|
|
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Charles Dickens
Stave 5: The End of It
Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own,
the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time
before him was his own, to make amends in!
`I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.'
Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. `The Spirits
of all Three shall strive within me. Oh, Jacob Marley,
Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say
it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees.'
He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions,
that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his
call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the
Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.
`They are not torn down!' cried Scrooge, folding one of
his bed-curtains in his arms, `they are not torn down, rings
and all. They are here--I am here--the shadows of the
things that would have been, may be dispelled. They will
be! I know they will.'
His hands were busy with his garments all this time;
turning them inside out, putting them on upside down,
tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every
kind of extravagance.
`I don't know what to do!' cried Scrooge, laughing and
crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoon of
himself with his stockings. `I am as light as a feather, I
am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy! I
am as giddy as a drunken man! A merry Christmas to
everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo
here! Whoop! Hallo!'
He had frisked into the sitting-room, and was now standing
there: perfectly winded.
`There's the saucepan that the gruel was in,' cried
Scrooge, starting off again, and going round the fireplace.
`There's the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley
entered. There's the corner where the Ghost of Christmas
Present, sat. There's the window where I saw the wandering
Spirits. It's all right, it's all true, it all happened!
Ha ha ha!'
Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so
many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.
The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.
`I don't know what day of the month it is,' said
Scrooge. `I don't know how long I've been among the
Spirits. I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby! Never
mind. I don't care. I'd rather be a baby! Hallo! Whoop!
Hallo here!'
He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing
out the lustiest peals he had ever heard. Clash, clang,
hammer; ding, dong, bell! Bell, dong, ding; hammer, clang,
clash. Oh, glorious, glorious.
Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his
head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold;
cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight;
Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious.
Glorious.
|
Christmas Sites
Other Sites
|