The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-05-29
SCROOGE AND MARLEY.

Marley was dead to begin with.
There is no doubt about that. The
register Of his burial was signed by
the clergyman, the CLERK, the under
taker, and the chief nlourner Scrooge
signed it /; and .Scrooge's name was
good on change, for anything he chose
tolput his hand to- Old Marley was
as dead as a door nail.
Mind! I.don't mean to say that I
know, of my own knowledge, what
there is particularly dead about .
door nail. I might have been inclin-
led, myself, to regard a cofin-nail as
the deadest piece of ironmongery in
the trade. D But the wisdom of our
ancestors is in the smile; and my
unhallowed hands shall not disturb it,
or my country's done for. You will
therefore permit me to repeat, emphat-
icalIy, that Marley was as dead as a
door-nail.
Scrooge knew he was dead? Of
course he did. How could it be 9TH.
erwise? EScrooge and he were part
ners for I don't know how many
years. Scrooge was his sole executor,
his sole administrator, his sole assign
ee, his sole residuary legatee, his sole
friend, his sole mourner.- And even
Scrooge was not SO dreadfully cut up.
by the sad event, but that he was an
excellent man of business on the very
day Of the funeral, and solemnized it
with an undoubted bargain.
Scrooge never painted out old Mar:
ley's name. There it stood, years at
forwards, above the warehouse door !:
''Scrooge and Marley" The firm was
known as Scrooge and Marley. Some
times people new to the business,
called Scrooge Scrooge, and some.
times Marley, but he. answered to both
names; 1t was all the same to him.
Oh! But he was a tight listed hand
at the grlndstone, Scrooge! squeez-
ing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,
clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard
and sharp as flint, from which no steel
had ever struck out generous fire; Sc.
cret and ,self-contained, and solitary
as an oyster. The cold within him
troze his old features, nipped his
pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiff
ened his gait, made his eyes red, his
thin lipsabiue, and spoke out shrewd-
ly IL his ,grating voice. A frosty
rhine was on his head, and on his eye
brows and his wiry chin. He carried
his ownlow temperature always about
with him; he iced his office in dog.
days, and didn't thaw it one degree at
Christmas. r.,-.t
External heat and cold had little
influence on Scrooge. No warmth
could warm, nor wintry weather chill
him. No wind that blew was bitter
er than he; no falling snow was more
intent upon it's purpose, no pelting
rain less open to entreaty. Foul
weather didn't know where to have
him. The heaviest rain, the snow, the
hail, the sleet could boast of the ad-
vantage 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 gladstone look, my
dear Scrooge, how are you? When
will you come to see me?" No beg
CARS implored him to bestow a triffe !;
no children asked him what o'clock 1t
was; no man or woman ever once in
all his life inquired the way to such
and such place, of Scrooge. Even
1.-The blind mems dogs appeared to
know him; and when they saw him
coming ON, would tug their owners
into doorways and up courts and then
would wag their tails as though they