A Christmas Carol, by Charles DickensThe Project Gutenberg EBook of A Christmas Carol, by Charles DickensThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: A Christmas CarolA Ghost Story of ChristmasAuthor: Charles DickensRelease Date: August 11, 2004 EBook #46Last Updated: March 4, 2018Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: UTF-8. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHRISTMAS CAROL.HTML formatting and additional editing by Jose Menendez.
Many thanks toDavid Widger for scanning the illustrations from his copy of the 1843first edition.There are several editions of this ebook in the Project Gutenberg collection. Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file.Click on any of the filenumbers belowto quickly view each ebook.(Original First Edition Cover; 1843 Original Illustrations in Color by John Leech)(Published in 1905; Illustrations in Black and White by G.
Williams)(Published in 1915; Illustrations in Black and White and Color by By Arthur Rackham)(First edition with original hand written pages; Black and White illustrations.). STAVE ISTAVE IISTAVE IIISTAVE IVSTAVE VILLUSTRATIONSArtist.J. Leech,MARLEY’S GHOST.Marley was dead: to begin with.
There is nodoubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by theclergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scroogesigned it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, foranything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as adoor-nail.Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, whatthere is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have beeninclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece ofironmongery in the trade.
But the wisdom of our ancestors is in thesimile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’sdone for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, thatMarley was as dead as a door-nail.Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did.
How could it be otherwise?Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years.Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign,his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And evenScrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he wasan excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, andsolemnised it with an undoubted bargain.The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point Istarted from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must bedistinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I amgoing to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’sFather died before the play began, there would be nothing moreremarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, uponhis own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentlemanrashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say Saint Paul’sChurchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weakmind.Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, yearsafterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm wasknown as Scrooge and Marley.
Sometimes people new to the business calledScrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. Itwas all the same to him.Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! Asqueezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, oldsinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck outgenerous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose,shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thinlips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.
A frosty rimewas on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried hisown low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in thedog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth couldwarm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer thanhe, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rainless open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him.The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of theadvantage over him in only one respect. They often “came down”handsomely, and Scrooge never did.Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks,“My dear Scrooge, how are you?
When will you come to see me?”No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him whatit was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquiredthe way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men’sdogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tugtheir owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tailsas though they said, “No eye at all is better than an evil eye,dark master!”But what did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge hisway along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keepits distance, was what the knowing ones call “nuts” toScrooge.Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on ChristmasEve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house.
It was cold,bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in thecourt outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon theirbreasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them.The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already—ithad not been light all day—and candles were flaring in the windowsof the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brownair. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was sodense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the housesopposite were mere phantoms.
To see the dingy cloud come drooping down,obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by,and was brewing on a large scale.The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keephis eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort oftank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’sfire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But hecouldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his ownroom; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the masterpredicted that it would be necessary for them to part.
Wherefore theclerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at thecandle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, hefailed.“A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerfulvoice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him soquickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, thisnephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddyand handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.“Christmas a humbug, uncle!” said Scrooge’s nephew.“You don’t mean that, I am sure?”“I do,” said Scrooge.
“Merry Christmas! What righthave you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’repoor enough.”“Come, then,” returned the nephew gaily. “What righthave you to be dismal?
What reason have you to be morose? You’rerich enough.”Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said,“Bah!” again; and followed it up with “Humbug.”“Don’t be cross, uncle!” said the nephew.“What else can I be,” returned the uncle, “when I livein such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merryChristmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for payingbills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but notan hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in’em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? IfI could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “everyidiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips,should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of hollythrough his heart.
He should!”“Uncle!” pleaded the nephew.“Nephew!” returned the uncle sternly, “keep Christmasin your own way, and let me keep it in mine.”“Keep it!” repeated Scrooge’s nephew. “But youdon’t keep it.”“Let me leave it alone, then,” said Scrooge. “Muchgood may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!”“There are many things from which I might have derived good, bywhich I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew.“Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought ofChristmas time, when it has come round—apart from the venerationdue to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can beapart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable,pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of theyear, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-uphearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really werefellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures boundon other journeys.
Carols For A Merry Tubachristmas Pdf File Online
And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrapof gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done megood, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”The clerk in the Tank involuntarily applauded. Becoming immediatelysensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished thelast frail spark for ever.“Let me hear another sound from you,” said Scrooge,“and you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your situation!You’re quite a powerful speaker, sir,” he added, turning tohis nephew. “I wonder you don’t go into Parliament.”“Don’t be angry, uncle. Dine with us to-morrow.”Scrooge said that he would see him—yes, indeed he did. He went thewhole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in thatextremity first.“But why?” cried Scrooge’s nephew.
“Why?”“Why did you get married?” said Scrooge.“Because I fell in love.”“Because you fell in love!” growled Scrooge, as if that werethe only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas.“Good afternoon!”“Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened.Why give it as a reason for not coming now?”“Good afternoon,” said Scrooge.“I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we befriends?”“Good afternoon,” said Scrooge.“I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We havenever had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made thetrial in homage to Christmas, and I’ll keep my Christmas humour tothe last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!”“Good afternoon!” said Scrooge.“And A Happy New Year!”“Good afternoon!” said Scrooge.His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding. Hestopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on theclerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returnedthem cordially.“There’s another fellow,” muttered Scrooge; whooverheard him: “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and awife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I’ll retire toBedlam.”This lunatic, in letting Scrooge’s nephew out, had let two otherpeople in.
They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and nowstood, with their hats off, in Scrooge’s office. They had booksand papers in their hands, and bowed to him.“Scrooge and Marley’s, I believe,” said one of thegentlemen, referring to his list. “Have I the pleasure ofaddressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years,” Scroogereplied. “He died seven years ago, this very night.”“We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by hissurviving partner,” said the gentleman, presenting hiscredentials.It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits.
At the ominousword “liberality,” Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, andhanded the credentials back.“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said thegentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirablethat we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute,who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want ofcommon necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of commoncomforts, sir.”“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the penagain.“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Arethey still in operation?”“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish Icould say they were not.”“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?”said Scrooge.“Both very busy, sir.”“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something hadoccurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge.“I’m very glad to hear it.”“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheerof mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “afew of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat anddrink, and means of warmth.
We choose this time, because it is a time,of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. Whatshall I put you down for?”“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.“You wish to be anonymous?”“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since youask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.
I don’t makemerry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle peoplemerry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned—theycost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.”“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they hadbetter do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides—excuseme—I don’t know that.”“But you might know it,” observed the gentleman.“It’s not my business,” Scrooge returned. “It’senough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interferewith other people’s.
Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon,gentlemen!”Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, thegentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinionof himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about withflaring links, proffering their services to go before horses incarriages, and conduct them on their way. The ancient tower of a church,whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of aGothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours andquarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if itsteeth were chattering in its frozen head up there. The cold becameintense. In the main street, at the corner of the court, some labourerswere repairing the gas-pipes, and had lighted a great fire in a brazier,round which a party of ragged men and boys were gathered: warming theirhands and winking their eyes before the blaze in rapture. The water-plugbeing left in solitude, its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turnedto misanthropic ice.
The brightness of the shops where holly sprigs andberries crackled in the lamp heat of the windows, made pale faces ruddyas they passed. Poulterers’ and grocers’ trades became asplendid joke: a glorious pageant, with which it was next to impossibleto believe that such dull principles as bargain and sale had anything todo.
The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House, gaveorders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayor’shousehold should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined fiveshillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and bloodthirsty in thestreets, stirred up to-morrow’s pudding in his garret, while hislean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef.Foggier yet, and colder. Piercing, searching, biting cold. If the goodSaint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit’s nose with a touchof such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, thenindeed he would have roared to lusty purpose. The owner of one scantyoung nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed bydogs, stooped down at Scrooge’s keyhole to regale him with aChristmas carol: but at the first sound of“God bless you, merry gentleman!May nothingyou dismay!”Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singerfled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenialfrost.At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived. With anill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted thefact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed hiscandle out, and put on his hat.“You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” saidScrooge.“If quite convenient, sir.”“It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’snot fair.
If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d thinkyourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”The clerk smiled faintly.“And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think meill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”The clerk observed that it was only once a year.“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifthof December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin.“But I suppose you must have the whole day. The same face: the very same.
Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat,tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail,and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew wasclasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail;and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys,padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. His bodywas transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through hiswaistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he hadnever believed it until now.No, nor did he believe it even now. Though he looked the phantom throughand through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chillinginfluence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of thefolded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had notobserved before; he was still incredulous, and fought against hissenses.“How now!” said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. Whether these creatures faded into mist, or mist enshrouded them, hecould not tell. But they and their spirit voices faded together; and thenight became as it had been when he walked home.Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost hadentered.
It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands,and the bolts were undisturbed. He tried to say “Humbug!”but stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he hadundergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the InvisibleWorld, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of thehour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing,and fell asleep upon the instant.THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS.When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, thatlooking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish the transparent windowfrom the opaque walls of his chamber. He was endeavouring to pierce thedarkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes of a neighbouring churchstruck the four quarters.
So he listened for the hour.To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, andfrom seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped. Twelve!It was past two when he went to bed.
The clock was wrong. An icicle musthave got into the works. Twelve!He touched the spring of his repeater, to correct this most preposterousclock. Its rapid little pulse beat twelve: and stopped.“Why, it isn’t possible,” said Scrooge, “that Ican have slept through a whole day and far into another night. It isn’tpossible that anything has happened to the sun, and this is twelve atnoon!”The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and groped hisway to the window. He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeveof his dressing-gown before he could see anything; and could see verylittle then. All he could make out was, that it was still very foggy andextremely cold, and that there was no noise of people running to andfro, and making a great stir, as there unquestionably would have been ifnight had beaten off bright day, and taken possession of the world.
Thiswas a great relief, because “three days after sight of this Firstof Exchange pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order,” and soforth, would have become a mere United States’ security if therewere no days to count by.Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it overand over and over, and could make nothing of it. The more he thought,the more perplexed he was; and the more he endeavoured not to think, themore he thought.Marley’s Ghost bothered him exceedingly. Every time he resolvedwithin himself, after mature inquiry, that it was all a dream, his mindflew back again, like a strong spring released, to its first position,and presented the same problem to be worked all through, “Was it adream or not?”Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had gone three quarters more,when he remembered, on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of avisitation when the bell tolled one. He resolved to lie awake until thehour was passed; and, considering that he could no more go to sleep thango to Heaven, this was perhaps the wisest resolution in his power.The quarter was so long, that he was more than once convinced he musthave sunk into a doze unconsciously, and missed the clock. At length itbroke upon his listening ear.“Ding, dong!”“A quarter past,” said Scrooge, counting.“Ding, dong!”“Half-past!” said Scrooge.“Ding, dong!”“A quarter to it,” said Scrooge.“Ding, dong!”“The hour itself,” said Scrooge, triumphantly, “andnothing else!”He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep,dull, hollow, melancholy One. Light flashed upin the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn.The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand.
Not thecurtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to whichhis face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; andScrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself faceto face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I amnow to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.It was a strange figure—like a child: yet not so like a child aslike an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave himthe appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished toa child’s proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck anddown its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not awrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms werevery long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were ofuncommon strength.
Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, likethose upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; andround its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which wasbeautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, insingular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed withsummer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from thecrown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which allthis was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, inits duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now heldunder its arm.Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness,was not its strangest quality. For as its belt sparkled andglittered now in one part and now in another, and what was light oneinstant, at another time was dark, so the figure itself fluctuated inits distinctness: being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, nowwith twenty legs, now a pair of legs without a head, now a head withouta body: of which dissolving parts, no outline would be visible in thedense gloom wherein they melted away.
And in the very wonder of this, itwould be itself again; distinct and clear as ever.“Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?”asked Scrooge.“I am!”The voice was soft and gentle. Singularly low, as if instead of being soclose beside him, it were at a distance.“Who, and what are you?” Scrooge demanded.“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”“Long Past?” inquired Scrooge: observant of its dwarfishstature.“No. Your past.”Perhaps, Scrooge could not have told anybody why, if anybody could haveasked him; but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap; andbegged him to be covered.“What!” exclaimed the Ghost, “would you so soon putout, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you areone of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through wholetrains of years to wear it low upon my brow!”Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledgeof having wilfully “bonneted” the Spirit at any period ofhis life. He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there.“Your welfare!” said the Ghost.Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking thata night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end. TheSpirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately:“Your reclamation, then.
Take heed!”It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and clasped him gently by thearm.“Rise! And walk with me!”It would have been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and thehour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes; that bed was warm, and thethermometer a long way below freezing; that he was clad but lightly inhis slippers, dressing-gown, and nightcap; and that he had a cold uponhim at that time. The grasp, though gentle as a woman’s hand, wasnot to be resisted. He rose: but finding that the Spirit made towardsthe window, clasped his robe in supplication.“I am a mortal,” Scrooge remonstrated, “and liable tofall.”“Bear but a touch of my hand there,” said the Spirit,laying it upon his heart, “and you shall be upheld in more thanthis!”As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood uponan open country road, with fields on either hand. The city had entirelyvanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen.
The darkness and the misthad vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snowupon the ground.“Good Heaven!” said Scrooge, clasping his hands together, ashe looked about him. “I was bred in this place. I was a boy here!”The Spirit gazed upon him mildly.
Its gentle touch, though it had beenlight and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man’ssense of feeling. He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in theair, each one connected with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys,and cares long, long, forgotten!“Your lip is trembling,” said the Ghost. “And what isthat upon your cheek?”Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was apimple; and begged the Ghost to lead him where he would.“You recollect the way?” inquired the Spirit.“Remember it!” cried Scrooge with fervour; “I couldwalk it blindfold.”“Strange to have forgotten it for so many years!” observedthe Ghost. “Let us go on.”They walked along the road, Scrooge recognising every gate, and post,and tree; until a little market-town appeared in the distance, with itsbridge, its church, and winding river.
Some shaggy ponies now were seentrotting towards them with boys upon their backs, who called to otherboys in country gigs and carts, driven by farmers. All these boys werein great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad fields wereso full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed to hear it!“These are but shadows of the things that have been,” saidthe Ghost. “They have no consciousness of us.”The jocund travellers came on; and as they came, Scrooge knew and namedthem every one. Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them!
Whydid his cold eye glisten, and his heart leap up as they went past! Whywas he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other MerryChristmas, as they parted at cross-roads and bye-ways, for their severalhomes! What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas!What good had it ever done to him?“The school is not quite deserted,” said the Ghost. “Asolitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.”Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed.They left the high-road, by a well-remembered lane, and soon approacheda mansion of dull red brick, with a little weathercock-surmountedcupola, on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. It was a large house, butone of broken fortunes; for the spacious offices were little used, theirwalls were damp and mossy, their windows broken, and their gatesdecayed.
Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables; and the coach-housesand sheds were over-run with grass. Nor was it more retentive of itsancient state, within; for entering the dreary hall, and glancingthrough the open doors of many rooms, they found them poorly furnished,cold, and vast. There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly barenessin the place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting upby candle-light, and not too much to eat.They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the backof the house. It opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare,melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms anddesks.
But if they had been twice as many—ah, four times—oldFezziwig would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs. Fezziwig.As to her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of theterm. If that’s not high praise, tell me higher, and I’lluse it. A positive light appeared to issue from Fezziwig’s calves.They shone in every part of the dance like moons.
You couldn’thave predicted, at any given time, what would have become of them next.And when old Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone all through the dance;advance and retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsey,corkscrew, thread-the-needle, and back again to your place; Fezziwig“cut”—cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with hislegs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. And Mrs.Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, andshaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out,wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but thetwo ’prentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerfulvoices died away, and the lads were left to their beds; which were undera counter in the back-shop.During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of hiswits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self.
Hecorroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, andunderwent the strangest agitation. It was not until now, when the brightfaces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that heremembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full uponhim, while the light upon its head burnt very clear.“A small matter,” said the Ghost, “to make these sillyfolks so full of gratitude.”“Small!” echoed Scrooge.The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who werepouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so,said,“Why! He has spent but a few pounds of your mortalmoney: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves thispraise?”“It isn’t that,” said Scrooge, heated by the remark,and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self.“It isn’t that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happyor unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or atoil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slightand insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up:what then?
The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost afortune.”He felt the Spirit’s glance, and stopped.“What is the matter?” asked the Ghost.“Nothing particular,” said Scrooge.“Something, I think?” the Ghost insisted.“No,” said Scrooge, “No. I should like to be able tosay a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.”His former self turned down the lamps as he gave utterance to the wish;and Scrooge and the Ghost again stood side by side in the open air.“My time grows short,” observed the Spirit. “Quick!”This was not addressed to Scrooge, or to any one whom he could see, butit produced an immediate effect.
For again Scrooge saw himself. He wasolder now; a man in the prime of life. His face had not the harsh andrigid lines of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs of careand avarice. There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye,which showed the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow ofthe growing tree would fall.He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl in amourning-dress: in whose eyes there were tears, which sparkled in thelight that shone out of the Ghost of Christmas Past.“It matters little,” she said, softly. “To you, verylittle. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfortyou in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just causeto grieve.”“What Idol has displaced you?” he rejoined.“A golden one.”“This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said.“There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there isnothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit ofwealth!”“You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “Allyour other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance ofits sordid reproach.
Carols For A Merry Tubachristmas Pdf File Converter
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one byone, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?”“What then?” he retorted. “Even if I have grown somuch wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you.”She shook her head.“Am I?”“Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poorand content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve ourworldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed.
When itwas made, you were another man.”“I was a boy,” he said impatiently.“Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are,”she returned. That which promised happiness when we wereone in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. How often andhow keenly I have thought of this, I will not say. It is enough that Ihave thought of it, and can release you.”“Have I ever sought release?”“In words. Never.”“In what, then?”“In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphereof life; another Hope as its great end. In everything that made my loveof any worth or value in your sight.
If this had never been between us,”said the girl, looking mildly, but with steadiness, upon him; “tellme, would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!”He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition, in spite ofhimself. But he said with a struggle, “You think not.”“I would gladly think otherwise if I could,” she answered,“Heaven knows!
When I have learned a Truth like this, Iknow how strong and irresistible it must be. But if you were freeto-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose adowerless girl—you who, in your very confidence with her, weigheverything by Gain: or, choosing her, if for a moment you were falseenough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that yourrepentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you.
Witha full heart, for the love of him you once were.”He was about to speak; but with her head turned from him, she resumed.“You may—the memory of what is past half makes me hope youwill—have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you willdismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, fromwhich it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life youhave chosen!”She left him, and they parted.“Spirit!” said Scrooge, “show me no more! Conduct mehome. Why do you delight to torture me?”“One shadow more!” exclaimed the Ghost.“No more!” cried Scrooge. I don’t wishto see it. Show me no more!”But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced himto observe what happened next.They were in another scene and place; a room, not very large orhandsome, but full of comfort.
Near to the winter fire sat a beautifulyoung girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same,until he saw her, now a comely matron, sitting opposite herdaughter. The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for therewere more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mindcould count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were notforty children conducting themselves like one, but every child wasconducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyondbelief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother anddaughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter,soon beginning to mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the youngbrigands most ruthlessly. What would I not have given to be one of them!Though I never could have been so rude, no, no! I wouldn’t for thewealth of all the world have crushed that braided hair, and torn itdown; and for the precious little shoe, I wouldn’t have plucked itoff, God bless my soul!
To save my life. As to measuring her waist insport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn’t have done it; Ishould have expected my arm to have grown round it for a punishment, andnever come straight again. “You have never seen the like of me before!” exclaimed theSpirit.“Never,” Scrooge made answer to it.“Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family;meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these lateryears?” pursued the Phantom.“I don’t think I have,” said Scrooge. “I amafraid I have not.
Have you had many brothers, Spirit?”“More than eighteen hundred,” said the Ghost.“A tremendous family to provide for!” muttered Scrooge.The Ghost of Christmas Present rose.“Spirit,” said Scrooge submissively, “conduct me whereyou will. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lessonwhich is working now. To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let meprofit by it.”“Touch my robe!”Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkeys, geese, game, poultry,brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch,all vanished instantly.
Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 40Total Download: 603File Size: 51,7 MbDescription: This is a Christmas sheet music book with 10 popular Christmas Carols. Each Carol has two easy arrangements, one for solo Tuba, the other for Tuba and Piano when playing duets. The piano parts can be played on piano or electronic keyboard, they are very easy to play and are arranged to accompany the Tuba.
Skill Level: Grade1 to Grade 3. Christians Awake Salute The Happy Morn 2.
Coventry Carol 3. Gather Around The Christmas Tree 4. Good Christian Men Rejoice 5.
In The Bleak Midwinter 6. O Come O Come Emmanuel 7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem 8. The Huron Carol 9. The Wexford Carol 10. Unto Us A Boy Is Born Compatible Devices The digital sheet music in this book can be viewed on all tablet devices. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you enjoy playing the Christmas Carols in this book.
Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 56Total Download: 933File Size: 47,5 MbDescription: This is a Christmas sheet music book with 10 popular Christmas Carols. Each Carol has two easy arrangements, one for solo Tuba, the other for Tuba and Piano when playing duets. The piano parts can be played on piano or electronic keyboard, they are very easy to play and are arranged to accompany the Tuba. Skill Level: Grade1 to Grade 3. O Come All Ye Faithful 2. The First Noel 3.
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen 4. The Holly And The Ivy 5. Joy to the World 6. Once in Royal David's City 7. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 8.
What Child is This? We Wish You A Merry Christmas 10. Auld Lang Syne Compatible Devices The digital sheet music in this book can be viewed on all tablet devices and computers. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you enjoy playing the Christmas Carols in this book.
Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 9Total Download: 159File Size: 50,5 MbDescription: This is a Tuba sheet music book with 10 easy sheet music pieces. Each piece has two easy arrangements, one for solo Tuba, the other for Tuba and Piano when playing duets. The piano parts can be played on piano or electronic keyboard, they are very easy to play and are arranged to accompany the Tuba. Home on the Range 2.
Daisy Bell 4. Oh Susanna 5. Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home 6. Lightly Row 7. The New World Symphony 9.
Michael Row The Boat Ashore 10. When The Saints Go Marching In Compatible Devices The digital sheet music in this book can be viewed on all tablet devices. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you enjoy the sheet music in this book. Keywords: brass band music,brass music,how to play the tuba,low brass instruments,tuba,tuba christmas,tuba christmas music,tuba notes,tuba sheet music,tuba solo,tuba solo sheet music,tuba solos,tuba song,tuba songs. Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 99Total Download: 749File Size: 48,8 MbDescription: This is a Christmas sheet music book with 10 popular Christmas Carols. Each Carol has two easy arrangements, one for solo Tuba, the other for Tuba and Piano when playing duets. The piano parts can be played on piano or electronic keyboard, they are very easy to play and are arranged to accompany the Tuba.
Skill Level: Grade1 to Grade 3. Ding Dong Merrily on High 2. I Saw Three Ships 3. Jingle Bells 4. O Christmas Tree 5.
We Three Kings 6. Away In A Manger 7. Silent Night 8. Good King Wenceslas 9. Hark The Herald Angels Sing 10.
Deck The Halls Compatible Devices The digital sheet music in this book can be viewed on all tablet devices. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you enjoy playing the Christmas Carols in this book. Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 44Total Download: 798File Size: 54,9 MbDescription: This is a Christmas sheet music book with 10 popular Christmas Carols. Each Carol has two easy arrangements, one for solo Tuba, the other for Tuba and Piano when playing duets. The piano parts can be played on piano or electronic keyboard, they are very easy to play and are arranged to accompany the Tuba. Skill Level: Grade1 to Grade 3.
Angels From The Realms Of Glory 2. Angels We Have Heard On High 3. Come, All Ye Shepherds 4. Go Tell It On The Mountain 5.
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day 6. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear 7. O Holy Night 8. See Amid The Winter's Snow 9. The Gloucestershire Wassail 10. The Wassail Song Compatible Devices The digital sheet music in this book can be viewed on all tablet devices. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you enjoy playing the Christmas Carols in this book.
Author by: John KinyonLanguange: enPublisher by: Alfred MusicFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 13Total Download: 676File Size: 54,9 MbDescription: Yamaha Christmas Ensembles utilize the same flexible format of the successful Yamaha Band Ensembles and contains 19 delightful arrangements of Christmas favorites. Arranged in order of difficulty, the carols span approximately the same level as Books 1 and 2 of the Yamaha Band Student. Page correlations are also included. Titles:.
Angels We have Heard on High. Away in a Manger.
Deck the Halls. Go Tell It on the Mountain. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman.
Good King Wenceslas. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. In the Bleak Mid-Winter. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Jingle Bells. Jolly Old St.
Nicholas. Lo, How a Rose. O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
Silent Night. Up on the Housetop. We Three Kings.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 22Total Download: 657File Size: 52,5 MbDescription: This sheet music book contains 20 traditional Christmas carols arranged for Tuba. Arrangements are very easy and written in easy keys and are aimed at new beginners. Key signatures used in this book are the key of C major (no sharps or flats in key signature), the key of F major (1 flat in key signature - Bb) and the key of G major (1 sharp in the key signature – F#).
Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: 20 Traditional Christmas CarolFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 19Total Download: 990File Size: 43,8 MbDescription: 20 Traditional Christmas Carols For Tuba - Book 1 Easy Key Series This sheet music book contains 20 traditional Christmas carols arranged for Tuba. Arrangements are very easy and written in easy keys and are aimed at new beginners. Key signatures used in this book are the key of C major (no sharps or flats in key signature), the key of F major (1 flat in key signature - Bb) and the key of G major (1 sharp in the key signature - F#). Author by: Michael ShawLanguange: enPublisher by: Michael ShawFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 32Total Download: 927File Size: 50,6 MbDescription: Christmas Sheet Music For Beginners - Clarinet Big Note Sheet Music With Lettered Noteheads This sheet music book contains 20 popular Christmas carols arranged for Clarinet. Arrangements are very easy and will suit new beginners.
Each arrangement features bigger music notes and each note head has the letter name printed within the note. Contents: Silent Night Angels From The Realms Of Glory Gather Around The Christmas Tree Once In Royal David's City Go Tell It On The Mountain Jingle Bells While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks Good Christian Men Rejoice It Came Upon The Midnight Clear We Three Kings Angels We Have Heard On High Joy To The World Christians Awake Salute The Happy Morn Good King Wenceslas Come, All Ye Shepherds What Child Is This? Coventry Carol We Wish You A Merry Christmas I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day The Holly And The Ivy Check out my other music books for Piccolo, Tuba, French Horn, Flute, Alto Saxophone, Trumpet and Oboe. Choose from easy for beginners to advanced for ensemble players. You can find these books on my profile page.
Teachers & Students Music teachers can use this book as a teaching aid with new students. Beginners can benefit using the Lettered Noteheads included with every arrangement. My name is Michael Shaw, I hope you find this book useful, Good luck with your music.