Journeys Through Bookland Volume Vi Part 43

"Fred!" said Scrooge.

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

"Why bless my soul!" cried Fred, "who's that?"

"It's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?"

Let him in! It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm off. He was at home in five minutes. Nothing could be heartier. His niece looked just the same.

So did Topper when _he_ came. So did the plump sister, when _she_ came.

So did every one when _they_ came. Wonderful party, wonderful games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful happiness!

But he was early at the office next morning. Oh he was early there. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late! That was the thing he had set his heart upon.

And he did it; yes he did! The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. He was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his time.

Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come into the Tank. His hat was off, before he opened the door; his comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.

"Hallo!" growled Scrooge in his accustomed voice as near as he could feign it. "What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?"

"I am very sorry, Sir," said Bob. "I _am_ behind my time."

"You are?" repeated Scrooge. "Yes. I think you are. Step this way, Sir, if you please."

"It's only once a year, Sir," pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. "It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, Sir."

"Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," said Scrooge. "I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore," he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again: "and therefore I am about to raise your salary!"

Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler. He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it; holding him; and calling to the people in the court for help and a strait-waist-coat.

"A Merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavor to a.s.sist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!"

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became 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. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "A MERRY CHRISTMAS, BOB!"]

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, 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, G.o.d Bless Us, Every One!

FOOTNOTES:

[247-1] The fogs of London are famous. A genuine London fog seems not like the heavy gray mist which we know as a fog, but, as d.i.c.kens says, like "palpable brown air." So dense is this brown air at times that all traffic is obliged to cease, for not even those best acquainted with the geography of the city can find their way about.

[251-2] _Bedlam_ is the name of a famous asylum for lunatics, in London.

In former times the treatment of the inmates was far from humane, but at the present time the management is excellent, and a large proportion of the inmates are cured.

[252-3] Workhouses are establishments where paupers are cared for, a certain amount of labor being expected from those who are able.

[252-4] In England formerly there existed a device for the punishment of prisoners which was known as the _treadmill_. A huge wheel, usually in the form of a long hollow cylinder, was provided with steps about its circ.u.mference, and made to revolve by the weight of the prisoner as he moved from step to step.

[253-5] Links are torches made of tow and pitch. In the days before the invention of street lights, they were in common use in England, and they are still seen during the dense London fogs.

[254-6] Saint Dunstan was an English archbishop and statesman who lived in the tenth century.

[254-7] This is one of the best-known and oftenest-sung of Christmas carols. In many parts of England, parties of men and boys go about for several nights before Christmas singing carols before people's houses.

These troops of singers are known as "waits."

[258-8] The splinter-bar is the cross-bar of a vehicle, to which the traces of the horses are fastened.

[261-9] There is a play on the word _bowels_ here. What Scrooge had heard said of Marley was that he had no bowels of compa.s.sion--that is, no pity.

[277-10] Scrooge sees and recognizes the heroes of the books which had been almost his only comforters in his neglected childhood.

[284-11] "Sir Roger de Coverley" is the English name for the old-fas.h.i.+oned country-dance which is called in the United States the "Virginia Reel."

[300-12] Biffins are an excellent variety of apples raised in England.

[301-13] _Baker's_ here does not mean exactly what it means with us. In England the poorer people often take their dinners to a baker's to be cooked.

[303-14] A _bob_, in English slang, is a s.h.i.+lling.

[311-15] _Five-and-sixpence_ means five s.h.i.+llings and sixpence, or about $1.32.

[319-16] In what sense has Scrooge "resorted to the s.e.xton's spade that buried Jacob Marley" to cultivate the kindnesses of life?

[320-17] "I love my love" is an old game of which there are several slightly different forms. The player says "I love my love with an _A_ because he's--," giving some adjective beginning with _A_; "I hate him with an _A_ because he's--; I took him to--and fed him on--," all the blanks being filled with words beginning with _A_. This is carried out through the whole alphabet.

[346-18] The Laoc.o.o.n is a famous ancient statue of a Trojan priest, Laoc.o.o.n, and his two sons, struggling in the grip of two monstrous serpents. You have doubtless seen pictures of the group. d.i.c.kens's figure gives us a humorously exaggerated picture of Scrooge and his stockings.

[349-19] This is a slang expression, used to express incredulity. It has somewhat the same meaning as the slang phrase heard in the United States--"Over the left."

[349-20] Joe Miller was an English comedian who lived from 1684 to 1738.

The year after his death there appeared a little book called _Joe Miller's Jests_. These stories and jokes, however, were not written by Miller.

CHRISTMAS IN OLD TIME

_By_ Sir Walter Scott

Heap on more wood![356-1]--the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still.

Each age has deem'd the new-born year The fittest time for festal cheer:[356-2]

And well our Christian sires of old Loved when the year its course had roll'd, And brought blithe Christmas back again, With all his hospitable train.[356-3]

Domestic and religious rite[356-4]

Gave honor to the holy night; On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;[356-5]

On Christmas Eve the ma.s.s[356-6] was sung: That only night in all the year, Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.[356-7]

The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;[356-8]