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Christmas Stories
Talking Book Mr Pickwicks Christmas by Charles Dickens Read by Charles Laughton Old Christmas, by Washington Irving Read
Mr Pickwicks Christmas. Read by Charles Laughton
Old Christmas, by Washington Irving
THE
following story, for which I am indebted to Mr T. Q. Couch,
will remind the reader of " The Cluricaun " and The Haunted Cellar," in "Fairy Legends
and Traditions of the South
of Ireland." By T. Crofton Croker, Esq. On the Thursday immediately preceding Christmas-tide (year not recorded), were assembled at "The Rising Sun" the captain and men of a stream work" in the Couse below. This Couse was a flat, alluvial moor, broken by gigantic mole-hills, the work of many a generation of tinners. One was half inclined, on looking at the turmoiled ground, to believe with them that the tin grew in successive crops, for, after years of turning and searching, there was still enough left to give the landlord his dole, and to furnish wages to some dozen streamers. This night was a festival observed in honour of one Picrous, and intended to celebrate the discovery of tin on this day by a man of that name. The feast is still kept, though the observance has dwindled to a supper and its attendant merrymaking. Our
story has especially to do with the adventures of one of the party, John
Sturtridge, who, well primed with ale, started on his homeward way for
Luxulyan Church-town. John had got as far as Tregarden Down without any mishap
worth recording, when, alas! he happened upon a party of the little people, who
were at their sports in the shelter of a huge granite boulder. Assailed by
shouts of derisive laughter, he hastened on frightened and bewildered, but the
Down, well known from early experience, became like ground untrodden, and after
long trial no gate or stile was to be found. He was getting vexed, as well as
puzzled, when a chorus of tiny voices shouted, "Ho! and away for Par
Beach!" John repeated the shout, and was in an instant caught up, and in a
twinkling found himself on the sands of Par. A brief dance, and the cry was
given, "Ho ! and away for Squire Tremain's cellar ! " A repetition of
the Piskie cry found John with his elfish companions in the cellars at Heligan,
where was beer and wine galore. It need not be said that he availed himself of
his opportunities. The mixture of all the good liquors so affected him that,
alas ! he forgot in time to catch up the next cry of "Ho! ! and
away for Par Beach I" In the morning John was found by the butler, groping
and tumbling among butts and barrels, very much muddled with the squire's good
drink. His strange story, very incoherently told, was not credited by the
squire, who committed him to jail for the burglary, and in due time he was
convicted and sentenced to death. The
morning of his execution arrived ; a large crowd had assembled, and John was
standing under the gallows-tree, when a commotion was observed in the crowd, and
a little lady of commanding mien made her way through the opening throng to the
scaffold. In a shrill, sweet voice, which John recognised, she cried, "Ho !
and away for France ! " Which being replied to, he was rapt from the
officers of justice, leaving them and the multitude mute with wonder and
disappointment Note. 1.'
A "stream work" is a place where tin is obtained from the drift
deposits "Streamers" are the boners who wash out the tin. 2.Picrotu day is still kept up in Luxulyan.
EZEKIEL
GROSSE, gent., attorney-at-law," bought the lands of Rosewarne from one of
the De Rosewarnes, who had become involved in difficulties, by endeavouring,
without sufficient means, to support the dignity of his family. There is reason
for believing that Ezekiel was the legal adviser of this unfortunate Rosewarne,
and that he was not over-honest in his transactions with his client. However
this may be, Ezekiel Grosse had scarcely made Rosewarne his dwelling-place,
before he was alarmed by noises, at first of an unearthly character, and
subsequently, one very dark night, by the appearance of the ghost himself in the
form of a worn and aged man. The first appearance was in the park, but he subsequently
repeated his visits in the house, but always after dark. Ezekiel Grosse was not
a man to be terrified at trifles, and for some time he paid but slight attention
to his nocturnal visitor. Howbeit, the repetition of visits, and certain
mysterious indications on the part of the spectre, became annoying to
Ezekiel. One night, when seated in his office examining some deeds, and being
rather irritable, having lost an important suit, his visitor approached him,
making some strange indications which the lawyer could not understand. Ezekiel
suddenly exclaimed, "In the name of God, what wantest thou?" "To
show thee, Ezekiel Grosse, where the gold for which thou longest lies
buried." No
one ever lived upon whom the greed of gold was stronger than on Ezekiel, yet he
hesitated now that his spectral friend had spoken so plainly, and trembled in
every limb as the ghost slowly delivered himself in sepulchral tones of this
telling speech. The
lawyer looked fixedly on the spectre, but he dared not utter a word. He longed
to obtain possession of the secret, yet he feared to ask him where he was to
find this treasure. The spectre looked as fixedly at the poor trembling lawyer,
as if enjoying the sight of his terror. At length, lifting his finger, he
beckoned Ezekiel to follow him, turning at the same time to leave the room.
Ezekiel was glued to his seat ; he could not exert strength enough to move,
although he desired to do so. Come
! " said the ghost, in a hollow voice. The lawyer was powerless to come. "Gold
! " exclaimed the old man, in a whining tone, though in a louder key. "Where?" gasped Ezekiel. "Follow
me, and I will show thee," said the ghost. Ezekiel endeavoured to rise, but
it was in vain. "
I command thee, come ! " almost shrieked the ghost. Ezekiel felt that he
was compelled to follow his friend; and by some supernatural power rather than
his own, he followed the spectre out of the room, and through the hall, into the
park. They
passed onward through the night—the ghost gliding before the lawyer, and
guiding him by a peculiar phosphorescent light, which appeared to glow from
every part of the form, until they arrived at a little dell, and had reached a
small cairn formed of granite boulders. By this the spectre rested ; and when
Ezekiel had approached it, and was standing on the other side of the cairn,
still trembling, the aged man, looking fixedly in his face, said, in low
tones‑ "
Ezekiel Grosse, thou longest for gold, as I did. I won the glittering prize, but
I could not enjoy it. Heaps of treasure are buried beneath those stones ; it is
thine, if thou diggest for it. Win the gold, Ezekiel. Glitter with the wicked
ones of the world ; and when thou art the most joyous, I will look in upon thy
happiness." The ghost then disappeared, and as soon as Grosse could recover
himself from the extreme trepidation,—the result of mixed feelings,—he
looked about him, and finding himself alone, he exclaimed, "Ghost or devil,
I will soon prove whether or not thou liest ! " Ezekiel is said to have
heard a laugh, echoing between the hills, as he said those words. The lawyer noted well the spot; returned to his house; pondered on all the circumstances of his case ; and eventually resolved to seize the earliest opportunity, when he might do so unobserved, of removing the stones, and examining the ground beneath them. A
few nights after this, Ezekiel went to the little cairn, and by the aid of a
crowbar, he soon overturned the stones, and laid the ground bare. He then
commenced digging, and had not proceeded far when his spade struck against some
other metal. He carefully cleared away the earth, and he then felt—for he
could not see, having no light with him—that he had uncovered a metallic urn
of some kind. He found it quite impossible to lift it, and he was therefore
compelled to cover it up again, and to replace the stones sufficiently to hide
it from the observation of any chance wanderer. The
next night Ezekiel found that this urn, which was of bronze, contained gold
coins of a very ancient date. He loaded himself with his treasure, and returned
home. From time to time, at night, as Ezekiel found he could do so without
exciting the suspicions of his servants, he visited the urn, and thus by
degrees removed all the treasure to Rosewarne house. There was nothing in the
series of circumstances which had
surrounded Ezekiel which he could less understand than the fact that the ghost
of the old man had left off troubling him from the moment when he had disclosed
to him the hiding-place of this treasure. The neighbouring gentry could not but observe the rapid improvements which Ezekiel Grosse made in his mansion, his grounds, in his personal appearance, and indeed in everything by which he was surrounded. In a short time he abandoned the law, and led in every respect the life of a country gentleman. He ostentatiously paraded his power to procure all earthly enjoyments, and, in spite of his notoriously bad character, he succeeded in drawing many of the landed proprietors around him. Things went well with Ezekiel. The man who could in those days visit
London in his own carriage and four was not without a large
circle of flatterers. The lawyer who had struggled hard, in the outset of life, to secure wealth, and who did not always employ the most honest means for doing so, now found himself the centre of a circle to whom he could preach honesty, and receive from them expressions of the admiration in which the world holds the possessor
of gold. His old tricks were forgotten, and he was put in places of honour. This state of things continued for some time ; indeed, Grosse's entertainments became more and more splendid, and his revels more and more seductive to those he admitted to share them with him. The Lord of Rosewarne was the Lord of the West. To him every one bowed the knee : he walked the Earth as the proud possessor of a large share of the planet. It
was Christmas eve, and a large gathering there was at Rosewarne. In the hall the ladies
and gentlemen were in the full enjoyment
of the dance, and in the kitchen all the tenantry and the servants were emulating
their superiors. Everything went joyously;
and when mirth was in full swing, and Ezekiel felt to the full the influence of
wealth, it appeared as if in one moment the
chill of death had fallen over every one. The dancers paused, and looked one at another,
each one struck with the other's paleness
; and there, in the middle of the hall, every one saw a strange old man looking angrily, but
in silence, at Ezekiel Grosse, who was fixed
in terror, blank as a statue. No
one had seen this old man enter the hall, yet there he was in the midst of them.
It was but for a minute, and he was gone. Ezekiel, as if a frozen
torrent of water had thawed in an instant, roared
with impetuous laughter. "
What do you think of that for a Christmas play ? There was an old Father Christmas for
you ! Ha ! ha I ha ! ha ! How frightened
you all look ! Butler, order the men to hand round the spiced wines ! On with
the dancing, my friends ! It was only
a trick, ay, and a clever one, which I have put upon you. On with your dancing, my friends ! " Notwithstanding
his boisterous attempts to restore the spirit of the evening, Ezekiel could
not succeed. There was an influence stronger
than any which he could command; and one by one, framing sundry excuses, his
guests took their departure, every one of
them satisfied that all was not right at Rosewarne. From that Christmas eve
Grosse was a changed man. He tried
to be his former self; but it was in vain. Again and again he called his gay companions
around him ; but at every feast there
appeared one more than was desired. An aged man‑ weird beyond measure—took his place at the table in
the middle of the feast; and although he spoke not, he exerted a miraculous
power over all. No one dared to move; no one ventured to speak. Occasionally
Ezekiel assumed an appearance of courage, which he felt not ; rallied his
guests, and made sundry excuses for the presence of his aged friend, whom he
represented as having a mental infirmity, as being deaf and dumb. On all such
occasions the old man rose from the table, and looking at the host, laughed a
demoniac laugh of joy, and departed as quietly as he came. The
natural consequence of this was that Ezekiel Grosse's friends fell away from
him, and he became a lonely man, amidst his vast possessions—his only
companion being his faithful clerk, John Call. The
persecuting presence of the spectre became more and more constant ; and wherever
the poor lawyer went, there was the aged man at his side. From being one of the
finest men in the county, he became a miserably attenuated and bowed old man.
Misery was stamped on every feature—terror was indicated in every movement. At
length he appears to have besought his ghostly attendant to free him of his
presence. It was long before the ghost would listen to any terms; but when
Ezekiel at length agreed to surrender the whole of his wealth to any one whom
the spectre might indicate, he obtained a promise that upon this being carried
out, in a perfectly legal manner, in favour of John Call, that he should no
longer be haunted. This
was, after numerous struggles on the part of Ezekiel to retain his property, or
at least some portion of it, legally settled, and John Call became possessor of
Rosewarne and the adjoining lands. Grosse was then informed that this evil
spirit was one of the ancestors of the Rosewarne, from whom by his fraudulent
dealings he obtained the place, and that he was allowed to visit the earth again
for the purpose of inflicting the most condign punishment on the avaricious
lawyer. His avarice had been gratified, his pride had been pampered to the
highest ; and then he was made a pitiful spectacle, at whom all men pointed, and
no one pitied. He lived on in misery, but it was for a short time. He was found
dead : and the country people ever said that his death was a violent one ; they
spoke of marks on his body, and some even asserted that the spectre of De
Rosewarne was seen rejoicing amidst a crowd of devils, as they bore the spirit
of Ezekiel over Cam Brea.
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