SCROOGE and MARLEY (Deceased) by Paul Curtis (the first e reader .txt) 📕

the night
He was shivering with the cold as well as from fright
Then he examined the door by which the Ghost entered
The was double-locks and bolts were all undisturbed
He was about to say "Humbug!" but in the end didn’t
Being drained from emotion it was in fact he couldn’t
The overcome by the fatigues of a long strange day
He went to bed falling asleep almost straight away

STAVE
2
THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS

VERSE 1 - AWAKENING


It was so dark when scrooge awoke from his slumber
That he could scarcely see across his bedchamber
He was trying to pierce the dark with ferret eyes
And he peered out the window at the darkened skies
When he was startled by the church clock chimes
As it suddenly struck out the quarters all Four times
With the sound reverberating from the church tower
Scrooge listened for great clock to strike the hour
To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on
From six to seven to eight, and regularly past eleven
In fact it struck all the way to twelve then silence
Twelve? It was two when he retired it made no sense
The clock must be wrong and probably it was broken
Ice must have got into the works if he was not mistaken
Twelve? Scrooge touched the spring of his repeater
To correct this most preposterous public chronometer
The repeater’s rapid little pulse beat twelve and ceased
"Why, it isn't possible," He said with forehead creased
"That I can have slept through a whole day, it isn’t right
And furthermore that I should sleep far into another night
It isn't possible anything happened to the sun
And it’s twelve at noon." The idea being an alarming one
He could see nor hear signs of life on the street below
After he had rubbed the frost off his bedroom window
If it were noon there would be people making their way
Unquestionably if night had beaten off bright day
Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought
And thought it over and over and over as best he ought
The more he thought, the more perplexed he became
The more he tried not to think, he thought all the same
Jacob Marley's Ghost still bothered him exceedingly
When he thought of him a chill ran up his back icily
He resolved within himself that it was all a dream
And that things could not possibly be as they seem
His mind flew back, like a strong spring released
"Was it a dream or not?" his uneasiness hadn’t ceased
Scrooge lay restless and uneasy in his four poster bed
Then Ebeneezer suddenly recalled what Marley had said
He warned him of a visitation when the bell tolled one
He resolved to stay awake until the thing was done
"Ding, dong!” “A quarter past," said Scrooge, counting.
"Ding dong!" "Half past!" said Scrooge almost shouting
"Ding dong!" "A quarter to it," Scrooge said nervously
"Ding dong!" "The hour itself," he said triumphantly
"And nothing else!" He spoke before the hour was done
Which it then did with a deep, hollow, melancholy one
Suddenly light filled the room bright as dawn
And his bed curtains were simultaneously drawn


VERSE 2 – AN UNEARTHLY VISITATION


Scrooge was startled into a half-recumbent position
Found himself face to face with an unearthly visitation
It was a strange figure almost like a child yet not so
And almost like a very old man but not one though
The odd figure was certainly of child like proportions
Yet it was a muscular and athletic looking apparition
It had long flowing hair which was white as if with age
The beings general demeanor was that of an old sage
Yet the face had not a single wrinkle not even a trace
And the tenderest bloom was on the skin surface
The figure held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand
And its dress was trimmed with a summer flower band
But the oddest thing about it was the crown of light
It wore upon its head spouting a jet clear and bright
And by the crown on its head everything was visible
But it carried a cap to make the light extinguishable
"Are you the Spirit whose coming was foretold to me?"
Asked Scrooge "I Am." the soft voice replied gently
"What are you?" "I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past"
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge curtly "No your past."
Scrooge had a special desire to see the cap on the Spirit
Over the illuminating light and begged him to cover it
"Would you so soon put out the light I give right now?
Eternally for such as you, I wear it low upon my brow!"
Scrooge disclaimed all intention of offending the spirit
Or any knowledge of having made him wear a bonnet
Then boldly inquired what business brought him there.
The ghostly apparition calmly replied "Your welfare"
Regarding his welfare scrooge thought what was best
Was without a doubt a long night of unbroken rest
He soon realized that his thoughts The Spirit could read
For it then said "Your reclamation, then so Take heed"
It put out its strong hand and clasped Scrooge gently
Taking his arm as he said "Rise And walk with me"
Ebeneezer Scrooge was reluctant to leave his warm bed
The grasp, gentle as a woman’s was not to be resisted
He was a little alarmed wearing only his nightclothes
When the spirit led him in the direction of the windows
He clasped his robe in supplication "I am just a mortal,"
“Please spirit” Scrooge remonstrated "I’m liable to fall"
The spirit said "Bear a touch of my hand on your heart,"
"And you shall be upheld in more than this lest we part."
They passed through the wall as the words were spoken
And stood on a road with fields and all around was open


VERSE 3 - SCHOOLDAYS


The city had entirely vanished Nothing was to be seen
The darkness and the mist had gone and all was clean
There was no bustle and there was barely a sound
It was a clear, winter day, with snow on the ground
"Heavens" said Scrooge, clasping his hands together
As he looked around "I was bred here I was a boy here"
The Spirit watched him mildly, as he was absorbing
The sights and sounds and smells that he was sensing
"Your lip is trembling," it said scrooge couldn’t speak
The ghost continued "And what is that upon your cheek?"
Scrooge only muttered, An unusual catch in his voice
He begged the Ghost to lead him to a place of his choice
"You recollect the way?" inquired the amused Spirit
Ebeneezer Scrooge cried with fervor "Remember it!"
"I could walk it blindfolded I know it so well spirit"
Scrooge then again cried with fervor "Remember it!"
"Strange then to have forgotten it for so many years,"
The Ghost said, "Lets go on, you know the way it appears”
They walked along the road the snow white and crunchy
And Scrooge recognized every gate, and post, and tree
Then in the distance vale a little market town appeared
With its bridge, its church, and a river wound and veered
Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting their way
With boys on their backs, and they were happy and gay
They called to other boys in country gigs and buggy
All the boys were in such great spirits shouting happily
"These are but shadows of the things that have been,"
Said the Ghost. "As real as they are we cannot be seen”
The jocund travelers came in view and then were gone
As they came Scrooge knew and named every one
Ebeneezer was filled with joy as he stood to listen
It made his old heart glad and his cold eye glisten
He wondered why he was filled with such gladness
When they wished each other a Merry Christmas
As they all parted at the cross-roads and-bye ways
Heading for their homes for the Christmas holidays
What was a merry Christmas to Scrooge anyway?
What good had it ever done for him? He might say
"The school is not quite deserted," said the spirit.
"A solitary child, left by his friends, is left to sit"
Scrooge said he knew that And he sobbed quietly
And he and the spirit continued on the road slowly
They left the main road, by a well-remembered lane
And soon came to a mansion of red brick, dull and plain
It was quite a large house but it had seen better days
Crumbling brick and peeling paint on window bays
The walls all ran with damp and green in a mossy way
The windows were broken and everything was in decay
Fowls were clucking and strutting outside of the class
And coach-houses and sheds were over-run with grass
Throughout was a musty odor of the ancient and old
Inside of the dreary hall was poorly lit vast and cold
The Ghost and Scrooge walked silently across the hall
To a room with barely any noteworthy furnishings at all
Desks and forms filled a long bare and melancholy room
On one of the forms a lonely boy sat reading in the gloom
Scrooge sat down upon a form overcome by melancholy
And wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be
The Spirit touched his shoulder to comfort his distress
“How sad it is to be all alone and friendless at Christmas”
Scrooge bristled at the thought of pitying his boyhood
But them how could a mere shade ever have understood
“This youth had self reliance and strength of character
And he was never alone while he had his books there”
Scrooge said “and his friends were great and many
Ali Baba, Robinson Crusoe and Friday as good as any”
He sat down again once more overcome by melancholy
And wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be
"I wish," he muttered, drying his eyes with his sleeve
"But it's too late now to change that Christmas Eve"
"What ever is the matter?" asked the concerned Spirit
"Nothing," said Scrooge. "Nothing I’m happy to admit
Some boys were Caroling at my door last nightfall
I should like to have given them something that was all"
The Ghost smiled thoughtfully, waved its hand thus
Saying as it did so, "Let us see another Christmas!"
At the words Scrooge's former self grew lankier
And the room became a little darker and dirtier
But the situation remained unchanged in other ways
Alone again, with the other boys gone for the holidays
Not reading now he was despairingly pacing the floor
While old Scrooge glanced anxiously towards the door
It opened; and a little girl, much younger than the boy
Came darting in filling both old and young with joy
She put her arms about his neck tight like a mother
Kissing him she addressed him as "Dear, dear brother."
She said "I have come to bring you home dear brother!"
Clapping her hands and laughing "home, Ebeneezer!"
"Home, little Fan?" young Ebeneezer said questioningly
"Yes! Home dear brother" said the child, brimful of glee
"Yes home, for good and all. Home, forever and ever
Father is so much kinder than he used to be Ebeneezer
That home is almost like Heaven!” Fan spoke so sweetly
“As I went to bed one night Father spoke