Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting towards them with boys upon their backs , who called to other boys in country gigs and carts , driven by farmers . All these boys were in great spirits , and shouted to each other , until the broad fields were so full of merry music , that the crisp air laughed to hear it . `` These are but shadows of the things that have been , '' said the Ghost . `` They have no consciousness of us . '' The jocund travellers came on ; and as they came , Scrooge knew and named them every one . Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them ? Why did his cold eye glisten , and his heart leap up as they went past ? Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas , as they parted at cross-roads and by-ways for their several homes ? What was merry Christmas to Scrooge ? Out upon merry Christmas ! What good had it ever done to him ? `` The school is not quite deserted , '' said the Ghost . `` A solitary child , neglected by his friends , is left there still . '' Scrooge said he knew it . And he sobbed . They left the high-road by a well-remembered lane , and soon approached a mansion of dull red brick , with a little weather-cock surmounted cupola on the roof and a bell hanging in it . It was a large house , but one of broken fortunes : for the spacious offices were little used , their walls were damp and mossy , their windows broken , and their gates decayed . Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables ; and the coach-houses and sheds were overrun with grass . Nor was it more retentive of its ancient state within ; for , entering the dreary hall , and glancing through the open doors of many rooms , they found them poorly furnished , cold , and vast . There was an earthly savour in the air , a chilly bareness in the place , which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candle-light , and not too much to eat .
They went , the Ghost and XXXXX , across the hall , to a door at the back of the house .
Fowls Scrooge bareness candle-light coach-houses cross-roads cupola gigs left mossy