SCENE IV.--_A Bleak and Barren Moor. A poor mud cabin._ (_Painted in

the flat._)

_The SECOND SPIRIT and SCROOGE enter._

SCR. What place is this?

2ND SPIRIT. A place where miners live, who labour in the bowels of the earth--they know me. See! (_As he speaks, the window is lighted from within. The SPIRIT draws SCROOGE to window._) What seest thou?

SCR. A cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire--an old man and woman, with their children, and children's children all decked gaily out in their holiday attire. I hear the old man's voice above the howling of the wind upon the barren waste; singing a Christmas song, while all swell out the chorus.

2ND SPIRIT. Come, we must not tarry--we will to sea--your ear shall be deafened by the roaring waters.

SCR. To sea? no, good Spirit!

2ND SPIRIT. See yonder solitary lighthouse built on a dismal reef of sunken rocks. Here we men who watch the light, have made a fire that sheds a ray of brightness on the awful sea, joining their horny hands over the rough table where they sit, they wish each other a merry Christmas in can of grog and sing a rude lay in honour of the time. All men on this day have a kinder word for one another--on such a day--but come--on--on! (_As he speaks the Scene changes._)