-RSB- `` It is required of every man , '' the Ghost returned , `` that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men , and travel far and wide ; and , if that spirit goes not forth in life , it is condemned to do so after death . It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh , woe is me ! -- and witness what it can not share , but might have shared on earth , and turned to happiness ! '' Again the spectre raised a cry , and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands . `` You are fettered , '' said Scrooge , trembling . `` Tell me why ? '' `` I wear the chain I forged in life , '' replied the Ghost . `` I made it link by link , and yard by yard ; I girded it on of my own free-will , and of my own free-will I wore it . Is its pattern strange to you ? '' Scrooge trembled more and more . `` Or would you know , '' pursued the Ghost , `` the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself ? It was full as heavy and as long as this , seven Christmas-eves ago . You have laboured on it since . It is a ponderous chain ! '' Scrooge glanced about him on the floor , in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable , but he could see nothing . `` Jacob ! '' he said imploringly . `` Old Jacob Marley , tell me more ! Speak comfort to me , Jacob ! '' `` I have none to give , '' the Ghost replied .
`` It comes from other regions , Ebenezer XXXXX , and is conveyed by other ministers , to other kinds of men .
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