New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-12-25

enough tnat Dy degrees the cnlluren and their
emotiouns got out of the parlor and by one
stair at a time, up to the top of the house !;
where they went to bed, and SO subsidized.
And now Scrooge looked on more attentively
than ever, when the master of the house, having
his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down
with her and her mother at his own Preside ;
and when he thought that such another crea-
ture, quite as graceful and as fail of promise,
might have called him father, and been spring
time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight
| grew very dim indeed.
| s'Belle,' said the husband, turning to his wife
with o smile, 81 saw an old friend Of yours this
afternoon
sWho was it"'
"Guess!''
elbow can I Tut, don't know" she added
in the same breath, laughing as he laughed
Mr.. Scrooge."
"Mr Scrooge it was passed his Office win
| dow; and as it was not shut up, and he had a
candle inside, could scarcely help seeing him.
His partner lies upon the point of death, hear
and there he sat, alone. Quite alone in the
world, do believe"
"Spirit!' said Scrooge, in broken voice.
remove me from this place.
/ told you these were shadows of the things
that have been," said the Ghost. :" That they
are what they are, do not blame me-"
| Remove mel Scrooge exclaimed. "l cam
not bear it,
He turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that it
looked upon him with face in which, in some
strange way, there were fragments of all the
faces it had shown him, wrestled with it.
ssLeaye me! Take me back! Haunt me no
| longer''
In the struggle, if that can be called a strug-
gle in which the Ghost, with no visible resistance
on its own part, was undisturbed by any effort
OF its adversary, Scrooge observed that its light
was burning high and bright and dimly con-
Meeting that with its influence over him. he seized
the extinguisher- and by IL sudden action
pressed it down upon its head
The Spirit dropped beneath it, 50 that the ex-
tinguisher covered It's whole form; but though
Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he
could not hide the light, which streamed from
under it, in an unbroken flood, upon the ground
He was conscious of being exhausted and
overcome by an Irresistible drowsiness; and,
farther, of being in his own bedroom. He gave
the cap parting squeeze, in which his hand re-
Taxed; and had barely time to reel to bed, before
he sank into heavy sleep
Stare Three. The Second of the Three
Spirits. 4
AMAZING in the midle of prodigiously tough
snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts
together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told
that the bell was again upon the stroke Of One.
He felt that he was restored to consciousness
in the right nick of time, for the special pur-
pose of holding conference with the second
messenger dispatched to him through Jacob
Marley's intervention. But, finding that he
turned uncomfortably cold when he began to
wonder which of his curtains this new spectre
would draw back, he put them every one aside
with his own hands; and, lying down again,
established sharp lookout all round the bed
For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the
moment, of its appearance, and did not wish to
be taken by surprise and made nervous.
Gentlemen of the free and easy sort, who
plume themselves on being acquainted with
move or two, and being usually equal to the
time of-day, express the wide range of their
capacity for adventure by observing that they
are good for anything from pitch and toss to
manslaughter; between which opposite ex-
tremes, no doubt, there lies d tolerably wide
and comprehensive range of subjects, With
out venturing for Scrooge quite as hardly as
this, | don't mind calling on you to believe that
he was ready for good broad field of strange
appearances, and that nothing between u baby
and rhinoceros would have astoniseed him
very much.
Now, being prepared for almost anything, he
was not by any means prepared for nothing
and, consequently. when the Bell struck One,
and no shape appeared, he was taken with
violent tit Of trembling. Five minutes, ten
minutes, quarter of an hour went by, yet no.
thing came. All this time, he lay upon his bed,
the very core and centre Of u blaze of rudy
light, witch streaaed upon it when the clock
proclaimed the hour and which being only
light, was more alarming than dozen of ghosts,
as he was powerless to make out what it meant,
or would be at; and was sometimes apprehen-
a a m ph hp Mt hat
case of spontaneous combustion,
without having the consolation of knowing it,
At last, however, he began to think-as you or
would have thought at first for it is always
the person not in the predicanent who knows
what ought to have been done in it, and would
unquestionably have done it too--at last, say,
he began to think that the source and secret of
this ghostly light might be in the adjoining
room from whence, on further tracing it, it
seemed to shine. This idea taking full pos
session of his mind, he got up softly and shufied
in his slippers to the door.
The moment Scrooges hand was on the lock,
a strange voice called him by his name, and
babe him enter. He obeyed
1t was his own room There was no doubt
about that But it had undergone surprising
The walls and ceiling were SO
hung with living green, that it looked a perfect
grove, from every part of which, bright gleam-
ing berries glsteneu. The CRISP leaves OF holly,
and ivy, reflected back the light as if
50 many little mirrors had been scattered there
and such mighty blaze went roaring up the
chimney, as that dull petrifaction of a hearth
had never known in Scrooge's time, OF Marley's,
or for many and many a winter season gone
Heaped up upon the floor, to form kind of
throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry,
Drawn, great joints OF meat, sucking pigs, long
wreaths OF sausages, mince pies, plum buildings,
barrels of oysters, red-hot chesnuts, cherry
checked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears,
Immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of
punch, that made the chamber dim with their
delicious steam In easy state upon this couch,
there sat q jolly Giant, glorious to see who bore
a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's
horn, and held it up, high up. to shed its light
on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door
" Come in" exclaimed the Ghost s'Come in
and know me better, mani
Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head
before the Spirit. He was not the dogged
Scrooge he had been; and though its eyes were
clear and kind, he did not like to meet them.
sc am the Ghost of Christmas Present. said
the Spirit. Look at me p
Scrooge reverently did SO. 1t was clothed in |
one simple deep green robe, or mantle, bordered |
with white fur, This garment hung so loosely !
IN the figure, that its capacious breast was bare,
IS II dlsdaining to be warded or concealed by |
my artitice. Its feet, observable beneath the |
ample folds of the garment, were also bare and |
IN its head it wore no other covering than a
holly wreath set here and there with shining
cicles. Its dark brown curls were long and
rec; free as its genial face, its sparkling eye,
Us open hand, its cherry voice, its uaconstrained