Evening star., 1924-12-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

| the merriest, most touching Christ
mas story ever written by man. Dick
ems wrote many Christmas tales, but
none ever approached "a Christmas
Carol" 1t made a "hit" upon its publi-
cation, and its fame has increased
through the years.
Certainly 1t scarcely appears pos
sible to write q better Christmas
story. The reason for this. aside from
the genius of the author, is that
when 1t was written the true spirit
of the English Christmas was at its
heighth.
Since that day there has been q gen.
eral decline in the heartiness and
genuineness Of the celebration. with
many today Christmas has lost all
real Significance, and has become a
mere exchange Of gifts, and even that
not done In the right spirit, but In a
spirit of outdoing each other.
But there Is hope for each one and
all of us, Il only we elders will read
anew each Christmas time Dickens
| carol, receiving from the genuine
fount bit of the true Christmas
spirit.
Yes, Marley was dead, leaving old
Scrooge to carry on.
"Oh! but he was a tight-f1sted hand
at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeez-
| ing, wrenching, grasping. scraping,
clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard
and sharp as flint. from which no steel
had ever struck out generous fire
secret, and SnlF-contained, and soli-
| tary as an oyster"
The OLD -. urted out bah" and
! "humbug" when others wished him
merry Christmas. He told the solicit
tors for q charity where to get of"
and generally acted like the icicle he
| was.
When tho boys stopped down to
sing through the keyhole of his office
door God Bless You, Merry Gentle
man, May Nothing You Dismay,"
Scrooge chased them away with a
ruler.
This was tho man who later faced
| Marley's ghost, bearing its great
| chain of cash boxes, ledgers and
purses, and who was offered a chance
of salvation.
The Introduction Of Christmas past,
the ghost of Christmas present and
the ghost of Christmas yet to be was
a detail which only a real genius
could have handled successfully.
Through its mechanism Dickens
old places and showed him, by con-
| trast, just what a mean old cuss he
! had grown to be.
The reader, too, meets the unfor-
| gettable Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and
old Fezziwig and all the company the
| master creates for him.
! Tho Scrooge wakes up--but he Is
not old Scrooge any longer. Spirits,
| or dreams, IL makes no difference, he
| has seen the light.
1t Is not here as with the miser In
an old French play, who leans
against a post and grows generous"
as the stage directions said.
The conversion of Scrooge was gem
uine. and so impresses the reader. We
rejoice with Scrooge, the new Scrooge,
as he leans out his window Christmas 8
| morning, able to join in the celebra-
| ton.
He dressed himself all in his best,
| and at last got out into the street.
The people were by this time pouring g
forth, as he had seen them with the
ghost of Christmas present: and
| walking with his hands behind him,
Scrooge regarded every one with a
| delighted smile. He looked so ire
sistibly pleasant, in word, that
| three or four good-humored fellows
said Good morning, sir! A merry
Christmas to your And Scrooge said
often afterward that OF all the blithe
sounds he had ever heard those were
| the blithest in his ears"
Scrooge became as good q man as
the good old city knew; and though
some laughed at him he let them
laugh, for his own heart laughed; and
that was quite enough for him.
! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God
bless US, every one!