Sunday 2 July 2017

Heaven Alone Knows




ROMAN POPE AND MONGOL KHAN


CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ROMAN POPE AND MONGOL GREAT KHAN


A Letter from Pope Innocent IV to the King of the Tartars


Seeing that not only men but even irrational animals, nay, the very elements which go to make up the world machine, are united by a certain innate law after the manner of the celestial spirits, all of which God the Creator has divided into choirs in the enduring stability of peaceful order, it is not without cause that we are driven to express in strong terms our amazement that you, as we have heard, have invaded many countries belonging both to Christians and to others and are laying them waste in a horrible desolation, and with a fury still unabated you do not cease from stretching out your destroying hand to more distant lands, but, breaking the bond of natural ties, sparing neither sex nor age, you rage against all indiscriminately with the sword of chastisement. 

We, therefore, following the example of the King of Peace, and desiring that all men should live united in concord in the fear of God, do admonish, beg and earnestly beseech all of you that for the future you desist entirely from assaults of this kind and especially from the persecution of Christians, and that after so many and such grievous offences you conciliate by a fitting penance the wrath of Divine Majesty, which without doubt you have seriously aroused by such provocation; nor should you be emboldened to commit further savagery by the fact that when the sword of your might has raged against other men Almighty God has up to the present allowed various nations to fall before your face; for sometimes He refrains from chastising the proud in this world for the moment, for this reason, that if they neglect to humble themselves of their own accord He may not only no longer put off the punishment of their wickedness in this life but may also take greater vengeance in the world to come. 

On this account we have thought fit to send to you our beloved son [Giovanni DiPlano Carpini--see Strayer, p. 336] and his companions the bearers of this letter, men remarkable for their religious spirit, comely in their virtue and gifted with a knowledge of Holy Scripture; receive them kindly and treat them with honour out of reverence for God, indeed as if receiving us in their persons, and deal honestly with them in those matters of which they will speak to you on our behalf, and when you have had profitable discussions with them concerning the aforesaid affairs, especially those pertaining to peace, make fully known to us through these same Friars what moved you to destroy other nations and what your intentions are for the future, furnishing them with a safe-conduct and other necessities on both their outward and return journey, so that they can safely make their way back to our presence when they wish.

Lyons, 13th March 1245



A Letter from Kuyuk Khan to Pope Innocent IV

By the power of the Eternal Heaven, we are the all-embracing Khan of all the Great Nations.  It is our command:

This is a decree, sent to the great Pope that he may know and pay heed.


After holding counsel with the monarchs under your suzerainty, you have sent us an offer of subordination which we have accepted from the hands of your envoy.

If you should act up to your word, then you, the great Pope, should come in person with the monarchs to pay us homage and we should thereupon instruct you concerning the commands of the Yasak.

Furthermore, you have said it would be well for us to become Christians. You write to me in person about this matter, and have addressed to me a request. This, your request, we cannot understand.

Furthermore, you have written me these words:  "You have attacked all the territories of the Magyars and other Christians, at which I am astonished. Tell me, what was their crime?" These, your words, we likewise cannot understand. Chinggis Khan and Ogatai Khakan revealed the commands of Heaven. 

But those whom you name would not believe the commands of Heaven. Those of whom you speak showed themselves highly presumptuous and slew our envoys. Therefore, in accordance with the commands of the Eternal Heaven, the inhabitants of the aforesaid countries have been slain and annihilated. 

If not by the command of Heaven, how can anyone slay or conquer out of his own strength?

And when you say:  "I am a Christian. I pray to God. I arraign and despise others," how do you know who is pleasing to God and to whom He allots His grace?  How can you know it, that you speak such words?

Thanks to the power of the Eternal Heaven, all lands have been given to us from sunrise to sunset. How could anyone act other than in accordance with the commands of Heaven?  Now your own upright heart must tell you:  "We will become subject to you, and will place our powers at your disposal.

You in person, at the head of the monarchs, all of you, without exception, must come to tender us service and pay us homage; then only will we recognize your submission. 

But if you do not obey the commands of Heaven, and run counter to our orders, we shall know that you are our foe.

That is what we have to tell you. If you fail to act in accordance therewith, how can we forsee what will happen to you? 

Heaven alone knows.



LEO
We'd like to discuss your nuclear program.

AMBASSADOR
We've agreed to IAEA inspections, suspended production on enriched uranium.

LEO
Temporarily.

McNALLY
Your 40-megawatt heavy water reactor at Arak. It's a size too small for electricity generation, and larger than for research.

LEO
The type that provides fuel for nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan.

AMBASSADOR
And Israel, I understand.

SLATTERY
The Iranian exile organization NCR has identified other secret enrichment facilities: the Lashkar-Abad site near Hashtgerd, a site near Ramandeh village...

LEO
Why are you enriching uranium?

AMBASSADOR
For reactor fuel, for power generation, as our European friends recognize is our sovereign right.

LEO
Power you don't need, with you oil and gas reserves.

AMBASSADOR
It is necessary, because of rising domestic consumption rates, and our desire to preserve oil and gas to generate foreign currency.

McNALLY
You displayed the Shahab 3 missile. 
The only logical purpose for such a long-range weapon is to carry a nuclear payload.

AMBASSADOR
[sarcastically]
And we enjoy and anticipate stable relations with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan. 
These are the nations within range of this missile.

LEO
And Israel, I understand. Sir, we believe your country has been engaged in developing nuclear weapons.

AMBASSADOR
The Ayatollah has decreed their production to be haram - prohibited on religious grounds. 

We consider the development and use of such weapons to be immoral, inhumane, and against our basic Islamic beliefs. 

In contrast to the United States, which is not merely the only nation to ever employ such weapons--twice--but also brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust with the Cuban missile crisis.

LEO
The United States will not tolerate these weapons' further proliferation.

AMBASSADOR
It is disconcerting to be dictated to by the only transgressor in human history.

LEO
Let me make myself plain, Mr. Ambassador. 
Evidence that Iran possesses or has tested a nuclear weapon will be greeted by the United States as a matter of gravest consequence.

AMBASSADOR
Are we finished?

Leo nods and they all get up.

AMBASSADOR
I know what terrifies you: an Islamic bomb.

LEO
And I know what concerns Iran: 
a Jewish bomb.

AMBASSADOR
Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller... 

They're all Jewish bombs.


It's telling that the physicists involved in the creation of  these weapons became the most fervid opponents of their use. 
Einstein, Oppenheimer, Szilard. 


Hans Bethe wrote:

"If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs,
what history will remember is not the ideas we were fighting for, but the 
methods we used to accomplish them. 

These methods will be compared to the 
warfare of Genghis Khan, who brutally killed every last inhabitant of Persia."

[ I sincerely doubt that - for one thing, many Persians joined the Golden Horde themselves. ]

O Canada


O, Canada - What's Wrong with this Picture...?


O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

AND DAUGHTERS!

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.




"They thought the tea was the least they could do."


BARTLET
3.2 billion men in the world. She picks him.

DEBBIE
I hear he had a great pitching arm.

BARTLET
When he was 19, sure. 
She dumped a Rhodes scholar for this guy.

Zoey left Charlie for the Frog. 

Ellie and the guitar player with the purple van. 

My children choose morons. Every one.

DEBBIE
They say daughters look for their fathers.

BARTLET
You know, 15 years ago, we took a trip to Egypt, all five of us, saw the pyramids and Luxor, then headed up into the Sinai. 

We had a guide, a Bedouin man, who called me "Abu el Banat." 

Whenever we'd meet another Bedouin, he'd introduce me as "Abu el Banat." 

The Bedouin would laugh and laugh and then offer me a cup of tea. 

And I'd go and pay them for the tea, and they wouldn't let me. 

"Abu el Banat" means "Father of Daughters.


They thought the tea was the least they could do.


I Want to a Lie Shipwrecked and Comatose Drinking Fresh Mango Juice


Elvis’ death shocks LV

Elvis Presley collapsed and died at his home in Memphis, Tenn. Tuesday and the tragedy sent a rippling shock through Las Vegas where he made his show business comeback and attained a popularity peak from which he never descended.

At the Hilton, where Elvis had made exclusive Las Vegs appearances since 1969, executives were caught by surprise and reacted numbly.

Barron Hilton, head of the worldwide hotel chain, had flown into Las Vegas for a late afternoon advertising conference but cancelled it after word of Presley's death was flashed at 12:30 p.m. PDT.

Hilton, who had befriended Presley here, issued a terse statement of tribute but declined press interviews. In part, his statement said, "...Presley was more than just a great talent, he was a good friend to all of us at the Las Vegas Hilton."

Henry Lewin, the Hilton's senior vice president, was more graphic. Stopping for a hallway interview in the hotel's buzzing executive suite, he referred to Presley as "...an absolute superstar who was also a very simple person."

"I am going to miss him. It makes me very sad that this could happen," Lewin said.

"The man had no season. He was unique and he was magic to our (gaming and tourism) industry," the Hilton executive stated.

Initial conflicting reports said Presley died of a heart attack, respiratory failure and an overdose of drugs.

Doctors at Baptist Hospital in Memphis, where the dead entertainer was initially taken, issued a statement in the late afternoon which said he died of an "erratic heartbeat."

Presley apparently collapsed in a bathroom of his Graceland Mansion in Memphis and was found face down on the floor by his road manager, Joe Esposito, at 3:3 p.m. Memphis time. However, Shelby county Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco said Presley may have been dead more than five hours before he was found.

Francisco told reporters after an autopsy Presley died of "cardiac arrythmia," which he described as a severely irregular heartbeat. he said it was brought about by "undetermined causes."

Both Francisco and Dr. George Nichopoulos, Presley's physician in Memphis, emphasized there was "no evidence of any illegal drug use."

Rumors had persisted for more than a year in Las Vegas that Presley was a heavy user of cocaine, but the rumors were never confirmed.

Dr. Elias Ghanem, Presley's Las Vegas physician who was also a personal friend, expressed extreme surprise when told of the entertainer's death from heart failure.

"Why, he was in perfect health," ghanem said in news interviews. "I personally gave him a physical examination for insurance reasons only recently. I can't understand this," he exclaimed.

Ghanem cancelled all late afternoon appointments at his office on Joe W. Brown Drive in the shadow of the Hilton Hotel and flew to Memphis for a firsthand review of events.

The Las Vegas doctor last year was a recipient of Presley's well known generosity. After treating the entertainer for pneumonia, Ghanem was gifted with a $42,000 Stutz racing car and a $16,000 Mercedes sedan.

Ghanem's claim that Presley's health was good contradicted other reports which alleged fame and wealth had taken its physical toll long before the singing idol's death Tuesday at the age of 42.

Noticeably overweight during the last few years, Presley was plagued with problems of hypertension and an elarged colon. He was admitted five times in the past four years for treatment at Baptist Hospital in Memphis.

In Las Vegas, Presley cut his appearances at the Hilton from eight eight times a year to twice a year and in 1976 departed from the two-shows-a-night tradition to doing only one show.

His last appearance in Las Vegas was December, 1976, but Hilton executives expected him back this fall.

When the Hilton first opened on July 2, 1969, it was the International Hotel and Barbra Streisand opened in the showroom. Presley followed her on July 31, making his first nightclub appearance in 10 years.

His salary at the hotel was never made public but unconfirmed reports said it was upwards of $200,000 for each engagement. In later years he was said to have earned $300,00 a week in Las Vegas.

He filled the 2,000 seat Hilton showroom for every performance. To see his show, reservations had to be made months in advance. Fans stood in line up to 12 hours at a stretch to catch his act.

But if Presley brought business to the Hilton, he also brought problems.

There were times, especially during the past two years, when Presley's off-stage antics rendered him immobile and he could not make his scheduled showroom appearances.

But he crowds he drew and the gamblers who followed him to Las Vegas and the Hilton's casino, more than made up for his temporary inconveniences.

his first Las Vegas appearance was at the Old Frontier Hotel on the Strip where the Frontier now stands. That was in April, 1956, and Presley was listed third on the entertainment bill behind the Freddy Martin band and comedian Shecky Greene. He didn't go over well and was not signed for a return engagement.

Years later at the Hilton, things would be different. Presley was so idolized he was forced to stay in his five room suite, except for showroom performances, or be mobbed by crowds of fans.

With such single hits as "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel", Presley became a national legend before his 25th birthday. His long-playing records were the fastest selling albums in history. They reached astronomical levels in the eight figures, and made "Elvis the Pelvis" famous in every corner of the land.

The great teenagers' idol was born in Tupelo, miss. on Jan. 8, 1935, one of a pair of twins, to Gladys and Vernon Presley.

His mother said: "We matched their names - Jesse Garon and Elvis Aron. Jesse died when he was born. Maybe that is why Elvis is so dear to us."

She often reminisced about her son's early childhood.

"When Elvis was just a little fellow," she said, "he would slide off my lap in church, run down the aisle, and scramble up to the platform. He would stand looking at the choir and try to sing with them. He was too little to know the words, but he could carry the tune."

The future musical star, with his two parents, appeared as a popular singing trio at camp meetings, revivals and church conventions. Elvis' father purchased a guitar for the boy at a cost of $12.95.

His mother recalled: "he liked the guitar best of all his things. He'd sit in front of the radio picking out melodies, or play the phonograph, trying to learn the songs he heard."

The family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13. He attended the L.C. Humes High School, and worked as an usher in a local movie theater. After graduation, he took a job at $35 a week driving a truck.

The fabulous Presley career had its humble beginning in the summer of 1953, when Elvis dropped into the office of the Sun Record Co. in Memphis and paid out four dollars to cut a record. He took the record home and played it over and over again.

A year later he went back to Sun and cut another record, but this one was for the company rather than for himself. It was released in the summer of 1954, under the title "That's All Right, Mama" and drew some attention but was not a big hit. Listeners noted in the song a new quality - a blend of hillbilly and rock-'n-roll. His next recorded song, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" did better.

A shrewd song promoter named Col. Thomas Parker was impressed by the records. He took over management of Elvis and toured him throughout rural areas under the moniker "The Hilly Billy Cat."

Elvis' big change of fortune came in the fall of 1954 at the annual convention of the Country and Western Disc Jockeys Assn. in Nashville, Tenn.

Steve Sholes, head of RCA Victor's specialties division, heard Presley's records at this meeting - and felt that he was a winner.

Sholes approached Sam Phillips, chief of Sun Records, who had Elvis under contract. He offered him the then unheard of sum of $35,000 for the masters of all five of Presley's records for RCA-Victor.

What's more, he gave Presley a bonus which permitted the youth to buy the first of a long string of Cadillacs. Victor broke all previous precedents by releasing the five records simultaneously...and history was made.

Elvish changed the course of popular music with such hits as "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," and "It's Now or Never." The long-sideburned youth with undulating lips, snake eyes, demi-sneer, skin tight pants, gyrating pelvis, and electric guitar made a particular dent in teenage consciousness with the tune, "Heartbreak Hotel."

Some critics judge Presley to have been the most important popular musical figure fo the third quarter of the century. The well-known musicologist Alan Lomax for instance, believed Presley liberated American popular music from the European tradition.

From the years 1956 through 1958, the American Bandstand poll ranked Presley the nation's most popular male singer.

He received $1 million a piece for filming four successful movies: "Love Me Tender," "Loving You," "Jailhouse Rock", and "King Creole." The pictures, combined with his records, made his name a household word.

In 1958 Presley began a two-year hitch in the United States Army. He served in Bad Nauheim, Germany, where he rose to the rank of sergeant.

New records he had made before his induction were judiciously released while he was abroad, and his popularity still was high upon his return to civilian life.

Now came a fresh spate of movies: "GI Blues," "Blue Hawaii," "Fun in Acapulco," "Viva Las Vegas," "Harum Scarum," "Double Trouble," "Clambake," and "Change of Habit."

When his movies started to lose audience appeal, Col. Parker arranged for his protege to make special television appearances.

Presley was meantime becoming richer and richer, driving about in a Rolls Royce and five Cadillacs - painted white, pink, blue, canary yellow and goold.

His house in Memphis, and a Grecian palace he purchased in Bel Air, creaked with pinball machines, pool tables, and jukeboxes.

In 1967 he married Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, and they had a daughter the following year. The couple separated in 1972.

Presley went into semiretirement during the late 1960s, with 400 million records and 31 films to his credit.

When he made a brief reappearance in the limelight in 1972, he found his fans still faithful.


1
The Sleeping Beauty Diet

As most of us are aware, Elvis Presley, late in his life, was a whale. To make himself feel better about it, he would eat six eggs, a pound of bacon, a half-pound of sausage and 12 buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. His staple dinner sandwich was a foot-long baguette containing an entire jar of peanut butter and jelly and a pound of bacon. He would eat two of those, then follow it up later with a midnight snack of five hamburgers. Instead of, for example, cutting down to three hamburgers or half a pound of bacon, which would have been unreasonable, he had himself sedated for two weeks.

The Theory: Logically, it makes sense that if you're too sedated to move, you can't get yourself food, and if you don't eat, you won't gain weight. Coma patients don't get fat, for instance. Elvis was supervised by celebrity doctor Elias Ghanem during this time and fed a special "liquid diet," and as we all know, drinks aren't food, so you won't gain weight.

The Reality: Unfortunately, Elvis's body may have outsmarted him. Being a pretty efficient machine, the human body will shut down to a minimal level of energy consumption when asleep or extremely inactive. Even being awake and reading quietly will burn a fair amount more energy, as brain activity consumes a decent amount of calories (see below).

Calorie burn rates for various stationary activities:

  • 80 - reading (Dostoevsky)
  • 70 - reading (Dean Koontz)
  • 70 - watching TV
  • 60 - baseline, comatose, asleep
  • 55 - posting comments on the Internet

Also, common sense should tell you that it doesn't matter whether something is liquid or solid--calories are calories. A hamburger doesn't become a diet hamburger after you put it in a blender.

The Results: Elvis left the treatment 10 pounds heavier than when he'd started, and it probably wasn't muscle weight. By 1977, he had become so large that aliens were able to spot him from space, and, as we all remember, abducted him. Depending on which tabloid magazine you read, the aliens either used their advanced technology to restore his youth and figure, or to keep him alive for an eternal torment of anal probing.

Either way, the lesson is that your body is an evolutionarily adapted traitor that can't be trusted to lose weight for you while you nap for two weeks. If only liposuction had been around ...

Catch-777 : When Praying for One's Enemies....





Catch-777 : When Praying 4 1's Enemies B Careful What  U Wish 4

Catch-777 - The Agape Wake-Up Call Reminder

The point at which prayer and magick intersect exists as a conscious inner recognition and acceptance of responsibility occurs in conjunction with a sincere and considered request for some specific form of help, accompanied some voluntary and unsolicited act of pennance, adequate and sufficient to the scale of the demand implicit in your submitted plea.


One of my personal favourite case-study examples of outstanding good moral behaviour, sacrifice and Christ-like behaviour to really freak out all of the self-righteous, judgemental and prideful Judeo-Christian policy wonks, Flag-suckers and Bible-Thumpers is to cite, chapter and verse, the specific, documented instances of acts of agape and sacrifice, the Christ-like qualities and character-traits demonstrated by the late Col. Mumar Qaddaffi of Libya as Head of State of that country.


Who wasn't even a Christian.







Saturday 1 July 2017

Equally Cursed and Blessed and Commissioned


" As if the weight of such a commitment to the life and health of America were not enough, another burden of responsibility was placed upon me in 1964. 

And I cannot forget that the Nobel Peace Prize was also a commission, a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for the brotherhood of man. 

This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances. "


O thou well skill'd in curses, stay awhile,
And teach me how to curse mine enemies!



 HEAR ME!!, you wrangling pirates, that fall out 
In sharing that which you have pill'd from me!!!

Which of you trembles not that looks on me? 

Can curses pierce the clouds and enter Heaven? 

Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses! 




“I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens. Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children…We shall overcome!!! Shabbat Shalom! #weareright #freegazafromhamas #stopterror #coexistance #loveidf”


HekateHekateHekate

Goddess Hekate, Work Thy WillBefore Thee, 

  • Let The Veil be Lifted from Thy Daughter's eyes, the stainéd be washed clean
  • The Prideful-Arrogant be made brought low and made humble so that 
  • She may soon soar all the more High

HekateHekateHekate

  • I do invoke thee Hekate and thy power to SEIZE thy daughter in all thy Glorious majesty, 
  • I do invoke thee again Hekate, to bind thy daughter with a CURSE of thy aspect of awful, terrible wrath,
  • I do invoke thee thricewise Hekate, to BLESS thy daughter in thy aspect of Perfect Charity, Grace and Agape;

Let thy thricewise Will be done - answer the call of Thy True Preist-Forever to confer on Thy wayward daughter thy Blessing/Curse/Divine Commission thy gift of 

  • TRUE DISCERNMENT
  • WISDOM and 
  • INSIGHT.

Answer my thricewise plea to thee O Hekate

  • Queen of Heaven, 
  • Mistress of Wild Beasts and all The Earth, 
  • Ruler of My Heart.

Thy Will Be Done.

In the Name of 

  • The Mother
  • The Daughter and 
  • Aunt Dot,

Amen-Ra.

HekateHekateHekate

The Dismal Science






"There's another fellow," muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: "my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas.  I'll retire to Bedlam."

This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in.  They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office.  They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

"Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list.  "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?"

"Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years," Scrooge replied.  "He died seven years ago, this very night."

"We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner," said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits.  At the ominous word "liberality," Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.  Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?"  demanded Scrooge.  "Are they still in operation?"

"They are.  Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?"  said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh!  I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge.  "I'm very glad to hear it."

"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth.  We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.  What shall I put you down for?"

"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?"

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge.  "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.  I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry.  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.  Besides -- excuse me -- I don't know that."

"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.

"It's not my business," Scrooge returned.  




"It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's.  Mine occupies me constantly.  Good afternoon, gentlemen!"


Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew.  Scrooge returned his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.




Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.
"Mercy!" he said.  "Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?"

"Man of the worldly mind!" replied the Ghost, "do you believe in me or not?"

"I do," said Scrooge.  "I must.  But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?"

"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after 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!"

Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands.

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling.  "Tell me why?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.  Is its pattern strange to you?"

Scrooge trembled more and more.

"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "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 laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"

Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing.

"Jacob," he said, imploringly.  "Old Jacob Marley, tell me more.  Speak comfort to me, Jacob!"

"I have none to give," the Ghost replied.  "It comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men.  Nor can I tell you what I would.  A very little more, is all permitted to me.  I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere.  My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house -- mark me! -- in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!"

It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he became thoughtful, to put his hands in his breeches pockets.  Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but without lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees.

"You must have been very slow about it, Jacob," Scrooge observed, in a business-like manner, though with humility and deference.
"Slow!" the Ghost repeated.

"Seven years dead," mused Scrooge.  "And travelling all the time!"
"The whole time," said the Ghost.  "No rest, no peace.  Incessant torture of remorse."

"You travel fast?"  said Scrooge.

"On the wings of the wind," replied the Ghost.

"You might have got over a great quantity of ground in seven years," said Scrooge.

The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanked its chain so hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the Ward would have been justified in indicting it for a nuisance.

"Oh!  captive, bound, and double-ironed," cried the phantom, "not to know, that ages of incessant labour, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed.  Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness.  Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused!  Yet such was I!  Oh!  such was I!"

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.  "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 a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At this time of the rolling year," the spectre said "I suffer most.  Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode!  Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"

Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.

"Hear me!" cried the Ghost.  "My time is nearly gone."

"I will," said Scrooge.  "But don't be hard upon me!  Don't be flowery, Jacob!  Pray!"

"How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell.  I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day."

It was not an agreeable idea.  Scrooge shivered, and wiped the perspiration from his brow.

"That is no light part of my penance," pursued the Ghost.  "I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.  A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer."

"You were always a good friend to me," said Scrooge.  "Thank `ee!"

"You will be haunted," resumed the Ghost, "by Three Spirits."

Scrooge's countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost's had done.

"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?"  he demanded, in a faltering voice.

"It is."

"I -- I think I'd rather not," said Scrooge.

"Without their visits," said the Ghost, "you cannot hope to shun the path I tread.  Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one."

"Couldn't I take `em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?"  hinted Scrooge.

"Expect the second on the next night at the same hour.  The third upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate.  Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!"

When it had said these words, the spectre took its wrapper from the table, and bound it round its head, as before.  Scrooge knew this, by the smart sound its teeth made, when the jaws were brought together by the bandage.  He ventured to raise his eyes again, and found his supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect attitude, with its chain wound over and about its arm.

The apparition walked backward from him; and at every step it took, the window raised itself a little, so that when the spectre reached it, it was wide open.  It beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did.  When they were within two paces of each other, Marley's Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer.  Scrooge stopped.

Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory.  The spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak, dark night.

Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity.  He looked out.

The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went.  Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free.  

Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives.  He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step.  





The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.