y between the Lords
and the Commons, but between you and Bob Cratchit. Man is naturally a
superstitious creature, and is prone to worship the first thing that
comes in his way. When a poor fellow sees a person who is better off
than himself, he jumps to the conclusion that he is a better man, and
bows down before him, as before a wonder-working Providence. When this
Providence smiles upon him, he is glad, and receives the bounty with
devout thankfulness. It is what the old theologians used to call 'an
uncovenanted mercy.'

"All this is very pleasant to one who can sign himself by the grace of
God king, or president of a coal company, or some such thing as that.
The gratification extends to all the minor grades of greatness as well.
The great man is ordained to give as it pleases him and the little men
to receive with due meekness. The great man is always the man who has
something. I suppose, Scrooge, that in your busy life, first scraping
money together and then dispensing it in your joyous Christmasy way, you
have not had much time for general reading or even for listening to
sermons?"

"I have always attended Divine Service since my conversion," answered
Scrooge, piously; "as for listening--"

"What I was going to say was that if you had attended to such matters,
you must have noticed how much of the literature of good-will is devoted
to the praise of the Blessed Inequalities. How the changes are rung on
the Strong and the Weak, the Wise and the Ignorant, the Rich and the
Poor; especially the Poor, who form the hub of the philanthropic
universe. Nobody seems to meet another on the level. Everybody is
either looking up or looking down, and they are taught how to do it. I
remember attending the annual meeting of the Society for the Relief of
Indigent Children. The indigent children were first fed and then
insulted by a plethoric gentleman, who addressed to them a long
discourse on indigence and the various duties that it entailed. And no
one of the children was allowed to throw things at the speaker. They had
all been taught to look grateful.

"Now these inequalities do exist, and so long as they exist all sorts of
helpful offices have place. The trouble is that good people are all the
time doing their best to make the inequalities permanent. You have
heard how divines have interpreted the text, 'The poor ye have always
with you.' The good old doctrine has been that the relation between
those who have not and those