A Christmas Carol: The Ghost of Christmas Present

When the bell struck one again, no spirit appeared at his bed, but a strange red light was shining from the room next door.Scrooge shuffled to the door in his slippers, and a strange voice called him by his name and told him to come in.It was his own room, but holly and ivy covered the walls, a great fire roared in the chimney, and turkeys, puddings, fruit and cakes were piled up on the floor like a throne.On top sat a jolly giant in a green robe, holding up a glowing torch. “Come in, and know me better, man! I am the Ghost of Christmas Present.”“Spirit,” said Scrooge humbly, “take me where you will. Last night I learned a lesson, and it is working in me now.”

“Touch my robe!” said the Ghost, and at once they stood in the snowy city streets on Christmas morning.People laughed and threw snowballs, the shops were full, and when two men began to quarrel, the Ghost sprinkled a few drops from its torch on them and they made friends again.Then the Ghost took him to the tiny four-room house of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who earned only fifteen shillings a week.The whole family was busy with dinner when Bob came home from church with his youngest son, Tiny Tim, on his shoulder — a little boy with a crutch and weak legs.The goose was small and the pudding was small, but everyone said there had never been such a goose, and nobody said the pudding was too small for a large family.Bob raised his glass: “A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!” And Tiny Tim, last of all, said, “God bless us every one!”

“Spirit,” said Scrooge, with a feeling he had never felt before, “tell me if Tiny Tim will live.”“I see an empty seat by the fire, and a crutch without an owner,” answered the Ghost. “If these shadows are not changed by the future, the child will die.”Then it repeated Scrooge’s own cruel words: “If he is going to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” Scrooge hung his head in shame.

Next they visited the party of his nephew Fred, who laughed that his uncle called Christmas a humbug, but said he felt sorry for him and would invite him again every year.They played a guessing game, and when the answer turned out to be “Uncle Scrooge!”, everyone raised a glass to his health, and Scrooge, whom nobody could see, felt so light-hearted that he almost thanked them.

As midnight came near, the Ghost, now old and grey, showed him two thin, hungry children hiding under its robe. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both.”“Have they no place to go?” cried Scrooge. “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” answered the Spirit, turning Scrooge’s own words on him for the last time.The bell struck twelve, the Ghost was gone, and Scrooge saw a dark, hooded Phantom coming toward him like a mist along the ground.