The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-21
D|CKENS'S CHRISTMAS CAROL
Il Ought to be Re Read Every Christmas By all Who Dont
Understand the Secret Of tn, Real Christmas Spirit

good ones; advice as to the duty to the
poor, and sound advice; n exorta-
tons and poems Of the Christ child,
and the best-all these had appeared
in plenty before Dickens wrote his
masterpiece, the ''Christmas Carol"
The best Of modern Christmas stories
have in them a touch OF Dickens-in-
deed the warf and wool Of most Of
them are Of the spirit Of the Christ
mas Carol" Let us recall that story
on this Christmas period, in the year
1909. 1t shows that h chief sin
of the world is S%elfishness and that
1t drives away Happiness.
A rich London merchant named
Scrooge, q hard, gripping man. becom-
ing more hard and selfish year by
year. ives alone. Yet despite his
hard selfishness there is 40 hypocrisy
about him. He is a stern. avarfcious
man. caring for nothing and nobody,
save his own passion Tor anassins
ened him. till he became Indifferent
to every thought OF dutv
He angrily refuses his nephew's in
vitation to take Christmas dinner with
him; tapnts the Young man for hav-
ing fallen in love, and say that
Christmas is q humbug.
"Christmas a humhng. uncle? Surely
you don't mean that"
II do! Merry Christmas! What
ris h have you to be merry? What
reason nave YOU TO De merry on re
poor encugh!"
Come. then, what right have you
II be die~a1 n morose-you are
RICH enough"
Whats Christmas time but a time
for paving hills without money?
Merry Chr'ct,nas' on his Inns should
he boiled with his own pudding. and
buried with ? stake of holly through
his heart! There's another fellow
nv 1e-k-wi+h fif+nnn shillinoS q
week. with a wife and family. talkine
about a merry Christmas! BAH I'll
fetirn TO Po1'ami"
After GLOWING his poor clerk one
holiday. with a warning to be down
extra carlv next morning. he shuts
his door, and remains alone with his
selfish and worldly thoughts. At
midnight the ghost Of his former
partner Marley appears. wearing a
chain. which startles Scrnoge. Mar
lev deploreS the hardaned. selfish
conIuot he bad always shown in LEO
and briefly describes his own condi-
ton. ScroOrge is 10th to believe the
f~enuineneSs Of the apparitiOn, but It
is
1.-The same face. Marley in his pig
tell. usual waist-coat. tights and boots.
the tassc1s on the latter bristling like
his pig tail The cnnin he drew was
clasped about his middle. 1t was long
and wound about him like a tail. and
1t was made of cash boxes, keys, pad
locks, ledgerS, deeds, and heavy purses
wrought in steel. His body was trans
parent, so that Scoorge, looking
on his coat behind. Scrooge had Of
ten heard that Marley had no bowels
but he never believed it till now.
You don't believe in me?"
Il don't"
What evidence would you have?
NVhU Az ~ J,,,hf 1vD,,r ovy~ ~
because q little thing affects them.
4 slight disorder Of the stomach
makes them cheat. You may be an
undertone bit of beef. a p lot of mus
tard, a crumb Of cheese, a fragment
Of an uneIrtone potato. There's
whatever you are. You see this tooth
pick? Well, ! have but to swallow
this, and for the rest of my days be
prosecuted by a legion of COLLINS.
all Of my own creation. Humbug, ]
tell you, humbugi"
"Jt Is required of man that his
spirit within him should walk abroad
among his fellow men, and travel far
and wide; if that spirit goes not
forth in life. il is condemned to do
der through this world and witness
what it cannot share, but might have
shared on earth and turned to happi-
ness"
Tell me why you are fettered."
Il wear the chain ] forged in life.
] made it link by link, and yard by
yard. I girded it on Of m own free
will. and of my own free will I wore
# Is the pattern strange to you ?
The weight and length Of the strong
coil you bear yourself was full as
heavy and as long as this seven
Christmas ewes ago. You have labor
ed on 1t ever since. J cannot tell you
what ] would. A little time more is
all permitted to me. I cannot rest.
] cannot stay. 1 cannot linger any
where. NY spirit never moved be-
yond the narrow limits of our money!
changing hole. and-weary journeys lie
before me o captive, bound and
double ironed. not to know that in