Friends of the Dickens Forum,

     John D. Huston <[log in to unmask]> is puzzled by a line in "A 
Christmas Carol": (pjm)


After 25 seasons of touring Dickens' solo "A Christmas Carol" there is a 
line which while I don't perform it still niggles at the back of my 
mind. Scrooge in the "dismal wretched ruinous church yard" and pleading 
for a second chance says, "Good Spirit...Your nature intercedes for me, 
and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have 
shown me, by an altered life." Dickens then tells us that, "The kind 
hand trembled." The adjective has always puzzled me. Why "kind"? Is 
Dickens merely adumbrating Scrooge's redemption - how I've always 
interpreted it - or am I missing something deeper and more sublime? 
Thank you all in advance. - John D. Huston
> "It is so hard to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms." Kind Hearts and Coronets
>