stave 1

• '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'
• '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?'