A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (motivational books for women txt) ๐
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Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 and the first edition, published on 19th December, was so successful that it sold out in just six days. The publishers had to produce two further editions between Christmas and the new year to meet the demand, and the novella has never been out of print.
A Christmas Carol tells the story of a greedy money-lender, Ebeneezer Scrooge, who is first visited by the ghost of his former business partner and then by three spiritsโthe Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. They show Scroogeโs lack of compassion to him, compelling him to act more compassionately in the future and to honor Christmas in his heart.
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- Author: Charles Dickens
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Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sickbeds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and gaol, in miseryโs every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing and taught Scrooge his precepts.
It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that, while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it until they left a childrenโs Twelfth-Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey.
โAre spiritsโ lives so short?โ asked Scrooge.
โMy life upon this globe is very brief,โ replied the Ghost. โIt ends tonight.โ
โTonight!โ cried Scrooge.
โTonight at midnight. Hark! The time is drawing near.โ
The chimes were ringing the three-quarters past eleven at that moment.
โForgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,โ said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spiritโs robe, โbut I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?โ
โIt might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,โ was the Spiritโs sorrowful reply. โLook here!โ
From the foldings of its robe it brought two children, wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.
โO Man! look here! Look, look down here!โ exclaimed the Ghost.
They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish, but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.
Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.
โSpirit! are they yours?โ Scrooge could say no more.
โThey are Manโs,โ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. โAnd they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!โ cried the Spirit, stretching out his hand towards the city. โSlander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!โ
โHave they no refuge or resource?โ cried Scrooge.
โAre there no prisons?โ said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. โAre there no workhouses?โ
The bell struck twelve.
Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and, lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a mist along the ground towards him.
Stave IV The Last of the SpiritsThe Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible, save one outstretched hand. But for this, it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.
He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.
โI am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?โ said Scrooge.
The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.
โYou are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,โ Scrooge pursued. โIs that so, Spirit?โ
The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head. That was the only answer he received.
Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit paused a moment, as observing his condition, and giving him time to recover.
But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague, uncertain horror to know that, behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.
โGhost of the Future!โ he exclaimed, โI fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear your company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?โ
It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them.
โLead on!โ said Scrooge.
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