You never will derive so much delight from seeing a glorious little woman in the arms of a third party, as you would have felt if you had seen Dot run into the Carrier’s embrace. It was the most complete, unmitigated, soul-fraught little piece of earnestness that ever you beheld in all your days.
You may be sure the Carrier was in a state of perfect rapture; and you may be sure Dot was likewise; and you may be sure they all were, inclusive of Miss Slowboy, who wept copiously for joy, and, wishing to include her young charge in the general interchange of congratulations, handed round the Baby to everybody in succession, as if it were something to drink.
But, now, the sound of wheels was heard again outside the door; and somebody exclaimed that Gruff and Tackleton was coming back. Speedily that worthy gentleman appeared, looking warm and flustered.
“Why, what the devil’s this, John Peerybingle!” said Tackleton. “There’s some mistake. I appointed Mrs. Tackleton to meet me at the church, and I’ll swear I passed her on the road, on her way here. Oh! here she is! I beg your pardon, sir; I haven’t the pleasure of knowing you; but if you can do me the favour to spare this young lady, she has rather a particular engagement this morning.”
“But I can’t spare her,” returned Edward. “I couldn’t think of it.”
“What do you mean, you vagabond?” said Tackleton.
“I mean, that as I can make allowance for your being vexed,” returned the other with a smile, “I am as deaf to harsh discourse this morning as I was to all discourse last night.”
The look that Tackleton bestowed upon him, and the start he gave!
“I am sorry, sir,” said Edward, holding out May’s left hand, and especially the third finger, “that the young lady can’t accompany you to church; but as she has been there once, this morning, perhaps you’ll excuse her.”
Tackleton looked hard at the third finger, and took a little piece of silver paper, apparently containing a ring, from his waistcoat pocket.
“Miss Slowboy,” said Tackleton. “Will you have the kindness to throw that in the fire? Thank’ee.”
“It was a previous engagement, quite an old engagement, that prevented my wife from keeping her appointment with you, I assure you,” said Edward.
“Mr. Tackleton will do me the justice to acknowledge that I revealed it to him faithfully; and that I told him, many times, I never could forget it,” said May, blushing.
“Oh, certainly!” said Tackleton. “Oh, to be sure. Oh, its all right, it’s quite correct. Mrs. Edward Plummer, I infer?”
“That’s the name,” returned the bridegroom.
“Ah! I shouldn’t have known you, sir,” said Tackleton, scrutinising his face narrowly, and making a low bow. “I give you joy, sir!”
“Thank’ee.”
“Mrs. Peerybingle,” said Tackleton, turning suddenly to where she stood with her husband; “I’m sorry. You haven’t done me a very great kindness, but, upon my life, I am sorry. You are better than I thought you. John Peerybingle, I am sorry. You understand me; that’s enough. It’s quite correct, ladies and gentlemen, all, and perfectly satisfactory. Good-morning!”
With these words he carried it off, and carried himself off, too: merely stopping at the door, to take the flowers and favours from his horse’s head, and to kick that animal once, in the ribs, as a means of informing him that there was a screw loose in his arrangements.
Of course, it became a serious duty now, to make such a day of it, as should mark these events for a high Feast and Festival in the Peerybingle Calendar for evermore. Accordingly, Dot went to work to produce such an entertainment as should reflect undying honour on the house and on every one concerned; and in a very short space of time she was up to her dimpled elbows in flour, and whitening the Carrier’s coat, every time he came near her, by stopping him to give him a kiss. That good fellow washed the greens, and peeled the turnips, and broke the plates, and upset iron pots full of cold water on the fire, and made himself useful in all sorts of ways: while a couple of professional assistants, hastily called in from somewhere in the neighbourhood, as on a point of life or death, ran against each other in all the doorways and round all the corners, and everybody tumbled over Tilly Slowboy and the Baby, everywhere. Tilly never came out in such force before. Her ubiquity was the theme of general admiration. She was a stumbling-block in the passage at five-and-twenty minutes past two; a man-trap in the kitchen at half-past two precisely; and a pit-fall in the garret at five-and-twenty minutes to three. The Baby’s head was, as it were, a test and touchstone for every description of matter, animal, vegetable, and mineral. Nothing was in use that day that didn’t come, at some time or other, into close acquaintance with it.
Then there was a great Expedition set on foot to go and find out Mrs. Fielding; and to be dismally penitent to that excellent gentle-woman ; and to bring her back, by force, if needful, to be happy and forgiving. And when the Expedition first discovered her, she would listen to no terms at all, but said, an unspeakable number of times, that ever she should have lived to see the day! and couldn’t be got to say anything else, except “Now carry me to the grave:” which seemed absurd, on account of her not being dead, or anything at all like it. After a time she lapsed into a state of dreadful calmness, and observed that when that unfortunate train of circumstances had occurred in the Indigo Trade, she had foreseen that she would be exposed, during her whole life, to every species of insult and contumely; and that she was glad to find it was the case; and begged they wouldn’t trouble themselves about her—for what was she?—oh, dear! a nobody!—but would forget that such a being lived, and would take their course in life without her. From this bitterly sarcastic mood, she passed into an angry one, in which she gave vent to the remarkable expression that the worm would turn if trodden on; and, after that, she yielded to a soft regret, and said, if they had only given her their confidence, what might she not have had it in her power to suggest! Taking advantage of this crisis in her feelings, the Expedition embraced her; and she very soon had her gloves on, and was on her way to John Peerybingle’s in a state of unimpeachable gentility; with a paper parcel at her side containing a cap of state, almost as tall, and quite as stiff, as a mitre.
Then, there were Dot’s father and mother to come, in another little chaise; and they were behind their time; and fears were entertained ; and there was much looking out for them down the road; and Mrs. Fielding always would look in the wrong and morally impossible direction; and being apprised thereof, hoped she might take the liberty of looking where she pleased. At last they came; a chubby little couple, joggling along in a snug and comfortable little way that quite belonged to the Dot family; and Dot and her mother, side by side, were wonderful to see. They were so like each other.
Then Dot’s mother had to renew her acquaintance with May’s mother; and May’s mother always stood on her gentility; and Dot’s mother never stood on anything but her active little feet. And old Dot—so to call Dot’s father, I forgot it wasn’t his right name, but never mind—took liberties, and shook hands at first sight, and seemed to think a cap but so much starch and muslin, and didn’t defer himself at all to the Indigo Trade, but said there was no help for it now; and, in Mrs. Fielding’s summing up, was a good-natured kind of man—but coarse, my dear.
I wouldn’t have missed Dot, doing the honours in her wedding-gown, my benison on her bright face! for any money. No! nor the good Carrier, so jovial and so ruddy, at the bottom of the table. Nor the brown, fresh sailor-fellow, and his handsome wife. Nor any one among them. To have missed the dinner would have been to miss as jolly and as stout a meal as man need eat; and to have missed the overflowing cups in which they drank The Wedding Day, would have been the greatest miss of all.
After dinner, Caleb sang the song about the Sparkling Bowl. As I’m a living man, hoping to keep so, for a year or two, he sang it through.
And, by-the-bye, a most unlooked-for incident occurred, just as he finished the last verse.
There was a ta
p at the door; and a man came staggering in, without saying with your leave, or by your leave, with something heavy on his head. Setting this down in the middle of the table, symmetrically in the centre of the nuts and apples, he said:
“Mr. Tackleton’s compliments, and as he hasn’t got no use for the cake himself, p’raps you’ll eat it.”
And with those words, he walked off.
There was some surprise among the company, as you may imagine. Mrs. Fielding, being a lady of infinite discernment, suggested that the cake was poisoned, and related a narrative of a cake which, within her knowledge, had turned a seminary for young ladies blue. But she was overruled by acclamation; and the cake was cut by May; with much ceremony and rejoicing.
I don’t think any one had tasted it, when there came another tap at the door, and the same man appeared again, having under his arm a vast brown paper parcel.
“Mr. Tackleton’s compliments, and he’s sent a few toys for the Babby. They ain’t ugly.”
After the delivery of which expressions, he retired again.
The whole party would have experienced great difficulty in finding words for their astonishment, even if they had had ample time to seek them. But they had none at all; for the messenger had scarcely shut the door behind him, when there came another tap, and Tackleton himself walked in.
“Mrs. Peerybingle!” said the Toy Merchant, hat in hand, “I’m sorry. I’m more sorry than I was this morning. I have had time to think of it. John Peerybingle! I am sour by disposition; but I can’t help being sweetened, more or less, by coming face to face with such a man as you. Caleb! This unconscious little nurse gave me a broken hint last night, of which I have found the thread. I blush to think how easily I might have bound you and your daughter to me, and what a miserable idiot I was, when I took her for one! Friends, one and all, my house is very lonely to-night, I have not so much as a Cricket on my Hearth. I have scared them all away. Be gracious to me; let me join this happy party!”
He was at home in five minutes. You never saw such a fellow. What had he been doing with himself all his life, never to have known, before, his great capacity of being jovial! Or what had the Fairies been doing with him, to have effected such a change!
“John! you won’t send me home this evening, will you?” whispered Dot.
He had been very near it, though.
There wanted but one living creature to make the party complete; and, in the twinkling of an eye, there he was, very thirsty with hard running, and engaged in hopeless endeavours to squeeze his head into a narrow pitcher. He had gone with the cart to its journey’s end, very much disgusted with the absence of his master, and stupendously rebellious to the Deputy. After lingering about the stable for some little time, vainly attempting to incite the old horse to the mutinous act of returning on his own account, he had walked into the tap-room and laid himself down before the fire. But suddenly yielding to the conviction that the Deputy was a humbug, and must be abandoned, he had got up again, turned tail, and come home.
There was a dance in the evening. With which general mention of that recreation, I should have left it alone, if I had not some reason to suppose that it was quite an original dance, and one of a most uncommon figure. It was formed in an odd way; in this way.
Edward, that sailor-fellow—a good, free, dashing sort of fellow he was—had been telling them various marvels concerning parrots, and mines, and Mexicans, and gold dust, when all at once he took it in his head to jump up from his seat and propose a dance; for Bertha’s harp was there, and she had such a hand upon it as you seldom hear. Dot (sly little piece of affectation when she chose) said her dancing days were over; I think because the Carrier was smoking his pipe, and she liked sitting by him best. Mrs. Fielding had no choice, of course, but to say her dancing days were over, after that; and everybody said the same, except May; May was ready.
So, May and Edward got up, amid great applause, to dance alone; and Bertha plays her liveliest tune.
Well! if you’ll believe me, they have not been dancing five minutes, when suddenly the Carrier flings his pipe away, takes Dot round the waist, dashes out into the room, and starts off with her, toe and heel, quite wonderfully. Tackleton no sooner sees this, than he skims across to Mrs. Fielding, takes her round the waist, and follows suit. Old Dot no sooner sees this, than up he is, all alive, whisks off Mrs. Dot into the middle of the dance, and is the foremost there. Caleb no sooner sees this, than he clutches Tilly Slowboy by both hands and goes off at score; Miss Slowboy, firm in the belief that diving hotly in among the other couples, and effecting any number of concussions with them, is your only principle of footing it.
Hark! how the Cricket joins the music with its Chirp, Chirp, Chirp; and how the kettle hums!
But what is this! Even as I listen to them, blithely, and turn towards Dot, for one last glimpse of a little figure very pleasant to me, she and the rest have vanished into air, and I am left alone. A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child’s-toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains.
INSPIRED BY A CHRISTMAS CAROL
The tremendous commercial appeal of both Christmas and Charles Dickens account for the countless cinematic, television, and stage versions of A Christmas Carol, beginning with the 1901 British black-and-white silent film Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost. Indeed, A Christmas Carol is the most frequently adapted work by Dickens. In addition to standard retellings in every major language, there have been numerous cartoon and novelty versions, including Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962), Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol (1979), Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), The Jetsons Christmas Carol (1985), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994), and A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000), in which Vanessa Williams plays nasty pop singer Ebony Scrooge.
Three versions of Dickens’s story top the list of most-loved film adaptations: the 1951 Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim; television’s A Christmas Carol (1984), starring George C. Scott; and Scrooged (1988), starring Bill Murray. Many people see the Sim version, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, as the definitive adaptation, perhaps because Sim brings an unmatched authenticity and depth to the character of Scrooge. The movie focuses on Scrooge’s past and reveals a complex, multifaceted character that contrasts with the many versions that paint Scrooge as a caricature. Sim’s deep, sad eyes, the dramatic use of shadow, and the austere sets and costumes combine to evoke the gloom of the original story. When Scrooge is transformed, Sim lights up with joy, bringing an irresistible exuberance to his portrayal of the hero. The genius of Sim’s portrayal is that it forces the viewer to go along on Scrooge’s painful journey from grim tragedy, through humility and repentance, and finally to the discovery of love. It is a pity that this film, along with all others but Patrick Stewart’s 1999 effort for television, focuses excessively on monetary miserliness, which in the book is merely the outward sign of Scrooge’s real problem: a miserliness of heart. (For a number of years in the 1990s Royal Shakespeare Company veteran Stewart performed a one-man stage show of A Christmas Carol, the result of the actor’s passion for the novella. Stewart based his production on the “prompt copy” from Dickens’s own one-man performances.)
Filmed on location in Shrewsbury, England, the 1984 made-for-television movie A Christmas Carol, directed by Clive Donner, is one of the most important adaptations of the story. It features elaborate costumes and sets but is modest and restrained in its storytelling; the result is a more sober rendering of the tale than that of 1951. Scrooge’s turnaround is less dramatic here, and some critics found that unsatisfying. But the production preserves much of Dickens’s original political content, which is omitted in many versions, especially those for children. George C. Scott earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Scrooge.
Scrooged, directed by Richard Donner and starring Bill Murray, plays off of the greed, gluttony, and sleazy self-indulgence of the 1980s.The film is set in the New York City studio of a multi-million-dollar television prod
uction company. Frank Cross (Murray), the Scrooge character, is the youngest network president ever; relentlessly commercial, he plans to broadcast the biggest television Christmas event in history: a tacky, done-up version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol with former Olympian Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim. Scrooged cleverly satirizes the many poorly done remakes of A Christmas Carol and, on a larger scale, pokes fun at the market-driven nature of television in general. Some critics complain that Murray, an expert in portraying snide disaffection, takes his lack of compassion too far in Scrooged. As a result, they find the scene of his repentance—which takes place live on national television—unconvincing, drawn-out, and forced. Still, the ingenious Scrooged twists the original story into a delightful ball of self-reference, wit, and satire. Much of this buoyancy comes from the ghosts themselves: David Johansen as a cigar-crunching, cab-driving ghost of Christmas Past, and Carol Kane as the bubbly and viciously violent ghost of Christmas Present. Among adaptations of the Dickens classic, Scrooged is unmatched in its cunning and originality.
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
In this section, we aim to provide the reader with an array of perspectives on the texts, as well as questions that challenge those perspectives. The commentary has been culled from sources as diverse as reviews contemporaneous with the works, letters written by the author, literary criticism of later generations, and appreciations written throughout history. Following the commentary, a series of questions seeks to filter Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth through a variety of points of view and bring about a richer understanding of these enduring works.
A Christmas Carol, the Chimes & the Cricket on the Hearth Page 30