In Stave Three, the Spirit of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to a house where he hears the contagious laugh of his nephew Fred, and he finds himself in a bright, warm room occupied by happy people being entertained by his nephew.
The second of the three spirits takes Scrooge to see how others wish each other merry Christmas, and how the Cratchits love each other and truly have the spirit of Christmas, although they are...
In Stave Three, the Spirit of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to a house where he hears the contagious laugh of his nephew Fred, and he finds himself in a bright, warm room occupied by happy people being entertained by his nephew.
The second of the three spirits takes Scrooge to see how others wish each other merry Christmas, and how the Cratchits love each other and truly have the spirit of Christmas, although they are poor. Finally, the spirit takes Scrooge to Fred's house where his jovial nephew makes his guests happy with his contagious good humor. Holding his sides, as his face contorted in enjoyment, Fred laughs heartily,
"He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live!....He believed it, too!
Fred calls his uncle a "comical old fellow," but he adds that Uncle Scrooge pays for his offences because they carry their own punishment. "His wealth is of no use to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't [this was the correct form of the verb in Dicken's' time] make himself comfortable with it." Further, Fred says that he feels sorry for his uncle because he keeps himself lonely when he could come and eat dinner at his house.
But, the persistent Fred insists that he will continue to invite Uncle Scrooge because he loses "pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts." He refuses to give up on providing the Christmas spirit to his uncle. Fred hopes that perhaps he can put Scrooge in "the right heart" to give his clerk fifty pounds.
Later in the evening, after dinner and tea, Fred and his pretty wife and friends sing--even Topper, the dog howls. Then, they played games: blind-man's buff, and others. One of these was a guessing game. Fred gave description after description answering "yes" or "no" until someone guessed "Scrooge." So, Scrooge finds himself the butt of Fred's good-humored joking.
Clearly, Scrooge's nephew Fred, the son of his sister, is a good-natured young man who is loved by his pretty wife and greatly enjoyed by his relatives and friends because of his jovial personality and contagious laughter. Although he knows his uncle is an old curmudgeon, Fred still has faith that his jovial influence and his continued invitations will somehow put Scrooge into a more generous and affable frame of mind.
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