And every man on board , waking or sleeping , good or bad , had had a kinder word for one another on that day than on any day in the year ; and had shared to some extent in its festivities ; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance , and had known that they delighted to remember him . It was a great surprise to Scrooge , while listening to the moaning of the wind , and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss , whose depths were secrets as profound as death : it was a great surprise to Scrooge , while thus engaged , to hear a hearty laugh . It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognise it as his own nephew 's , and to find himself in a bright , dry , gleaming room , with the Spirit standing smiling by his side , and looking at that same nephew with approving affability ! `` Ha , ha ! '' laughed Scrooge 's nephew . `` Ha , ha , ha ! '' If you should happen , by any unlikely chance , to know a man more blessed in a laugh than Scrooge 's nephew , all I can say is , I should like to know him too . Introduce him to me , and I 'll cultivate his acquaintance . It is a fair , even-handed , noble adjustment of things , that , while there is infection in disease and sorrow , there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour . When Scrooge 's nephew laughed in this way , holding his sides , rolling his head , and twisting his face into the most extravagant contortions , Scrooge 's niece , by marriage , laughed as heartily as he . And their assembled friends , being not a bit behindhand , roared out lustily . `` Ha , ha ! Ha , ha , ha , ha ! '' `` He said that Christmas was a humbug , as I live ! '' cried Scrooge 's nephew . `` He believed it , too ! '' `` More shame for him , Fred ! '' said Scrooge 's niece indignantly . Bless those women ! they never do anything by halves .
They are always XXXXX earnest .
as by for in into of on than that while