A Christmas Carol

No sooner does Scrooge fall asleep after escaping the first spirit than he hears the bell once again chiming one o’clock with no intervening day. Scrooge goes to investigate a light from the adjacent room. A voice calls him into the room, which is decorated for Christmas. At the center, a figure dressed as Father Christmas and sitting on a throne of food introduces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Scrooge is more meekly subservient with this visitant. He takes hold of the spirit’s robe and finds himself on the crowded street on Christmas morning. The shops are full of food. Children run and play. People of the poorer classes don’t have adequate cooking facilities, so they carry their dinners to the bakeries, where their food is cooked. Wherever tempers flare up and people seem about to quarrel, the ghost sprinkles something from his torch over them and restores peace. He sprinkles their holiday meals as well, and Scrooge asks what the spirit is adding. The ghost says that it is the Christmas spirit. It makes everything taste more satisfying on this day, and it is especially needed by these poor folk who have so little.