Stave Two
Cultural References
Below are some terms and cultural references you will find in Stave Two.
1. United States' Security : While Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol, the United States was in a financial
crisis. Debts were often paid only fifty cents per dollar. Without an ability to tell the proper time, Scrooge's
valuables would have little or no worth, inother words, equal to a "mere United States' security".
2. Gigs: A gig was a two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse, which usually held one or two people.
3. Plain deal forms: These were long, unpainted school benches.
4. Ali Baba: A character from medieval Arabic literature, from the story of Ail Baba and the Forty Thieves.
5. Valentine and Orson: This is the story of twin brothers who were abandoned in the woods as children.
Valentine was reared to be a knight, but Orson grew up wild in a bear's den. Valentine tamed Orson.
Later, they rescued their mother, Bellisant, from the giant Ferragus.
6. Postboy: The driver of a horse-drawn carriage.
7. Garden-sweep: A curve in a driveway.
8. A Welsh wig: A wool cap originally made in the country of Wales.
9. Hour of Seven: Getting off work at 7 p.m. might seem somewhat late today, but in the early years of the
Industrial Revolution, it was common for people to work long hours.
10. Organ of benevolence: The phrase "organ of benevolence" originated in phrenology, an old pseudoscience
that associated the contours of the head with parts of the brain; each part of the brain was said to relate to a
personality trait. A large bump on the forehead indicated a benevolent person. (See image below.)
11. Pot of Porter: A mug of dark beer.
12. Negus: A drink named after its inventor Colonel Francis Negus; it was a mixture of wine and hot water,
sweetened with sugar and flavored with spice. It is similar to the modern mulled wine, orglühwein.
13. Sir Roger de Coverley: A dance known to American square dancers as the Virginia Reel.
14. Cut: A dancing term. To cut means to rapidly twiddle your feet whilst in the air.
15. Their beds; which were under a counter: Apprentices lived and worked in the place of their
apprenticeship; their beds were under the work counter.
16. A dowerless girl: When men married women they gained all of the woman's property, or dowery. A
dowerless woman had no property. Since marriages were often seen as investments, to marry a dowerless girl
showed that the man loved her.
!
Phrenology; from the 1895 Webster's Dictionary (published in the US before 1923 and public domain in the
USA.)
Stave Three
Cultural References
Below are some terms and cultural references you will find in Stave Three.
1. Plume Themselves: to congratulate themselves.
2. Pitch and Toss: This is also called Pitching Pennies. Players take turns at pitching a coin, usually against a
wall. The goal is to get the coin as close to the wall as possible.
3. Living Green: An evergreen or Christmas tree. Prior to A Christmas Carol, Christmas trees and other
Christmas traditions such as singing carols and giving gifts weren't popular in Britain.
4. Twelfth-cakes: A decorated cake given to friends or visitors for the festival of Twelfth-night. The Twelfth-night
celebrates the arrival of the Magi or Wise Men.
5. No sword was in it: A scabbard is a sheath; the ghost's sheath has no sword in it, suggesting the ghost isn't
threatening.
6. Norfolk Biffins: A type of apple, which is baked to make a cake with the same name.
7. Claws: This is a reference to Shakespeare's Othello. It indicates that the grocer and his people are open
and honest. From Othello: "But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for claws to peck at: I am not what I am."
8. Baker's Shops: Not every family has their own oven in Scrooge's times, so they take their dinners to the
baker's shop to be cooked.
9. Closed on the Seventh Day: Sir Andrew Agnew (1793 — 1849) was a promoter of "Sunday
Sabbatarianism," something Dickens was strongly against. Agnew tried to pass Sabbath observance laws four
different times. These laws stated that labor on Sundays would be illegal and that everyone would be required
by law to attend church. These laws were never passed.
10. Fashionable Parks: In Dickens' time, it was common for the wealthy to ride along Rotten Row, the main
path in London's Hyde Park, showing off their fine clothing. Someone of Peter Cratchit's situation, presumably,
would want to be able to show off his clothing in the same way.
11. Wash-house: A room where washing is done. The pudding might be cooking there because the Cratchits
don't have an oven; besides the baker's shop (mentioned above), this is the only other place to cook things.
12. Half of half-a-quartern: 1/16th of a pint or 1.25 fluid ounces.
13. Grog: Spirits (originally rum) mixed with water.
14. Tucker: Frilly lace worn around women's necks.
15. To sing a Glee or Catch: Glees and Catches were complex musical compositions popular in the 17th and
18th centuries.
16. Forfeits: Most games in Victorian times required the loser to complete a "forfeit." This could be answering
yes or no to some embarrassing questions, pose as anything the winning players demanded, or if single, kiss
another single person.
17. All the letters of the alphabet: A Victorian game, starting with: "I love my love with an A". Players take turns
to fill in all of the blanks with words beginning with one letter. For example the first player might say: "I love my
love with an A because she is [artistic]. Her name is [Amanda]. She lives in [Algeria], and I feed her on
[almonds] and [avocados]. " The next player then fills in the blannks with words beginning with B, and so on.