At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did and when the long-expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all around the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife and feebly cried, "Hurrah!"There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn"t believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked1 out by applesauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight-surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish-they hadn"t eaten it all at last! Yet every one had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows! But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room1 Eked: added to; increased.
alone-too nervous to bear witnesses-to take the pudding up and bring it in.
Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back yard and stolen it while they were merry with the goose-a supposition at which the two young Cratehits became livid! All sorts of horrors were supposed.
Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry-cook"s next door to each other, with a laundress"s next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered- flushed, but smiling proudly - with the pudding, like a speckled cannon ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight1 with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage. Mrs. Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing.
At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug1 Bedight: ornamented.
being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table and a shovelful of chestnuts on the fire.
Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one, and at Bob Cratchit"s elbow stood the family display of glass-two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle.
These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and crackled noisily.
Then Bob proposed: "A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!"Which all the family reechoed.
"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all.
PATRICK HENRY"S SPEECH IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTIONPatrick Henry (1736-1799): An American orator, whose impassioned eloquence and zeal for liberty inspired the colonists with determination to resist English oppression. This famous speech was delivered in the Virginia House of Burgesses, March, 1775.
Mr. President: It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren1 till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous2 struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal3 salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, - to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And, judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry, for1Siren: one of three sea nymphs said to sing with such sweetness that they drew sailors to destruction.
2Arduous: difficult.
3Temporal: worldly.
