Short Stories Old and New

DICKENS (

ast and the future can suggest. Though he had London in mind, any great industrial center would have served as well, for Dickens was thinking primarily of the relations between emp

sion of Scrooge from solitary selfishness to social good will. The plan is simple but it is suffused with a love and sympathy that no one but Dickens or O. Henry could have given it. If "The Gold-Bug" is a triumph of the analytic intellect, this story is a triumph of the social impulses that make the world better. "It seems to me," said Thackeray, "a national benefit, and to every man and woman who reads it a personal kindness." While writing it Dickens said: "I wept and laughed and wept again." And yet th

nning is unfriendly and friendless, becomes at the end "as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world." It is difficult to create any kind of charac

every one" has at least become the symbol of Christmas benevole

VE

EY'S

urial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge

as as dead a

e partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole admin

ehouse door,-Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the bu

m. No warmth could warm, no cold could chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather

asked him what it was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him; and whe

is way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy t

rooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting, foggy weathe

k's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel the master pred

It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quick

d Scrooge;

uncle! You don't me

hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I had my will, every

nc

in your own way, and l

ut you don'

Much good may it do you! Muc

onging to it can be apart from that,-as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if t

e tank involunt

Christmas by losing your situation!-You're quite a powerful speaker, sir,

ncle. Come! Dine w

id. He went the whole length of the expression, and

ied Scrooge's

you get

I fell

that were the only one thing in the world more ri

ee me before that happened. Why give

afte

; I ask nothing of you;

afte

arrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Chris

afte

Happy N

afte

hew out, had let two other people in. They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood,

e gentlemen, referring to his list. "Have I the p

se seven years. He died seven

esirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present t

ere no

ultitude, a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose th

thi

to be an

make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to suppor

here; and many w

ey had better do it, and decr

Scrooge, dismounting from his stool, tacitly admitted the fact to the expecta

ll day to-morr

convenie

I was to stop half a crown for it, you'd thi

s,

me ill-used, when I pay a

y once a

nty-fifth of December! But I suppose you must have

e long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide, at the end of a lane

r's book, went home to bed. He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of

night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also, that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London. And

cellar. It was not angry or ferocious, but it looked at Scrooge as Marley

non, it was a knocker again. He said, "Po

rs below, appeared to have a separate peal of echoes of its own. Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes

crooge liked it. But before he shut his heavy door, he walked through his rooms to see

the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was h

as not his custom. Thus secured against surprise, he took off his cravat, put on his dressing

, for some purpose now forgotten, with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was with great astonishment, and with a strang

below, as if some person were dragging a heavy c

he floors below; then coming up the stair

he room before his eyes. And upon its coming in, the dying fla

s, and boots. His body was transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and

that Marley had no bowels, but h

standing before him,-though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes, and noticed

austic and cold as ever. "

's voice, no d

are

e who

re you,

your partner,

can you s

c

it,

n to take a chair; and felt that, in the event of its being impossible, it might involve the necessity of an embar

't belie

don

have of my reality beyo

n't k

u doubt yo

. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment

s heart by any means waggish then. The truth is, that he tried to be smart

g off the bandage round its head, as if it were too warm to

ou trouble me? Why do spirits walk th

is condemned to do so after death. I cannot tell you all I would. A very little more is permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spi

d travelling all the

ings of t

er a great quantity of

tible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its v

usiness, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, w

welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. T

ear the spectre going on at this ra

y time is n

hard upon me! Don't be

e yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.

a good friend t

haunted by Th

ope you mentioned, Jacob?

e. Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night, when the last stroke of Twelve h

took, the window raised itself a little, so that

Scrooge tried to say, "Humbug!" but stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the invisible

VE

OF THE THR

ely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber,

d's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimm

, sir, whose coming

a

d what

host of Chr

g pa

with me are shadows of the things that have

to inquire what busin

. Rise, and w

ter a long way below freezing; that he was clad but lightly in his slippers, dressing-gown, and night-cap; and that he had a cold upon him at that time. The g

al, and liab

the Spirit, laying it upon his heart, "a

in the busy thoroughfares of a city. It was made plain enough by

tain warehouse door, and a

as I appren

, if he had been two inches taller, he must have knocked his head against the ceiling, Scrooge

his hands; adjusted his capacious waistcoat; laughed all over himself, from his shoes to his organ of be

former self, a young man, came briskly

old fellow-'prentice, bless me, yes. There he is. He was

Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up, before a man can

e. Every movable was packed off, as if it were dismissed from public life forevermore; the floor was swept and watered, the lamps were trimmed, fu

baker. In came the cook, with her brother's particular friend the milkman. In they all came one after another; some shyly, some boldly, some gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling; in they all came, anyhow and everyhow. Away they all went, twenty couple at once; hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up again; round and round in various stages of affec

e mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great effect of the evening came after the Roast and Boiled, when the fiddler struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezzi

t appeared to issue from Fezziwig's calves. They shone in every part of the dance. You couldn't have predicted, at any given time, what would become of 'em next. And when old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone

ds with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the two 'prentices, t

of gratitude. He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money,-t

power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things

pirit's glanc

s the m

g parti

ing, I

able to say a word or two to

ort," observed th

ould see, but it produced an immediate effect. For again h

e of a fair young girl in a black dr

ery little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can comfort you in t

has displ

en your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until

r, what then? I am not changed towards you. H

ds, no.

hat,

-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless girl; or, choosing her, do I not know that y

ove me from

shadows of the things t

are what they are,

"I cannot bear it! Leave me! T

vercome by an irresistible drowsiness; and, further, of being in his own b

VE

OF THE TH

s if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that petrifaction of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mi

know me better, man! I

You have never seen t

ev

my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder bro

afraid I have not. Have yo

n eightee

I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is wo

h my

he was told, an

instantly, and they stood in the city

pped to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling with the sprinklings of his torch. Think of that! Bob had but fifteen "Bob"[*] a week himself; h

hill

the corners of his monstrous shirt-collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honor of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelt the g

Mrs. Cratchit. "And your brother Tiny Tim! And Mart

er!" said a girl, ap

the two young Cratchits. "Hurra

ou are?" said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a dozen

st night," replied the girl, "and ha

aid Mrs. Cratchit. "Sit ye down before the fi

the two young Cratchits, who were eve

e fringe, hanging down before him; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny

rtha?" cried Bob Cra

," said Mrs

pirits; for he had been Tim's blood-horse all the way from chu

y from behind the closet door, and ran into his arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled Tin

it, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and

est things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cr

em this, and trembled more when he said t

while Bob, turning up his cuffs,-as if, poor fellow, they were capable of being made more shabby, -compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it rou

cooked in the baker'

verybody, not forgetting themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped. At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all alo

was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all at last! Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest C

ould have got over the wall of the back yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose

next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered,- flushed but smiling proudly,-with th

Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something

e fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted and considered perfect, app

tchit called a circle, and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family

s would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the c

to us all, my dea

the family

one!" said Tiny Ti

d his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wishe

head speedily, on h

; "I'll give you Mr. Sc

as

ening. "I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my min

ob, "the children

he health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge.

ob's mild answer

tchit, "not for his. Long life to him. A merry Christmas and a hap

it. Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn't care twopence for it. Scrooge was the Ogre of the family

tween his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favor when he came into the receipt of that bewildering income. Martha, who was a poor apprentice at a milliner's, then told them what kind of work she had to do, and how many hours she worked at a stretch, and how she meant to lie abed to-morrow morning for a good long rest; to-morrow being a holiday she passed at home. Also how she

and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker's. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time; and wh

greater surprise to Scrooge to recognize it as his own nephew's, and to find himself in a bright,

othing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humor. When Scrooge's nephew laughed, Scrooge's ni

umbug, as I live!" cried Scroog

e, indignantly. Bless those women! they never d

no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that melted into one another when she laughed; and the sunniest pair of eyes you

s carry their own punishment, and I have nothing to say against him. Who suffers by his ill whims? Himself, always. Here he tak

aid the same, and they must be allowed to have been competent judges, because they had just

nephew, "because I haven't any great faith in th

or was a wretched outcast, who had no right to express an opinion on the subject. Whereat Scr

n they sung a Glee or Catch, I can assure you,-especially Topper, who could growl away in the bas

ieve he had eyes in his boots. Because the way in which he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker was an outrage on the credulity of human nature. Knocking down the fire-irons, tumbling over the chairs, bumping up against the piano, smothering himself among the curtains, wherever she went there went he! He alway

aid Scrooge. "One half-

ather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that growled and grunted sometimes, and talked sometimes, and lived in London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, and wasn't led by anybody, and didn't live in a menagerie, and was never killed in a market, and was not a

I know what it is, Fre

it?" cr

uncle Scro-

rsal sentiment, though some objected that the re

o the unconscious company in an inaudible speech. But the whole scene passed off in the brea

ome; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In alms-house, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief

vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and, lifting up his eyes, be

VE

T OF TH

ely, silently approached

his knee; for in the

eemed to scatter

its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstre

pectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man fro

The hand was pointed

aning fast, and it is precious ti

ther seemed to spring up about them. But there they wer

iness men. Observing that the hand was pointed t

trous chin, "I don't know much about i

die?" inqui

ght, I b

atter with him? I th

said the firs

h his money?" asked a

the man with the large

to me. That's al

feeling assured that it must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to consider what it was likely to be. It could scarcely be

time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of himself among the multitudes that poured in through the Porch. It gave him little surprise,

to a low shop where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal

d scarcely entered, when another woman, similarly laden, came in too; and she was closely followed by a man in faded black. Aft

undress alone to be the second; and let the undertaker's man alone to be the third. Loo

of it long ago, you know; and the other two ain't strange

patience, Joe, an

n has a right to take care of themselves. He always did! Who's the wor

r was remarkable for gen

ndeed,

l in his lifetime? If he had been, he'd have had somebody to look after him when he w

that ever was spoke; i

I could have laid my hands on anything else. Open that bundle, old Joe, and let me know the

nvenience of opening the bundle, and dragged

call this?

n't drop that oil upo

blank

ugh that shirt till your eyes ache; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It is the b

ed to this dia

happy man might be my own. My life tends t

pale light, rising in the outer air, fell straight upon this bed; and on it,

ected with a death, or this dark chamber

se,-the dwelling he had visited before,-and found

corner, and sat looking up at Peter, who had a book before him. The mother a

ld, and set him in

ed them. The boy must have read them out, as he and t

upon the table, and put

urts my eyes

? Ah, poo

light; and I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father when

s book. "But I think he has walked a little slowe

e known him walk with Tiny Tim up

I," cried P

" exclaimed ano

er loved him so, that it was no trouble,-no t

y for him on the hob, and they all tried who should help him to it most. Then the two young Cratchits got upon his kn

looked at the work upon the table, and praised the industry and speed of M

went to-day,

ou good to see how green a place it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him

f he could have helped it, he and the child would

g moment is at hand. I know it, but I know not how. Tell me wh

Come conveyed him to a dismal,

ong the graves, and

er me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that

ed downward to the gr

evered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from

was immovab

nd, following the finger, read upon the stone of

as. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am p

time the kind

t, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not

eversed, he saw an alteration in the Phantom's hood and dr

wn, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all,

by the churches ringing out the

put out his head. No fog, no mist, no n

ownward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who p

E

-day, my f

Why, CHRI

I haven't missed it.

al

er's, in the next street

ld hope

hether they've sold the prize Turkey that was hangin

e one as

It's a pleasure to tal

nging th

Go and

[*] exclai

ookey Walker!" mea

ve them the direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and I'll give you a s

as off li

ends it. It's twice the size of Tiny Tim. Joe Miller n

but write it he did, somehow, and went down stairs to open

his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em s

nt; and, walking with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humored fell

turned his steps towa

ore he had the courage to go up and k

, my dear?" said Scroog

e

s,

is he,

ng-room, sir, alo

his hand already on the dining-roo

re

soul!" cried Fr

ooge. I have come to di

ed

rtier. His niece looked just the same. So did Topper when he came. So did the plump sister when she came. S

there! If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratc

. Bob was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time. Scrooge

er too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away wit

oice, as near as he could feign it. "What do

ry, sir. I am

nk you are. Step thi

shall not be repeated. I was mak

therefore," Scrooge continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistc

got a little nea

fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs t

ecame as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough

afterward; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed t