Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-24

: not stay for anything, but went straigh
: on, as to the end just now desired, unit
besought by Scrooge 20 tarry for mo
ment.
This court" said Scrooge, "thr,
! which we hurry now is where my plac
of occupation is, and has been for
i length of time. see the house. Let M
behold what shall be, in the days t,
comet
4 The Spirit stopped; the hand wa
! pointed elsewhere.
i THE house is yonder," Scrooge ex
claimed. why do you point away?"
The inexorable finger underwent M
/ change.
i Scrooge FASTENED TO the window o.
| his office, and looked in. 1t was an Office
still, but not his. rhe furniture was
not the same, and the figure in the chair
was not himself. The Phantom pointed
as before.
He joined it once again, and, wonder
| ing why and whittier he had gone, ac-
Icompanied 1t until they reached an iron
| gate. He paused to look round before
entering.
A churchyard. Here. then, the
wretched man whose name he had now
to learn lay underneath the ground. 1t
was a worthy place. Walled in by
houses: overrun by grass and weeds,
the growth of vegetation's death, not
life; ci1oked up with zoo much burying;
fat with repleted appetite. A worthy
place!
The Spirit stood among the graves.
and pointed down to one. He advanced
towards 1t, Trembling. The Phantom
was exactly as it had been, but he
dreaded that he saw new meaning in its
solemn shape.
Before / draw nearer to that stone
to which you point" said Scrooge. an
swer me one question. Are these the
shadows OF the things that will be, or
are they shadows of the things that
may be. only?'
Still the Ghost pointed downward to
the grave by which it stood.
MEMS curses viii. foreshadow cer-
MEMS courses will foreshadow GER
tain ends, to which. If persevered in.
they must lead" said Scrooge. But If
the courses be departed from, the ends
will change. Say it is thus with what
you show me!'
The Spirit was immovable as ever.
Scrooge crept towards it, trembling
as he went: and following the finger.
read upon the stone of the neglected
grave his own name, E,beneZer Scrooge.
Am I that man who lay upon the
bed?" he cried. upon his knees.
The finger pointed from the grave to
him, and back again
mo. Spirit! Oh, no, mol"
The finger still was there.
Spirit" he cried, tightly clutching
at it's robe, hear me. I am not the
man I was. l will not be the man l
must have been but FOR this intercourse.
Why show me this, if l am past all
hope2r
For the first time the hand appeared
to shake.
"Good Spirit" he pursued as down
upon the ground he fell before it, your
nature intercedes for me, and pities me.
Assure me that yet may change these
shadows yeu have shown me by an al
tered life!''
The kind hand tren,bled.
II will honor Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year. ! will
live in the past, the present and the
future. The spirits of all three shall
strive within me. I will not shut out
the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell
me may sponge away the writing on
this stone!"
In his agony he caught the spectral
hand. 1t sought to free itself, but he
was strong in his entreaty, and de-
tanned 1t. The Spirit, stronger yet, re-
pulsed him..
Holding up his hands In last prayer
&c have his fate reversed, he saw an al |
teration in the Phantoms hood and |
iress. 1t shrunk, collapsed and dwindled |
iown into bedpost