next morning." "I will indeed, Sir!" "Thank you, Sir!" "It's more than generous of you, Sir." "Yes, I know it is." "You don't have to tell me." "Merry Christmas, Sir!" "A Merry Christmas, Sir." "You, a clerk on fifteen shillings a week, with a wife and a family, talking about a Merry Christmas." "Haha." "I'll retire to bedlam." "Waiter." "Yes." "More bread." "Take me extra, Sir." "No more bread." "Scrooge." "Jacob Marley." "Scrooge." "Hu - hu- humbug!" "Oh..." "Hum..." " bug." "Scrooge." "Aaaaaaaaah!" "Who are you?" "!" "?" "!" "Ask me who I was." "All right, all right, who were you then?" "!" "In life, I was your partner," "Oh!" "What do you want with me?" "!" "Much." "Huh!" "Huh, huh, huh!" "In that case... can you sit down?" "I can." "Well do it then!" "You don't believe in me." "I-I don't." "Why do you doubt your senses?" "Because a little thing aoffects them." "A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheat." "You... you..." "might be an undigested bit of beef." "Huh!" "...a piece of cheese... a fragment of an underdone potato." "There's more of gravy than a grave in you, whatever you are." "You see that toothpick?" "I do." "You're not looking at it!" "But I see it not withstanding." "Oh." "Well then," "I'm just going to swallow this and" "I'll be tortured for the rest of my life by a legion of hob goblins, all of my own creation." "It's all humbug, I tell you!" "Wahahahahaohoh!" "Mercy!" "...mercy, mercy!" "Man of the worldly mind, do you believe in me or not?" "Yes, I do, I do, I do..." "I must." "But why do you walk the earth?" "And why do you come to me?" "It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad with his fellow men." "If it goes not forth in life it is condemned to do so after death." "It is doomed to wander through the world!" "Aaaaaah!" "Woe is me!" "And witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth and turned to happiness." "Why are you fettered?" "I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link and yard by yard." "I girded it on of my own free will and of my own free will..." "I wore it." "You have my sympathy." "Ahhhh... you do not know the weight and length of strong chain you bear yourself." "It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eve's ago and you have labored on it since." "It is a ponderous chain." "Mark me!" "In life, my spirit never roved beyond the limits of our money changing hold." "Now I am doomed to wander without rest or peace... incessant torture and remorse." "But it was only that you were a good man of business, Jacob." "Business!" "Mankind was my business!" "The common welfare was my business." "And it is at this time of the rolling year that I suoffer most." "Hear me!" "My time is nearly gone." "I come tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate." "A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer." "Thank you, Jacob." "You were always a good friend of mine." "You will be visited by three spirits." "What?" "Was that the chance of hope that you mentioned, Jacob?" "It was." "Oh, well..." "In that case, never-mind." "I think I'd rather not." "Without their visits you can not hope to shun the path I tread." "Expect the first when the bell tolls One." "Look to see me no more." "And look here... that you may remember for your own sake, What has passed between us." "Why do they lament?" "They seek to interfere for good in human measures." "And have lost their powers... forever." "Are you the spirit who's coming was foretold to me?" "I am." "Who and what are you?" "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past." "Long past?" "No, your past." "And what is your business here with me?" "Your welfare." "Huh... my welfare." "Your reclamation." "Take heed, rise, and walk with me." "Through the window?" "Are you afraid?" "I-but I" " I am a mortal." "I'm liable to fall." "There but a touch of my hand and you shall be upheld in more than this." "Good heavens!" "You know this place?" "Know it?" "!" "I was a boy here." "They are the chains of the things that have been." "They do not know we are here." "Look!" "There's my old school." "How lonely and deserted it looks." "Not quite deserted." "A solitary boy, yourself Ebenezer, forgotten by his friends is left there still." "I know." "Ebenezer!" "Fan!" "It's fact." "Oh, dear brother, I have come to bring you home." "Home, home, home!" "Home?" "Yes!" "Home for good and all!" "Home forever and ever." "Father is so much kinder than he used to be that home is like heaven." "For you, perhaps, but not for me." "He doesn't know me, nor even what I look like." "Same as I hardly know you now that you're quite a woman." "Ma-ma must have looked just as you look now, just before she died." "Perhaps that is what has changed his mind towards you." "He spoke to me so gently one night when I was going to bed, that I wasn't afraid to ask him, just once more, that you might come home." "And he said, "Yes, you should," and sent me in the carriage to bring you, and you're never to come back here anymore, and you're never to be lonely again." "Never to be lonely again." "Never, as long as I live!" "Well then, you must live forever, Fan." "Well, nobody else ever cared for me." "Nobody else ever will." "You must live forever, Fan!" "Oh, dear brother, what nonsense!" "Everyone loves you very much." "You must forgive Pa-pa and forget the past." "For our dearest mother's sake." "Oh, Fan..." "Bring down, Master Scrooge's box." "Your sister was always a delicate creature whom a breath might have withered." "But she had a large heart." "She had." "She died a married woman and had, I think, children." "One child." "True, your nephew." "She died... giving him life." "As your mother died, giving you life." "For which your father never forgave you, as if you were to blame." "You recall this, no doubt." "Recall it!" "Why bless my soul!" "It's at Old Fezziwig's!" "I was apprenticed here." "Look there's Old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig, top couple!" "Oh, was there ever a kinder man?" "And yet, what does this party cost him in your mortal money?" "Three or four pounds, at most." "Is that so much that he deserves your praise?" "Oh, but it's not that!" "The happiness he gave us, his clerks and apprentices, and everybody who knew him." "It was as great as if it had..." "as if it had cost a fortune." "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "Something, I think." "No, no, no, no..." "Just that I'd like to have a word with my own clerk, Bob Cratchit, just now." "That's all." "Turn and see yourself in love, Ebenezer Scrooge." "It's only a shilling ring, Alice, but one day, it'll be a gold one." "...when I'm rich enough." "Oh, it's a beautiful ring!" "But I mustn't accept it." "Why not?" "Because it's not good enough for you?" "Oh, no, no." "Oh, because I'm not rich enough for you?" "How foolish of you, of course not!" "But you're still so young, you may have a change of heart one day." "Oh, dearest Alice, if ever I have a change of heart towards you, it'll be because my heart has ceased to beat." "And it makes no diofference that I'm poor?" "I love you because you're poor, not proud and foolish." "Will you... always feel like that?" "As long as I live, ...longer... forever and ever." "Then..." "I accept your ring." "Alice" "Ebenezer" "Ha ha ha ha" "God Bless you, Alice," "From now to eternity, we, two, are as one." "I've seen enough!" "Yet more awaits you..." "I won't look!" "You shall." "Now see yourself in business, Ebenezer." "Come, come it's a busy week." "We are good friends, I think, besides good men of business." "We're men of vision and progress." "Why don't you sell out while the going's good?" "You'll never get a better ooffer." "You should be aid to the machine and the factory and the vested interest." "We small traders are all history, Mr. Fezziwig." "Huh, Doh-Doh's." "Yes, I dare say we are." "And the ooffer is a very large one, I have to admit, but it's not just for money alone that a man spends a lifetime building up a business, Mr. Jorkin." "Ha ha ha" "Well, if it isn't, I'd like you to tell me what you do spend a lifetime building up a business for?" "It's to preserve a way of life that one knew and loved." "No, I can't see my way to selling out to the new vested interest, Mr. Jorkin." "I have to be loyal to the old ways and die out with them, if needs must." "Well, ha ha ha." "You know what they say about time and tide, Mr. Fezziwig." "They wait for no one." "There's more in life than money, Sir." "Oh, excuse me, Mr. Fezziwig, Sir?" "Uh yes, yes, my boy?" "The foreman would appreciate a word with you, if you could spare the time, Sir." "Uh, yes, yes, of course." "Excuse me a moment." "Ha ha ha, you can't teach an old dog new tricks." "Can you, Mr. Scrooge?" "Nor teach the leopard to change its spots." "Well I" " I think I know what Mr. Fezziwig means though, Sir." "Oh, so you hate progress and money too, do you?" "Well no, I don't hate them, Sir, but... well, perhaps the machines aren't such a good thing for mankind, after all." "Sage and onions, my dear fellow!" "Ha!" "Gammon and spinach." "Why, suppose I told you, you could get twice the salary" "Old Fezziwig can aofford to pay you?" "as a clerk in a new company?" "What would you say to that, eh?" "Well I" " I'd still say money wasn't everything, Sir." "Ha, well if it ain't, I don't know what is." "Come and see me one day anyway, young fellow." "You're smart and you're no fool." "That's the kind of buck they're looking for these days." "No, Spirit, not here." "Yes, here." "Fan... your brother." "Do you know me?" "Ebenezer." "I sent for you." "Promise me..." "Promise you what, Fan?" "I'll promise you anything, dearest." "Only there, there isn't going to be any need." "You're going to get well again, Fan." "No..." "You are!" "you are." "Dear God, you must!" "Fan you-you-you can't die." "Fan, you mustn't die!" "You're going to get well again, Fan." "Fan, you're going to get well again!" "How could you have brought me here?" "Have you no mercy, no pity?" "Ebenezer." "Brother?" "Ebenezer?" "Promise me... you'll take care of my boy." "Promise me you'll take care my..." "You heard her." "Forgive me, Fan." "Forgive me." "Forgive me, Fan!" "Forgive me, Fan." "Well, there you are, me buck." "That's where you'll start." "And you can work your way up as high as the dome in St. Paul's Cathedral, if you have a mind to do so." "Control the cash box and you control the world." "By the way, how did Old Fezziwig take it when you said you were leaving him?" "He wished me luck, Sir." "No hard feelings, eh?" "Starting with a clean slate?" "Good." "And now let me introduce you to your fellow clerk." "Mr. Marley!" "Just a moment please." "Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, the new clerk." "Mr. Jacob Marley, our wizard of the accounts." "Your servant, Mr. Marley." "Your servant, Mr. Scrooge." "I'm sure you two gentlemen will get along famously." "I'm sure we shall Mr. Jorkin, Sir." "Yes, heh heh, well I'll leave you to it." "Thank you." "Take your place, no doubt, seems new and strange to you." "Somewhat." "The world is on the verge of new and great changes, Mr. Scrooge." "Some of them, of necessity, will be violent." "Do you agree?" "No, I think the world is becoming a very hard and cruel place, Mr. Marley." "One must steel oneself to survive it." "Not be crushed under with the weak and the infirm." "I think we have many things in common, Mr. Scrooge." "I hope so, Mr. Marley." "Oh, excuse me, Mr. Scrooge, Sir." "Yes?" "What's your present salary?" "Five shillings a week, Sir." "You can stay for four shillings a week." "Well yes, Sir." "Thank you, Sir." "Isn't that Old Fezziwig?" "Alice." "The same Alice you swore to love for all eternity, Ebenezer." "She is not changed by the harshness of the world." "But you are." "Then you no longer love me?" "You no longer love me." "When have I ever said that." "In words?" "..." "Never." "Well, in what then?" "In the way you have changed." "But how have I changed towards you?" "By changing toward the world." "But, is it, is it such a terrible thing for a man to struggle for something better than he is?" "Another idol has replaced me in your heart." "A golden idol." "It's singular." "The world, that can be so brutally cruel to the poor, professes to condemn the pursuit of wealth in the same breath." "You fear the world too much." "Ha!" "...with reason!" "But, I" " I" " I am not changed toward you!" "Aren't you?" "Our promise is an old one." "It was made when we were both poor and content to be so." "If you had never made that promise, tell me... would you seek me out and try to win me now?" "Of course, I would." "No." "If you were free today, would you choose a direless girl with - with neither wealth nor social standing?" "You, who now weigh everything by gain!" "I bring you nothing but repentance and regret." "That is why..." "I released you." "You know I'm right then?" "I must bow to your conviction that you are." "May you be happy in the life you have chosen." "Thank you." "I shall be." "Goodbye." "Show me no more." "But I told you." "These are but shadows of the things that have been." "That they are what they are." "Do not blame me." "Take me away!" "Very well." "But we have not done yet, Ebenezer Scrooge." "We do, but turn, another page." "And as your business prospered, Ebenezer Scrooge, a golden idol took possession of your heart... as Alice said it would." "May we hear those figures, Mr. Snedrig?" "At your pleasure." "Certainly, Mr. Groper." "Well, gentlemen, after seventeen years of existence, the Amalgamated Mercantile Society's books show the startling figures of a liability of three thousand- two hundred pounds, eight shillings and 10 pence." "And a total asset of eleven pounds, eight shillings, and 10 pence." "Well at least the 10 pences cancel each other out." "How much of this is the company's capital?" "All of it, Mr. Rosebed." "In short, Sir, you're not only a bankrupt, you're an embezzler of the company's funds." "Ha ha ha ha ha" "I also beat my wife and skewer innocent babies when in my cups." "Take a very cool attitude, if I may say so, Sir." "So do Mr. Scrooge and Mr. Marley." "They're not facing prosecution for the capital ooffense." "Oh, but gentlemen it could have been any one of you." "We're all cut-throats under this fancy linen, Mr. Snedrig." "I must ask you to speak for yourself, Mr. Jorkin!" "Well, what would you gain to prosecute me?" "All you would get out of it is about eleven pounds odd." "And to pack me ooff to Botany Bay, would be poor compensation for the panic that would arise among the share holders." "Panic, Sir?" "Yes, panic." "Would any of you gentlemen care to deny that if this juicy little scandal leaked out now the annual shareholders meeting would resemble an orchestra of scorched cats." "Result... bankruptcy all around." "Strike that speech out of the minutes!" "Yes, Sir." "Mr. Jorkin doesn't exaggerate the imprudence of allowing his... misdemeanors to be made public." "Are you in sympathy with Mr. Jorkin by any chance, Mr. Scrooge?" "Not, I confess, with the admittance." "Mr. Marley and I have a proposition to make to the representatives of the company which might solve some of the difficulties to our general advantage." "The devil you have!" "You ought to watch these two fellows, you know?" "They'd skin Jack Ketch alive and he'd never know they'd done it." "Can we hear the proposition?" "Shall I be Spokesman?" "Mr. Marley and myself are prepared to make good out of our own private resources, the sum of money appropriated by Mr. Jorkin." "Ha, ha, ha, reprieved, reprieved!" "Curfew shall not ring tonight, Mr. Snedrig." "Order, order!" "In return, we wish to be allowed the option of buying up further shares in the company." "To a maximum of fifty-one percent of the total." "In short gentleman, if you wish to save the fair name of the company by accepting their generous ooffer, ha!" "They become the company." "Fifty-one percent!" "?" "Never, never!" "Out of question!" "Never!" "Fifty-one percent!" "?" "Out of question!" "and also out of order, Mr. Scrooge!" "Pardon me... if you can find the grace to," "I've just come from Mr. Marley's with a message for Mr. Scrooge." "Well, can I give it to him?" "Well please your great kind self, dear." "I'm to say... that Mr. Marley ain't expected to live through the night, and that if Mr. Scrooge wants to take his leave of him, he should nip along smartly or there won't be no Mr. Marley to take leave of" "as we know the use of the word." "tch tch tch" "He's breathing very queer when he does breathe at all." "Excuse me, Mr. Scrooge." "I'm busy." "It's about Mr. Marley, he's dying, Sir." "Well what can I do about it?" "If he's dying, he's dying." "Well, the message was for you to go at once, Sir." "It is now a quarter to five." "The business of the office is not yet finished," "I shall go when the office is closed." "At seven o'clock." "Yes, Sir." "He'll come at Seven." "I'll try and get Mr. Marley to hold out 'til then, I'm sure." "Much obliged." "Good night to ya." "And a Merry Christmas if it ain't out of keepin' with the situation." "Thank you, the same to you." "I hope you'll find Mr. Marley well, Sir." "I should think that's highly unlikely." "Yes, I suppose so, Sir, but... seems odd to think of the place without him, Sir." "Why should it be anymore odd than it was with him, hmm?" "We've all got to die, Cratchit." "I suppose you will want the whole day ooff tomorrow, as usual." "If quite convenient, Sir?" "Ha, ha... every Christmas you say the same thing." "And every Christmas, it's just as inconvenient as it was the Christmas before." "Goodnight." "Goodnight, Sir." "Who's that, the doctor?" "No, Sir, the undertaker." "Ha." "You don't believe in letting the grass grow under your feet, do you?" "Ours is a highly competitive profession, Sir." "Is he dead yet?" "I'll have another look, if you'd like?" "No, don't bother." "I'll see for myself." "Oh, oh Jacob." "Well have they... have they seen to you properly?" "Last rights and all that, hmm?" "There's uh... there's nothing I can do, hmm?" "Oh?" "What... particularly?" "While..." "Huh?" "...there's still time..." "Time?" "..." "Time for what?" "We..." "We were wrong." "Huh?" "Wrong." "Wrong?" "Oh..." "Well we - we can't be right all the time." "Nobody's perfect." "We've been no worse than the next man." "Or better, if it comes to that." "You mustn't reproach yourself, Jacob." "We are wrong." "What?" "Save... yourself." "What?" "Save myself?" "Save myself from what?" "Hmm?" "Speak up" "Is he dead?" "Yes." "Just like you said." "I always know." "One shadow more." "No!" "No more." "I" " I cannot bear it." "Jacob Marley worked at your side for eighteen years." "He was the only friend you ever had." "But what did you feel when you signed the registrar at his burial when you took his money, his house, and his few lean sticks of furniture?" "Did you feel a little pity for him?" "Look at your face, Ebenezer." "A face of a wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous old sinner." "No... no... no, no, no... no." "No... no... no, no, no..." "Ha ha ha ha." "Heh heh heh heh." "Come in, come in, Ebenezer Scrooge." "I await you." "Yes, I'm" " I'm coming." "I'm coming." "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." "Ohhhhh..." "Ebenezer, come in." "He he he he he." "Come in, come in!" "And know me better, man." "Heh heh heh..." "I am the Spirit of Christmas Present." "Look upon me." "You've never seen the like of me before..." "Have you?" "Never." "And I wish the pleasure had been indefinitely postponed." "So... is your heart still unmoved towards us, then?" "I'm too old and beyond hope!" "Go and redeem some younger, more promising creature, and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way." "Mortal!" "We spirits of Christmas do not give only one day of our year." "We live the whole 365." "So is it true of the child born in Bethlehem." "He does not live in men's hearts only one day of the year, but in all the days of the year." "You have chosen not to seek him in your heart." "Therefore, you shall come with me and seek him in the hearts of men of good will." "Come." "Touch my robe." "Heh heh heh ha ha ha." ""Hark!" "The herald angels sing,"" ""Glory to the newborn King!" What place is this?" "A place where miners live, who labor in the bowels of the earth." "But they know me." "Come." "Joyful, all ye nations, rise," "Join the triumph of the skies;" "With angelic hosts, proclaim," "Christ is born in Bethlehem!" "Hark!" "The herald angels sing," "Glory to the newborn King!" "Why, it's Cratchit!" "It's Bob Cratchit." "He's coming mother!" "Father's here with tiny Tim!" "Here, Martha." "You hide... and we'll tell him you've been held up and who knows when you'll be here." "Yes!" "Go hide!" "Oh, goodness!" "Where?" "Behind the scullery door, quickly, Martha!" "Hi." "A Merry Christmas." "Why... where's our Martha?" "Oh, she's not coming." "Not coming?" "Not coming on Christmas day?" "Yes I am, Father!" "I can't bear to let them tease you." "Why, bless your heart." "It never would have been Christmas, if they'd kept you late." "Is the pudding still singing in the copper, Peter?" "Yes, come and hear it." "You come, too, Mary and Belinda!" "Come, Tim." "You come along as well, Martha." "Come and hear the pudding singing in the copper." "I'll come in a minute." "All right." "Sit you down before the fire, and have a nice warm, the Lord bless you." "that I never did think I'd get away." "We had to clear away this morning, and then I ran all the way so's to be here in time." "How did little Tim behave in church?" "As good as gold and better." "Sometimes he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much and thinks the strangest things you ever heard." "He told me, he wasn't going to feel shy if people looked at him because he was a cripple, as it might be pleasant to them, being in church, to remember upon Christmas day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see." "He's growing strong and hearty though, Martha, my dear." "Isn't he, my love?" "Spirit... tell me will... will tiny Tim live?" "I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved." "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my way shall find him there." "Oh, no!" "No!" "Kind Spirit... say that he will be spared." "Why?" "If he be like to die, he better do it and decrease the surplus population." "Well, my little cock sparrow, here's your own stool by the fire all ready for you." "There's such a goose, Martha!" "I'm sure of it." "And the pudding!" "Oh, the pudding!" "It shant be easy 'til it's eaten." "I confess, I've had my doubts about the quantity of the flour." "It'll be a perfect pudding my love." "A perfect pudding." "Won't it, Martha, my dear?" "Eh, Tim?" "It'll be the finest pudding in the whole of London this Christmas, and the goose'll be the finest goose." "And ours'll be the finest Christmas." "Here's the punch, all steaming hot." "Oh, good!" "No, no, no, take your turn, one and all, if you please." "There's enough for one toast now and another after that." "Thank you!" "Thank you!" "There!" "Bravo!" "There's bounty for you!" "I declare I'd like to know how many families of our acquaintance could boast two rounds of the best gin punch!" "None!" "No one!" "Now, has everybody got his drink?" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Good." "But before I give the toast," "I have a piece of momentous information for all, and Master Peter, in particular." "Master Peter?" "Why, that's you, Peter!" "What is it, Father?" "Yeah, what is it?" "Master Peter, now grown to full estate and dignity as son of the house, and looking every inch the grand fellow he is, in one of my own collars," "Ha ha ha ha ha..." "I have waited for this great moment, to advise him that I have my eye on a situation for him which will bring him, if obtained, full 5 and 6 pence weekly!" "YA!" "You'll be quite the independent gentleman now, Peter!" "What next?" "I wonder." "Then a toast my love, my dearies." "To a Merry Christmas!" "God bless us." "God bless us!" "God bless us... every one." "I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast." "Oh no, Father!" "He doesn't deserve it!" "I wish I had him here now, I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast himself upon." "My dear, the children..." "Christmas Day!" "Could only be on Christmas day that I would drink the health of such a hard, stingy, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge." "You know he is, Robert, nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow." "My dear, Christmas day." "I'll drink his health for your sake and the days... not for his." "Long life to him." "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." "He'll be very happy and very merry, no doubt." "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." "He said that Christmas was "humbug", and he believed it, too." "I told you so." "Well, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the poor old man." "He wouldn't let me wish it to him personally, but here it is, never the less," "Uncle Scrooge!" "Yes, to Scrooge!" "Uncle Scrooge!" "Well, I don't know that our drinking to him will do him much good." "Or do I. I hate him!" "Oh, I forbid it!" "I'm sorry for him." "I couldn't feel angry with him, if I tried." "Who suoffers worse from his humors?" "Himself always." "Look at the way he's taken it in his head to disown us without a shilling, and won't even come to dinner with us." "And what's the consequence?" "He's only cheated himself out of a highly indigestible dinner." "It was a wonderful dinner!" "Yes, it was a wonderful dinner." "Well I'm really glad you think so, Miss, because I personally haven't very much faith in these newlywed housekeepers." "Have you, Tupper?" "Alas, as a bachelor, I'm a wretched outcast, with no right to express an opinion on such a tender and delicate subject." "Have I... dear... distant... unmovable, Miss Flora?" "Now, you really are quite incorrigible, Mr. Tupper." "Quite beyond hope." "...and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." "And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." "Do you feel more rested now, my dear?" "I do, bless your dear gentle heart." "Alice..." "Do you know, me darlin'," "I never thought there was anyone like you left in the whole wide world." "Cut me throat, rip me liver, if I'm tellin' a lie." "This is the happiest Christmas I ever had!" "Alice?" "Alice!" "?" "Spirit, are these people real or are they shadows?" "They're real, we are the shadows." "Both of us?" "Did you not cut yourself ooff from your fellow beings, when you lost the love of that gentle creature?" "Where are you taking me now?" "My time with you, Ebenezer, is almost done." "Will you profit by what I have shown you of the good in most men's hearts?" "I don't know." "How can I promise?" "If it's too hard a lesson for you to learn, then learn this lesson." "Spirit, are these yours?" "They are man's." "They cling to me for protection from their fetters." "This boy is Ignorance." "This girl is Want." "Beware of them both, but most of all, beware of this boy." "But have they no refuge, no resource?" "Are there no prisons?" "..." "Are there no workhouses?" "Are there no prisons?" "Are there no workhouses?" "Are there no prisons?" "Are there no workhouses?" "Are there no prisons?" "Are there no workhouses?" "Aaaah!" "I am in the presence of the Spirit of Christmas yet to come." "And you are going to show me shadows of things that have not yet happened, but will happen?" "Spirit of the Future, I fear you more than any other specter that I've seen." "But even in my fear, I must tell you, I am too old!" "I cannot change." "I can't." "It is not that I am impenitent;" "it's just that I " "Oh, wouldn't it be better if I just went home to bed?" "No?" "Lead me, then." "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings thou shalt trust:" "his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night;" "nor for the arrow that flieth by day;" "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand;" "but it shall not come nigh thee." "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him:" "I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." "Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;" "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him:" "I will be with him in trouble;" "I will deliver him, and honour him." "Shall I stop reading?" "No, no..." "it's only the color." "It hurts my eyes." "They're better now." "It makes them weak, by candlelight." "And I wouldn't show your father weak eyes, when he comes home, for the world." "It must be near his time." "Past it, rather." "But he seems to be walking a little slower than he used... these last few evenings." "Why I've known him walk, with tiny Tim on his shoulder, very fast, indeed." "So have I..." "Often." "So have I. So have I." "But then, he was light to carry and his father loved him, so it was no trouble." "No trouble." "I'm a little late, my dear." "Please forgive me." "You must be cold and tired." "Sit near the fire." "No, no I'm..." "very content, my dear... very content." "I went to see the place where he will rest." "It's sheltered by green trees, my dear, and very quiet and still." "It was strange, but as I stood there," "I felt his hand slip in mine, as if he was standing beside me and comforting me." "I felt very peaceful, my dear." "He was telling me, you see, in his own little way, that he's happy." "Truly happy now... and that we must cease to grieve for him, and try to be happy, too." "Oh Tim..." "my Tiny Tim." "Poor Robert, Oh Robert..." "poor Robert." "Hello, Joe." "Huh." "Hi, Joe." "Hey." "Well, come on, then." "No, let the laundress go first." "No, no, dear, you was here first." "After you, I'm sure." "Heh heh heh heh!" "Ha ha!" "Oh look, Old Joe, it's a chance... if the chow lady, the laundress, and the undertaker haven't all met here at the same time without meaning it!" "Ha ha ha!" "Well, you couldn't have met in a better place." "Let's go in the parlor." "You were made free of it long ago, eh?" "Heh heh heh" "And the other two aren't strangers, heh..." "Uh... wait a minute just 'til I shut the door to the shop, eh?" "Just shut the door to the shop." "Oh!" "How it screeks!" "There's not a rusted piece of metal in the place like its own hinges." "And, I'm sure, there are no old bones here like mine." "Well, heh..." "We're all suitable to our calling's, eh?" "He he he." "We're all well matched." "Come into the parlor." "Come into the parlor." "Who goes first?" "What odds, now, that all met at the once." "Everyone's got a right to take care of themselves, he always did." "Oh, that's true enough, no one more so." "Why then, don't stand staring as if you was afraid, woman." "Who's the wiser?" "We're not gonna pick holes in each other's coats, I suppose." "No, indeed!" "No, we hope not!" "Very well then, who's the worse for the loss of a few things like these?" "Not a dead man, I suppose." "No indeed." "Ha ha!" "If he wanted to keep 'em after he was dead, why wasn't he amiable in his lifetime?" "If he had been, he'd have had somebody with him when he was struck with death." "Instead of lying, gasping out his last air alone be himself." "There never was a truer word spoke." "T'was a judgment on him." "I wish it was a little heavier one." "And it would been, if I could of laid me hands on anything else." "We knew pretty well we was helping ourselves, before we come here, I believe." "It's no sin." "Open the bungle, Joe." "No, no, I'll go first." "Just to show we all got trust in one another." "It's very polite of you, I do grant, I'm sure." "Watch, fob, seal, pencil case, sleeve buttons, broach." "Yes... 8 shillings, this lot, and I wouldn't give you another 6 pence." "Not if I was boiled for life for not doing it." "Who's next?" "Always a lady, dear." "I shall have to insist you all stop and watch mine, now that we're all so open and above with each other." "2 sheets, ya, 2 towels, ya, shirt, ya, teaspoons, 2 silver, uh, sugar tongs, foods assorted, four." "Yeah, 17 and 6." "That's how I come to ruin myself." "Yeah, if you ask for another penny might leave open question, I'd regret me liberality." "Knock ooff half a crown." "Now open my bundle, Joe." "Come on, what's in it?" "Aaaah..." "Eh?" "You wait and see." "Bed curtains." "Bed curtains?" "Uh huh, bed curtains." "What'd you?" "You mean to say you took these down, rings and all, and..." "oooh, him lying there?" "Yes I do, why not?" "Heh heh, you was born to make a fortune, ma'am, and you... you certainly will." "These his blankets, too?" "Who's else do ya think?" "He ain't likely to take cold without 'em, I daresay." "Ha ha ha ha!" "He didn't die of anything catching, did he?" "Oh, don't you be afraid of it!" "I wasn't too fond of his company" "I'd loiter about him for such things, if he did." "And you can look through that 'til your eyes ache and you won't find a hole in it." "It's the best one he had, and a fine one, too." "They'd have wasted it, if it hadn't been for me." "What you mean, wasted it?" "Well they'd have bedded him in this, of course." "But I took it ooff of him, again." "As if calico ain't good enough for burying." "Anyway, it's just as becoming to the body." "He couldn't have looked uglier than what he did in this one." "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" "It's poetic justice." "He frightened near everybody away from him when he was alive." "And now he benefits us when he's dead." "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" "No, I don't know much about it either way." "I only know he's dead." "When did he die?" "Last night, I believe." "What was the matter with him?" "I thought he'd never die." "So did he, I daresay." "What's he done with all his money?" "Left it to his company, where else?" "He didn't leave it to me..." "that's all I know." "Well, funeral won't cost much, that's certain." "Pardon my soul, I can't think of anyone who'll go to it." "I don't mind going..." "if the lunch were provided." "But I must be fed..." "or else I stay at home." "I know those men." "They're men of business, very wealthy, very important." "Who's funeral were they talking about?" "Strange." "My usual place is over there, under the clock." "I ought to be there this time of day." "But I'm not." "I'm not!" "Before I draw nearer to that stone, answer me one question." "Are these the shadows of things that must be?" "Or are they only shadows of things that might be?" "I know that men's deeds foreshadow certain ends, but if the deeds be departed from, surely the ends will change!" "Tell me it is so with what you show me now." "Aaaaahhhhh..." "Aaaaa, no Spirit, no, no, no!" "Tell me I'm not already dead." "Tell me I'm not already dead!" "Tell me I'm not already dead." "Hear me, Spirit," "I'm not the man I was." "Believe me, I'm not the man I was!" "Why show me all this if I'm beyond all hope?" "Oh, pity me, Spirit, pity me!" "And help me!" "Help me to sponge away the writing on the stone if I repent." "And I do repent, I do repent!" "I'll make good, the wrongs I've done my fellow man." "And, I'll" " I'll change!" "I'm not the man I was." "I'm not the man I was!" "Believe me." "Believe me!" "I'm not the man I was!" "Believe me!" "I'm not the man I was." "I'm not the man I was!" "I'm not the man..." "I was." "Ha ha ha..." "Heh heh heh..." "Good morning, Sir." "Tell me... what day is it?" "What day?" "Why it's Christmas Day, of course, Sir." "Christmas Day?" "Christmas Day, Christmas Day!" "Then I haven't missed it." "The spirits must have done everything in one night." "But of course, they can do anything, can't they?" "Of course, they can!" "Ha ha heh heh heh ha ha ha..." "Are you quite yourself, Sir?" "What?" "I don't know." "No, I" " I don't think so." "I hope not!" "What!" "?" "The curtains are still here." "They're still here!" "You didn't... you didn't tear them down and sell them." "Hmm?" "They're here." "Everything's here!" "I'm here, ha ha ha ha ha... and the shadows of things that would be, can still be dispelled, and they will be." "I know they will be, I know." "Heh heh heh ha ha..." "I" " I" "I don't know what to do!" "Ha ha heh heh ha heh, I'm as light as a feather!" "Ha ha ha..." "I'm as happy as a..." "I'm as happy as an angel!" "I'm as... merry as a school boy!" "Heh heh heh heh!" "I'm as giddy..." "I'm as giddy as a drunken man, I never..." "Ho ho ho ho..." "A Merry Christmas, Ebenezer!" "Heh heh heh... you old humbug!" "Heh heh heh heh And a Happy New Year!" "...as if you deserved it!" "Aaah!" "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Dilbur!" "Same to you, Sir." "Well thank you, thank you, thank you." "And many, many of them..." "Aaaaaah!" "Aaah!" "Look once!" "..." "Heh heh heh heh..." "Look, Mrs. Dilbur, there in the corner is where the Spirit of Christmas Present sat." "And there's the door where Jacob Marley's ghost came through." "And there's the window where I saw the wandering spirit." "It's right!" "It's true!" "It all happened!" "Oh I..." "I don't know what day of the month it is, I..." "I don't know how long I've been amongst the spirits, I..." "I don't know anything." "I never did know anything." "Heh heh heh!" "But now I know that I don't know anything!" "Heh heh, I don't know anything." "I never did know anything." "But now I know that I don't know all the Christmas morning." "I must stand on my head." "I must stand on my head!" "Aaaah!" "Aaaah, aah, ahahh!" "Come back, come back!" "Aaaah!" "Aaaaah!" "Come back, come back, Mrs. Dilbur!" "Aaaah!" "Aaaah, aah, ahahh!" "Shhh, please, please, Mrs. Dilbur." "I am not mad." "Heh heh" "Even if I, "woo" Aaah!" "Don't be violent, Mr. Scrooge, Sir." "You'll force me to scream for the beagle!" "The beagle, madam, ha!" "A fig for the beagle." "A guinea?" "Here, what for?" "I'll give you one guess." "To keep me mouth shut?" "Hmm?" "Ho ho ho ho!" "To keep your mouth shut." "Oh no, ha ha ha!" "No, no, no, Mrs. Dilbur." "It's for a Christmas present." "A Christmas present?" "For me?" "Of course, for you!" "Ha ha ha" "A Merry Merry Christmas." "Dear Mrs. Dilbur, how much do I pay you?" "2 shillings a week." "2 shillings?" "It's forthwith raised to 10!" "10 shillings a week, here!" "You're sure, you don't want to see a doctor?" "A doctor?" "Certainly not!" "Nor the undertaker!" "Ha!" "Now ooff you go and enjoy yourself." "Like a good girl." "Bob's your uncle!" "Ha ha" "Ha ha he he ha ha ha!" "Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge!" "In keeping with the situation!" "Oh, very well then, heh heh heh" "Oh, what a beautiful morning." "Hello there!" "Hello you!" "You boy!" "You!" "Who me?" "Yes, you!" "Do you know the butcher's in the next street but one?" "I should hope so." "Heh, heh heh!" "Intelligent boy, remarkable boy." "Tell me, have they sold the prize turkey that was hanging there?" "Not the little turkey, the big one?" "The one as big as me?" "!" "Yes, ha ha ha ha ha." "What a delightful boy." "Yes, my buck, the one as big as you." "It's hanging there still." "Is it?" "!" "Very well then, go and buy it." "Won't occur!" "No, no, no, wait a minute!" "Wait a minute!" "I'm in earnest." "Tell the butcher to bring it here, and I'll give him the name of the party he's to send it to." "Come back with the butcher and I'll give you a shilling." "Come back in less than five minutes and I'll give you half a crown!" "Heh heh heh!" "An enchanting boy." "I'll send it to Bob Cratchit!" "That's what I'll do." "He'll never dream where it came from!" "He he" "Ha ha!" "None of it's here, I must have a label." "Label, label, label, label, label." "Label, label!" "Label." "Ha ha ha." "Heh heh!" "It's" " It's twice the size of tiny Tim!" "Heh Heh Heh" "Mr. Robert Cratchit, 2 Porter Street, Camden Town." "That's you Robert, least ways there's no one else I know of." "I think I know who sent it." "Who?" "Who?" "Mr. Scrooge." "Oh dear, oh dear, whatever made you think it might be him?" "I don't know, I just think it." "What would make Mr. Scrooge take such leave of his senses suddenly?" "Christmas." ""In Scarlet Town where I was born,"" ""There was a fair maid dwelling;"" ""Made every youth cry Well-a-day,"" ""Her name was Barbara Allen."" ""All in the merry month of May,"" ""When green buds they were swelling;"" ""Young Jimmy Grove on his deathbed lay,"" ""For love of Barb'ra Allen."" ""So slowly, slowly she came up,"" ""And slowly she came nigh him,"" ""And all she said when there she came:"" ""Young man, I think..."" "Uncle Ebenezer!" "Is it too late to accept your invitation to dinner?" "Too late?" "I'm delighted, delighted!" "My dear, look who it is!" "Can you forgive a pig-headed old fool for having no eyes to see with, no ears to hear with, all these years?" "Yes, you dear Uncle." "You've made Fred so happy." "Oh, bless your heart!" "Dennis... polka." "Bravo, Uncle Scrooge!" "Bravo!" "Come on everybody." "Everybody!" "Cratchit!" "You're late." "Sir." "What do you mean by coming in here this time of day, hmm?" "I'm very sorry, Sir." "I am behind my time, Sir." "Hmm, you are indeed!" "Step this way, Mr. Cratchit, please." "It's only once a year, Sir." "It won't be repeated." "I was making rather merry yesterday, Sir." "Hmm hmm hmm hmm!" "I'm sure you were." "Well we won't beat about the bush, my friend." "I'm not going to stand this sort of thing any longer." "Which leaves me no alternative but to raise your salary." "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." "Oh, I haven't taken leave of my senses, Bob." "I've come to them." "From now on," "I want to try to help you to raise that family of yours." "If you'll let me." "Well, we'll talk it over later, Bob, over a, over a bowl of hot punch, hmm?" "Meanwhile, you just go and put some coal on that fire." "You go straight out and buy a new coal scuttle." "Yes, you do that before you dot another 'i', Bob Cratchit!" "Ha ha ha, ho ho ho, heh heh, heh, ha ha ha!" "Oh, I don't deserve to be so happy." "But I can't help it." "Ha ha!" "I" " I" " I just can't help it." "Ha ha ha ha ha!" "Scrooge was better than his word." "He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city ever knew." "Or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world." "And to tiny Tim, who lived and got well again, he became a second father." "Uncle Scrooge!" "And it was always said that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge." "May that be truly said of us, and all of us." "And so, as tiny Tim observed," "God bless us..." "every one." ""Sleep in heavenly peace,"" ""Sleep in heavenly peace.""