A Christmas Carol - Script

A CHRISTMAS CAROLby Charles Dickens (1843)Cast of Characters:NarratorEbenezer ScroogeJacob Marley, his late partnerGhost of Christmas PastGhost of Christmas PresentGhost of Christmas FutureBob Cratchit, his clerkMrs. Cratchitthe Cratchit children:MarthaPeterBelindaa Cratchit Boya Cratchit GirlTiny TimFran, his sisterFred, his sister's sonFred's WifeCharity Gentleman #1Charity Gentleman #2SchoolmasterMr. Fezziwig, his former bossBelle Fezziwig, his former fianceTut, Belle's husbandMan With A Monstrous ChinAnother ManThird ManMan With Red FaceWealthy Man #1Wealthy Man #2CharwomanOld JoeLaundressVickyUndertakerCaroline, Poor WifePoor HusbandIntelligent, Fine LadChildren's ChorusFred's Guests, other demons, etc...Stave 1: Marley's GhostSCENE: Scrooge's counting-houseNARRATOR: Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register ofhis burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signedit. And Scrooge's name was good upon exchange, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marleywas as dead as a door-nail.FRED: (cheerfully) A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!SCROOGE: Bah! Humbug!FRED: Christmas a humbug, uncle! You don't mean that, I am sure?SCROOGE: I do, Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to bemerry? You're poor enough.FRED: Come, then... What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You'rerich enough.SCROOGE: Bah! Humbug.FRED: Don't be cross, uncle!SCROOGE: (indignantly) What else can I be, when I live in such a world of fools as this? MerryChristmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills withoutmoney; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your booksand having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I couldwork my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with hisown pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!FRED: (pleading) Uncle!SCROOGE: (sternly) Nephew! Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.FRED: Keep it! But you don't keep it.SCROOGE: Let me leave it alone, then. Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!FRED: There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, Idare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it hascome round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to itcan be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time Iknow of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open theirshut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to thegrave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it hasnever put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good;12

and I say, God bless it!(Bob Cratchit involuntarily applaudes; becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety.)SCROOGE: Let me hear another sound from you, and you'll keep your Christmas by losing yoursituation! [turning to his nephew] You're quite a powerful speaker, sir, I wonder you don't go intoParliament.FRED: Don't be angry, uncle. Come! Dine with us tomorrow.SCROOGE: The day I die and see myself in a cold, dark grave will come all the more sooner, nephew!FRED: But why? Why?SCROOGE: Why did you get married?FRED: Because I fell in love.SCROOGE: (growling) Because you fell in love! Good afternoon!FRED: Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why give it as a reason for notcoming now?SCROOGE: Good afternoon.FRED: I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?SCROOGE: Good afternoon.FRED: I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which Ihave been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humourto the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!SCROOGE: Good afternoon!FRED: And A Happy New Year!SCROOGE: Good afternoon![as Fred leaves he bids farewell to Bob Cratchit]FRED: A Merry Christmas, Bob! And God bless your good wife and family.BOB CRATCHIT: Thank you, sir. And a Happy New Year to you also!SCROOGE: There's another fellow, my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family,talking about a merry Christmas. Bah! Humbug! I'll retire to Bedlam.[Fred exits as two robust philanthropists enter.]MR. CHARLTON: Scrooge and Marley's, I believe. Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge orMr. Marley?SCROOGE: Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years. He died seven years ago, this very night.MR. CHARLTON: We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner.MR. BENTLEY: At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable thatwe should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.Many thousands are in want of common necessities; hundreds of thousands are in want of commoncomforts, sir.SCROOGE: Are there no prisons?MR. BENTLEY: Plenty of prisons.SCROOGE: And the Union workhouses. Are they still in operation?MR. BENTLEY: They are. Still, I wish I could say they were not.SCROOGE: The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?MR. BENTLEY: Both very busy, sir.SCROOGE: Oh, good! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stopthem in their useful course. I'm very glad to hear it.MR. CHARLTON Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body tothe multitude, a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor some meat and drink, andmeans of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, andAbundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?SCROOGE: Nothing!MR. BENTLEY: You wish to be anonymous?SCROOGE: I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don'tmake merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I support theestablishments I have mentioned - they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.MR. CHARLTON Many can't go there; and many would rather die.SCROOGE: If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides-- excuse me -- I don't know that.MR. CHARLTON But you might know it!SCROOGE: It's not my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not tointerfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!MR. BENTLEY: Good day to you, Mr. Scrooge!MR. CHARLTON Mr. Scrooge!34

[as they exit a caroler enters through the door.]CAROLER God bless you merry gentleman! May nothing you dismay![Scrooge grabs a large ruler and runs toward him. He screams and runs away swiftly. Scrooge sits whileBob Cratchit still copies busily at his desk. ]BOB CRATCHIT Shall I close up now, sir?SCROOGE: And you'll want the whole day tomorrow, I suppose?BOB CRATCHIT If quite convenient, sir.SCROOGE: It's not convenient, and it's not fair. If I were to stop half-a-crown for it, you'd thinkyourself ill-used, I'll be bound? And yet you don't think me ill-used, when I pay a day's wages for nowork.BOB CRATCHIT It is but once a year, sir.SCROOGE: A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December! But I supposeyou must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning.[They both ready themselves to exit.]BOB CRATCHIT I will, sir. Thank you!SCROOGE: Close the door, Cratchit. I'm off for that poor excuse of a dinner at the tavern.BOB CRATCHIT A Merry Christmas, sir!SCROOGE: Bah! Humbug I tell you![As Scrooge exits, carolers enter the scene singing 'Joy to the World.' Scrooge walks toward them. BobCratchit closes the shop door and scurries off.]SCROOGE: Be off you! What joy could this world entertain on such a miserable evening as this?[The children run off.]SCROOGE: Bah! Humbug![Scrooge sits in his bedroom chair and picks up a bowl of gruel from a stool. He looks at the fireplaceand sees Marley's apparition. Looking terrified...]SCROOGE: Marley![Getting up he drops his gruel.]SCROOGE: Humbug![After walking around the room he again sits. Bells and chimes suddenly sound, then stop as fast as theyhad started. A loud creaking is heard, followed by a slam of a large heavy cellar door. Scrooge stands.]SCROOGE: It's humbug still! I won't believe it.[He then hears the approaching of chains dragging as Marley's ghost enters with old ripped clothes,chains money boxes, ledgers, keys and money bags.]SCROOGE: How now! What do you want with me?JACOB MARLEY: Much!SCROOGE: Who are you?JACOB MARLEY: Ask me who I was.SCROOGE: Who were you then? You're particular, for a shade.JACOB MARLEY: In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley. You don't believe in me!SCROOGE: I don't.JACOB MARLEY: What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses?SCROOGE: I don't know.JACOB MARLEY: Why do you doubt your senses?SCROOGE: Because a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdonepotato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, Whatever you are! You see this toothpick?JACOB MARLEY: I do.SCROOGE: You are not looking at it.JACOB MARLEY: But I see it, notwithstanding.SCROOGE: Well! I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion ofgoblins, all of my own creation. Humbug, I tell you! Humbug![Marley's ghost gives an agonizing wail, shaking his chains forcefully. Scrooge falls to his knees.]SCROOGE: Mercy! Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?JACOB MARLEY: Man of the worldly mind! Do you believe in me or not?SCROOGE: I do. I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?JACOB MARLEY: It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad amonghis fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do soafter death. It is doomed to wander through the world - oh, woe is me! And witness what it cannot share,but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness![The spectre raises the chains with a single moan.]56

SCROOGE: You are fettered. Tell me, why?JACOB MARLEY: I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded iton of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you; Or would youknow the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy, and as long as this,seven Christmas Eves ago. You have labored on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!SCROOGE: Jacob. Old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob.JACOB MARLEY: I have none to give. It comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and isconveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell you what I would. A very little more isall permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walkedbeyond our counting-house - mark me! - in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of ourmoney-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!SCROOGE: You must have been very slow about it, Jacob.JACOB MARLEY: Slow!SCROOGE: Seven years dead, and travelling all the time!JACOB MARLEY: The whole time. No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.SCROOGE: You travel fast?JACOB MARLEY: On the wings of the wind.SCROOGE: You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years.JACOB MARLEY: Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed. No space of regret can make amends forone life's opportunity misused. Yet such was I! Oh! Such was I!SCROOGE: But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.JACOB MARLEY: Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business;charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but adrop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business! [he moans] At this time of the rolling year, Isuffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raisethem to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode; were there no poor homes to whichits light would have conducted me? Here me! My time is nearly gone.SCROOGE: I will. But don't be hard upon me! Don't be flowery, Jacob!JACOB MARLEY: How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I havesat invisible beside you many and many a day. That is no light part of my penance. I am here tonight towarn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring,Ebenezer.SCROOGE: You were always a good friend to me. Thank you.JACOB MARLEY: You will be haunted by three Spirits.SCROOGE: Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?JACOB MARLEY: It is.SCROOGE: I - I think I'd rather not.JACOB MARLEY: Without their visits you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the firsttomorrow, when the bell tolls one.SCROOGE: Couldn't I take them all at once, and have it over, Jacob?JACOB MARLEY: Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon the next nightwhen the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for yourown sake, you remember what has passed between us! . . . Remember, Ebenezer![Marley exists. End scene.][As Scrooge is asleep the bell chimes toward twelve. He awakens!]THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITSSCROOGE: Twelve! It was past two when I went to bed. The clock must be wrong. An icicle musthave got into the works. Twelve! Why, it isn't possible that I can have slept through a whole day and farinto another night. It isn't possible that anything has happened to the sun, and this is twelve at noon![CHRISTMAS PAST enters with a flash of light and is brightly back-lighted.]SCROOGE: Are you the Spirit, the Spectre, whose coming was foretold to me?CHRISTMAS PAST: I am.SCROOGE: Who, and what are you?CHRISTMAS PAST: I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.SCROOGE: Long past?CHRISTMAS PAST: No, your past.SCROOGE: I believe I would rather have your countenance extinguished from my presence.CHRISTMAS PAST: What! Would you so soon put out the light I give?SCROOGE: What is your concern then, for me?CHRISTMAS PAST: Your welfare.SCROOGE: Thank you for that concern, but I think a nigh of unbroken rest will be more conductive tothat end, dear spirit.CHRISTMAS PAST: Your reclamation, then. Take heed! Rise, walk with me!78

SCROOGE: I am a mortal, and liable to fall.CHRISTMAS PAST: Bear but the touch of my hand there, and you shall be upheld in more than this!SCROOGE: Good Heavens! I was schooled in this place. I was a boy here!CHRISTMAS PAST: Your lip is trembling. And what is that upon your cheek?SCROOGE: It's nothing, but the coldness of the winter air.CHRISTMAS PAST: You recollect the way?SCROOGE: Remember it, I could walk it blindfold!CHRISTMAS PAST: Strange you have forgotten it for so many years! Let us go on.[3 little boys run on stage miming a snowball fight.]SCROOGE: Tim! Gregory! And oh! My good friend William! Hello! Hello!CHRISTMAS PAST: These are but shadows of the things that have been. They have no consciousnessof us.BOY 1 - TIM: I'll get you with a snowball, Gregory![Throws ball.]BOY 2 - GREGORY: I'll bet your Christmas pudding you cannot, Tim![Little Ebenezer enters the scene hoping to play.]BOY 3 - WILLIAM: Come on! We'll be last to catch the coach home for Christmas![The boys run offstage leaving Little Ebenezer all alone. He sadly lowers his head and walks offstage.]SCROOGE: Poor boy! I wish, - but it's too late now.CHRISTMAS PAST: What is the matter?SCROOGE: Nothing. Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. Ishould like to have given him something; that's all.CHRISTMAS PAST: Let us see another Christmas![Young Ebenezer enters, walking with head down and he sits at his desk crying.]CHRISTMAS PAST: The school is not quite deserted. A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is leftthere still.SCROOGE: I know. [He sobs.][Fan enters, [solo] runs and hugs Ebenezer.]FAN: Dear, dear brother. I have come to bring you home, dear brother! To bring you home, home,home!YOUNG EBENEZER: Home, little Fan?FAN: Yes! Home for good and all. Home, for ever and ever. Father is so much kinder than he used to be,that home is like heaven! He spoke so gently to me one night when I was going to bed, that I was notafraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and he sent me in acoach to bring you. And you're to be a man! And are never to come back here; but first, we're to betogether all the Christmas long, and have the merriest time in all the world.YOUNG EBENEZER: You are quite a woman, little Fan!FAN: Come! Come, Ebenezer!OFFSTAGE VOICE: Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there. He's going home![Fan takes Young Ebenezer's arm and they race off.]CHRISTMAS PAST: Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withered, but she had alarge heart!SCROOGE: So she had. You're right. I will not gainsay it, Spirit. God forbid!CHRISTMAS PAST: She died a woman, and had, as I think, children.SCROOGE: One child.CHRISTMAS PAST: True. Your nephew!SCROOGE: Yes.CHRISTMAS PAST: You know this place?SCROOGE: Know it. I was an apprentice here! Why, its old Fezziwig! Bless his heart; it's Fezziwig -alive again!FEZZIWIG: Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!SCROOGE: Dick Wilkins, to be sure![Young Ebenezer and Dick Wilkins enter.]SCROOGE: Bless me, yes. There he is. He was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor Dick! Dear,dear!FEZZIWIG: Yo ho, my boys! No more work tonight. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer! Let'shave the shop closed up, before a man can say 'Jack Robinson!'FEZZIWIG: Hilli-ho! Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here! Hilli-ho, Dick! Chirrup,Ebenezer!910

CHRISTMAS PAST: A small matter to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.SCROOGE: Small!CHRISTMAS PAST: Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three offour perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?SCROOGE: It isn't that! It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to makeour service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in thingsso slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up: what then? The happiness hegives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.[He looks sheepishly and guiltily at the Ghost.]CHRISTMAS PAST: What is the matter?SCROOGE: Nothing particular.CHRISTMAS PAST: Something, I think?SCROOGE: No, no. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk, Bob Cratchit, just now.That's all.CHRISTMAS PAST: My time grows short. Quick!BELLE: It matters little. To you, very little. Another Idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer andcomfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.YOUNG SCROOGE: What Idol has displaced you?BELLE: A golden one!YOUNG SCROOGE: This is the even-handed dealing of the world! There is nothing on which it is sohard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth!BELLE: You fear the world too much. All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyondthe chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until themaster-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?YOUNG SCROOGE: What then? Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then? I am not changedtoward you... Am I?BELLE: Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, ingood season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed. When itwas made, you were another man.YOUNG SCROOGE: I was a boy.BELLE: Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are. I am. That which promisedhappiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. How often and howkeenly I have thought of this, I will not say. It is enough that I have thought of it, and can release you.YOUNG SCROOGE: Have I ever sought release?BELLE: In words. No. Never.YOUNG SCROOGE: In what, then?BELLE: In a changed nature, in an altered spirit, in another atmosphere of life; another Hope as itsgreat end. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never beenbetween us, tell me, would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!YOUNG SCROOGE: You think not.BELLE: Heaven knows! When I have learned a Truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible itmust be. But if you were free today, tomorrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose adowerless girl- you who, in your very confidence with her, weigh everything by Gain: or, choosing her,if for a moment you were false enough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that yourrepentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you. With a full heart, for the love of himyou once were... You may - the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will- have pain in this.A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, fromwhich it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen![Belle runs off crying, as the lights start to fade, during which time the bench is removed and replacedby a table and chairs.]SCROOGE: Spirit, show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?CHRISTMAS PAST: One shadow more!SCROOGE: No more, no more. I don't wish to see it. Show me no more!The lights go out as scene is changed to the home of Mrs. Belle. The Spirit says one line during thisblackness:CHRISTMAS PAST: Yes! Ebenezer Scrooge! One more shadow!HUSBAND: Hello, hello! I'm home!YOUNG MAIDEN: It's father! He's home!HUSBAND: Belle, I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.MRS. BELLE: Who was it?HUSBAND: Guess!MRS. BELLE: How can I? Tut, I don't know. She laughs. Mr. Scrooge.HUSBAND: Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window; and as it was not shut up, and he had acandle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and therehe sat alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe.1112

SCROOGE: Spirit! Remove me from this place.CHRISTMAS PAST: I told you these were shadows of the things that have been. That they are whatthey are, do not blame me!SCROOGE: Remove me! I cannot bear it![Scrooge falls to his knees looking up to the Ghost.]SCROOGE: Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer![Ghost of Christmas Past returns Scrooge to his home. Scrooge sleeps briefly before being awakened bythe Ghost of Christmas Present.]CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Come! Come here and know me better, man! I am the Ghost of ChristmasPresent. Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!SCROOGE: Never.CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Have you never walked forth with any of my previous brothers, man?SCROOGE: I don't think I have, I am afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, Spirit?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: More than eighteen hundred!SCROOGE: A tremendous family to provide for! ...Spirit, conduct me where you will. I went forth lastnight on compulsion, and I have learned a lesson which is working now. Tonight, if you have aught toteach me, let me profit by it.CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Touch my robe!Upon Scrooge's touch, the lights flicker and Christmas music is heard playing softly in the background.People start crossing the stage, in a hurried manner, from both sides of the stage. Suddenly one criesout:MAN 1: The Grocers'! Oh the Grocers'! They are soon to close.[As he crosses, another man bumps into him.]MAN 2: Watch where you be going now!MAN 1: Who are you to tell me to watch? You're the bumbler![The Spirit sprinkles Joy and Peace from his horn of plenty on the two.]MAN 2: I am truly sorry fellow. Here we are, arguing on this most Holy Day.MAN 1: Forgive me, man. I am at fault, and have a Merry Christmas!MAN 2: And a Happy New Year to you, my friend![As they depart, more people keep crossing carrying dinners and bags of food. The Spirit sprinklesliberally, from his horn, on each as they pass by.]SCROOGE: Is there a peculiar flavor in what you sprinkle from your horn?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: There is. My own.SCROOGE: Would it apply to any kind of dinner this day?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: To any kindly given. To a poor one most.SCROOGE: Why to a poor one most?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Because it needs it most.SCROOGE: Spirit. I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to crampthese people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment.CHRISTMAS PRESENT: I!SCROOGE: You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day onwhich they can be said to dine at all. You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: I seek!SCROOGE: Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been your done in your name, or at least in that of yourfamily.CHRISTMAS PRESENT: There are some upon this earth of yours, who lay claim to know us, andwho do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who areas strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge theirdoings on themselves, not us.SCROOGE: I will! I will, Spirit.THE CRATCHIT HOUSEHOLD.MRS. CRATCHIT: What has ever got your precious father then. And your brother Tiny Tim! AndMartha wasn't as late last Christmas Day by half-an-hour?[Martha enters.]MARTHA CRATCHIT: Here's Martha, mother!PATRICIA CRATCHIT: Here's Martha, mother!BELINDA CRATCHIT: Here she is, mother!MARY CRATCHIT: Hurrah! There's such a goose, Martha!MRS. CRATCHIT: Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are![They kiss and embrace.]1314

MARTHA CRATCHIT: We'd a deal of work to finnish up last night, and had to clear away thismorning, mother!MRS. CRATCHIT: Well! Never mind so long as you are come, sit down by the fire, my dear, and havea warm, Lord bless you!PETER CRATCHIT: No, no! There's father coming.BELINDA CRATCHIT: Hide, Martha, hide![BOB CRATCHIT enters carrying TINY TIM upon his shoulders. TINY TIM bears a small crutch andwears an iron leg-frame.]BOB CRATCHIT: Why, where's our martha?MRS. CRATCHIT: Not coming.BOB CRATCHIT: Not coming! Not coming upon Christmas Day?MARTHA CRATCHIT: Here I am, father. I can't let them tease you so![They embrace.]BOB CRATCHIT: It would not have been Christmas at all without you, dear Martha!MRS. CRATCHIT: And how did little Tim behave?BOB CRATCHIT: As good as gold, and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself somuch, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped thepeople saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to rememberupon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see. [Bob's voice is shaky.] Tim isreally getting to be much stronger and hearty... isn't he my dear?MRS. CRATCHIT: I wish it so. [She looks at him with great doubt.]PETER CRATCHIT: Tim! Sit here by the fire and have a warm.MRS. CRATCHIT: Patricia! Belinda! Bring Master Peter and fetch the goose![They exit to get the food. While the others are out, Bob seats Tim at the table. Upon return, all areseated.]BOB CRATCHIT: There never was such a goose!TINY TIM: Hurrah! [Hitting his spoon and fork on the table.]BOB CRATCHIT: Oh! And such a wonderful pudding!PATRICIA CRATCHIT: Such a lovely dinner, mother!BELINDA CRATCHIT: Yes, mother! Oh, yes!BOB CRATCHIT: A toast! A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!PETER CRATCHIT: Yes, a toast!TINY TIM: God bless us every one!SCROOGE: Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney corner, and a crutch without anowner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.SCROOGE: No, no! Oh, no, kind Spirit, say he will be spared.CHRISTMAS PRESENT: If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race willfind him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.[Scrooge is overcome with penitence and grief, and lowers his head in shame.]FRED: He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live! He believed it too!CHRISTINE: More shame for him, Fred!KATE: I don't believe it.MR. TOPPER: Surely not, Fred.FRED: He's a comical old fellow, that's the truth, and not so pleasant as he might be. However, hisoffenses carry their own punishment, and I have nothing against him.CHRISTINE: I'm sure he is very rich, Fred. At least you always tell me so.FRED: What of that, my dear! His wealth is of no use to him. He doesn't do any good with it. Hedoesn't make himself comfortable with it. [laughing] He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking that he is evergoing to benefit US with it.CHRISTINE: I have no patience with him!PHYLLIS: I have none either.KATE: Neither have I.MR. BELVUE: He is a churlish sort and I have no patience with those type.FRED: Oh, I have! I am sorry for him; I couldn't be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his illwhims! Himself, always. Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won't come and dine withus. What's the consequence?SCROOGE: Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask, but I see something strange, and notbelonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: It might be a claw, for flesh there is upon it, look here.1516

[He opens his robe/curtain to reveal two children, a boy and a girl, IGNORANCE and WANT. Scroogeturns in horror.]CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Oh, man! Look here. Look, look, down here!SCROOGE: [Scrooge looks back] Spirit! Are they yours?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: They are Mans. And they cling to me, appealing from their Fathers. Thisboy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their decree, but most of all beware thisboy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it then!Slander those who tell it you! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide theend!SCROOGE: Have they no refuge or resource?CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?[The Ghost returns Scrooge to his home. Scrooge sleeps briefly before being awakened by the Ghost ofChristmas Future.]SCROOGE: I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?[CHRISTMAS FUTURE says nothing, but points onward.]SCROOGE: You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happenin the time before us. Is that so, Spirit?[CHRISTMAS FUTURE gives one slow . . . nod.]SCROOGE: Ghost of the Future! I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know yourpurpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bearyou company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?[CHRISTMAS FUTURE only points onward, silently.]SCROOGE: Lead on! Lead on! This night is waning fast, and it is precious to me, I know. Lead on,Spirit!THE BUSINESSMENMR. HENRY: No. I don't know much about it, either way. I only know he's dead.MR. KINGSBURY: When did he die?MR. HENRY: Last night I believe.MR. WELLINGTON: Why, what was the matter with him? I thought he'd never die.MR. HENRY: Who knows.MR. WELLINGTON: What has he done with his money?MR. HENRY: I haven't heard. Left it to his company, perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know.[Everyone laughs]MR. HENRY: It's likely to be a very cheap funeral, for upon my life I don't know of anybody to go to it.Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?MR. KINGSBURY: I don't mind going if a lunch is provided. But I must be fed, if I am to go.[Everyone laughs]MR. HENRY: Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all, for I never wear black gloves, andI never eat lunch. But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it, I'm not at all surethat I wasn't his most particular friend, for we used to stop and speak whenever we met. Well, goodafternoon, gentlemen!SCROOGE: If there is any person in the town who feels emotion caused by this man's death, show thatperson to me, Spirit, I beseech you!THE DEBTORS.CAROLINE: Is it good, John; Or bad?JOHN: Bad!CAROLINE: We are quite ruined, then?JOHN: No. There is hope yet, Caroline.CAROLINE: If he relents, there is! Nothing is past hope, if such a miracle has happened.JOHN: He is past relenting. He is dead.CAROLINE: When I tried to see him and obtain a week's delay; and what I thought was a mere excuseto avoid me, turns out to have been quite true. He was not only very ill, but dying, then. To whom willour debt be transferred?JOHN: I don't know. But before that time we shall be ready with the money; and even though we werenot, it would be a bad fortune indeed to find so merciless a creditor in his successor. We may sleeptonight with light hearts, Caroline!SCROOGE: Let me see some tenderness connected with a death, or that dark chamber, Spirit, whichwe left just now, will be forever present to me.The CRATCHIT HOMEPETER CRATCHIT: ...And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them...MRS. CRATCHIT: The color hurts my eyes. [obviously crying]PATRICIA CRATCHIT: The color? Ah, poor Tiny Tim!1718

MRS. CRATCHIT: They're better now again. It makes them weak by candle-light; and I wouldn't showweak eyes to your father when he comes home, for the world. It must be near his time.PETER CRATCHIT: Past it rather. But I think he has walked a little slower than he used to, these fewlast evenings, mother.MRS. CRATCHIT: I have known him to walk with - I have known him to walk with Tiny Tim uponhis shoulder, very fast indeed.PETER CRATCHIT: And so have I. Often.MARTHA CRATCHIT: And so have I.MRS. CRATCHIT: But he was very light to carry, and his father loved him so, that it was no trouble,no trouble. And there is your father at the door!BOB CRATCHIT: Good evening, my dear ones. [Sits, sadly]BELINDA CRATCHIT: Don't mind it, father. Don't be grieved!BOB CRATCHIT: Little Tim is at rest now. Everything will be done long before Sunday.MRS. CRATCHIT: Sunday! You went today, then, Robert?BOB CRATCHIT: Yes, my dear. I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see howgreen a place it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little,little child! [starts crying] My little child!MRS. CRATCHIT: Oh, Bob!BOB CRATCHIT: I saw Mr. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, today. I've scarcely seen him but once, heinquired as to why I looked 'just a little down', on which, for he is the pleasantest-spoken gentleman youever heard. 'I am heartily sorry for it, Mr. Cratchit,' he said, 'and heartily sorry for your good wife.' If Ican be of service to you in any way,' he said, giving me his card, 'that's where I live. Pray come to me.'Now, it wasn't for the sake of anything he might be able to do for us, so much as for his kind way, thatthis was quite delightful. It really seemed as if he had known our Tiny Tim, and felt with us.MRS. CRATCHIT: I'm sure he's a good soul!BOB CRATCHIT: It's just as likely as not, one of these days; though there's plenty of time for that, mydear. But however and whenever we part from one another, I am sure we shall none of us forget TinyTim - or this first parting that there was among us?EVERYONE: Never, father.BOB CRATCHIT: And I know, I know, my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild hewas; although he was a little, little child, we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves, and forget poorTiny Tim in doing it.EVERYONE: Oh, never, father!BOB CRATCHIT: I am very happy. I am very happy![The children all gather to hug and kiss their sad father as the lights fade away on the scene.]SCROOGE: Spectre! Something informs me that our parting moment is at hand. I knew it, but I knownot how. Tell me what man that was whom we saw lying dead?THE CHURCHYARD CEMETERYSCROOGE: Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question. Are thesethe shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only? Men's courseswill foreshadow certain ends, to which, if preserved in, they must lead. But if the courses be departedfrom, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me![CHRISTMAS FUTURE only points as a narrow beam of light reveals the name upon the stone as -Ebenezer Scrooge.]SCROOGE: Am I that man who lay upon the bed?[CHRISTMAS FUTURE only points to the grave.]SCROOGE: No, Spirit! Oh, no, no![The Spirit's finger is steadfast.]SCROOGE: Spirit! Hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been. Whyshow me this, if I am past all hope![At this CHRISTMAS FUTURE'S hand shakes for the first time as it points.]SCROOGE: Good Spirit. Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet maychange these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life![CHRISTMAS FUTURE'S hand again trembles.]SCROOGE: I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, thePresent, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons thatthey teach. The child who was born in Bethlehem will rule in my heart every day! Oh, tell me I maysponge away the writing on this stone! I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future! The Spirits ofall Three shall strive within me. The child who was born in Bethlehem will rule in my heart every day!Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob,on my knees![He suddenly realizes he is in his bed, with curtains.]SCROOGE: They are not torn down, they are not torn down, rings and all. They are here - I am here -the shadows of the things that would have been, may be dispelled. They will be. I know they will![He jumps and leaps about his bedroom.]SCROOGE: I don't know what to do! I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as1920

merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A Merry Christmas to everybody! A Happy NewYear to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo! There's the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marleyentered! There's the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present stood! It's all right, it's all true, it allhappened. He laughs I don't know what day of the month it is! I don't know how long I've been amongthe Spirits. I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby. Never mind. I don't care. I'd rather be a baby. Hallo!Whoop! Hallo here![Scrooge sees BOY walking below - at audience level]SCROOGE: You, there! Boy!BOY: Who? Me, sir?SCROOGE: What's today?BOY: Eh?SCROOGE: What's today, my fine fellow?BOY: Today! Why, Christmas Day!SCROOGE: It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They cando anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!BOY: Hallo!SCROOGE: Do you know the Poulterer's in the next street, at the corner?BOY: I should hope I did.SCROOGE: An intelligent boy! A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkeythat was hanging up there? Not the little prize Turkey, the big one?BOY: What, the one as big as me?SCROOGE: What a delightful boy! It's a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck!BOY: It's hanging there now.SCROOGE: Is it? Go and buy it.BOY: You're playing a joke on me!SCROOGE: No, no, I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell 'em to bring it here that I may give them thedirection where to take it. Come back with the man, and i'll give you a shilling. Come back with him inless than five minutes and I'll give you half-a-crown![The BOY runs off like a shot.]SCROOGE: I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's. He shan't know who sends it, It's twice the size of Tiny Tim.[The boy and Man appear with the Turkey.]SCROOGE: Here's comes the Turkey. Hallo! Whoop! How are you! Merry Christmas! Why, it'simpossible to carry that to Camden Town. You must catch a cab.[Scrooge pays the BOY. Then pays the Poulterer for the Turkey and the cab.]RETURN OF A PHILANTHROPISTSCROOGE: My dear, sir! How do you do? I hope you succeeded yesterday. It was very kind of you. AMerry Christmas to you, sir!MR. CHARLTON: Mr. Scrooge?SCROOGE: Yes. That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask yourpardon. And will you have the goodness to... [Scrooge whispers into his ear.]MR. CHARLTON: Lord bless me! My dear Scrooge, are you serious?SCROOGE: If you please. Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assureyou. Will you do me that favor?MR. CHARLTON: My dear sir, I don't know what to say to such munifi--SCROOGE: [Scrooge interrupts.] Don't say anything, please. Come and see me. Will you come and seeme?MR. CHARLTON: I will!SCROOGE: Thank you! I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times. Bless you![Scrooge goes to Fred's home. Scrooge's niece is startled and nearly falls over.]FRED: Why bless my soul! Who's that?SCROOGE: It's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?Fred grabs his hand shaking it almost off!FRED: Why, yes, dear uncle! Why, yes![Everyone greets him with excitement.]SCROOGE: After dinner, how about a game of Yes and No!SCROOGE AND MARLEY'SSCROOGE: Hallo! What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?BOB CRATCHIT: I'm very sorry, sir. I am behind my time.SCROOGE: You are? Yes. I think you are. Step this way, sir, if you please.2122

BOB CRATCHIT: It's only once a year, sir. It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merryyesterday, sir.SCROOGE: Now, I'll tell you what, my friend. I am not going to stand for this sort of thing any longer.And therefore... and therefore... and therefore... I am about to raise your salary![Bob Cratchit nearly falls over backward.]SCROOGE: A Merry Christmas, Bob! A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have givenyou for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we willdiscuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! ...Make up thefires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!NARRATOR: Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim,who did not die, he was a second father.[Tiny Tim enters from side-stage as Scrooge enters on the opposite side. They run to the center and TinyTim jumps into Scrooge's arms in a hug. Tiny Tim is then hoisted to Scrooge's shoulder and the skipoffstage.]NARRATOR: He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old cityknew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to seethe alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them, for he was wise enough to know thatnothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter inthe onset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that theyshould wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed;and that was quite enough for him.He had no further encounters with Spirits, and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keepChristmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!And so, as Tiny Tim observed...TINY TIM: God bless Us, Every One!23