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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 52, December 23, 2001, Article 11 OFFHAND NUMISMATICS IN "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" Joel Orosz sends an appropriate note for the season: "Charles Dickens mentions US numismatics, albeit pejoratively, in his classic Christmas Carol. In Stave [chapter] one, the spirit of Jacob Marley tells Ebenezer Scrooge that Scrooge will be visited by three spirits, on three successive nights, each upon the stroke of 1. Scrooge then falls asleep, and does not waken until the beginning of Stave 2, when he hears the clock striking 12. Scrooge is concerned because it is too dark to be noon, and yet it does not seem possible that he has slept through the next day until 12 midnight. He looks through the window, in an effort to determine the time of day. What follows is Dickens' description of what happened next, found in the fifth paragraph of Stave 2: All he could make out was, that it was still very foggy and extremely cold, and that there was no noise of people running to and fro, and making a great stir, as there unquestionably would have been if night had beaten off bright day, and taken possession of the world. This was a great relief, because "three days after this First of Exchange pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order" and so forth, would have become a mere United States' security if there were no days to count by. Dickens, of course, had no admiration for the United States, the inhabitants of which he considered coarse and buffoonish. Apparently, he had no better opinion of the soundness of American financial obligations. Happy holidays--humbug!"

Wayne Homren, Editor

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