“Really, for a man who had been out
of practice for so many years it was a splendid laugh!”
“He went to the church, and walked
about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the
children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens
of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him
pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so
much happiness.
“He has the power to render us
happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a
toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and
insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The
happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”
The air was filled with phantoms,
wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every
one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty
governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally
known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost,
in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who
cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom
it saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all was, clearly, that
they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power
for ever”
“External heat and cold had little
influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No
wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its
purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where
to have him.”
“There was nothing of high mark in
this. They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes
were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might
have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker’s. But, they were
happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time; and
when they faded, and looked happier yet in the bright sprinklings of the
Spirit’s torch at parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on
Tiny Tim, until the last.”
“There is nothing in the world so
irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
Charles Dickens -A Christmas Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment