“Mr. Scrooge?”
“Yes,” said Scrooge. “That is my name, and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon. And will you have the goodness”—here Scrooge whispered in his ear.
“Lord bless me!” cried the gentleman, as if his breath were taken away. “My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?”
“If you please,” said Scrooge. “Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you. Will you do me that favour?”
As Scrooge made his way upon the streets of the Old City, he happened to bump into the portlier of the two gentlemen who had just visited him the previous morning asking for donations to the poor. Though we never know the amount, Scrooge is clearly incredibly generous, and his reclamation takes one more step forward.
Of course, Dickens himself did much for charity in his life. He was often called upon to perform at benefits which would raise money for various and sundry causes. Dickens may not have had an overarching vision of how to reform society, but he was a philanthropist.
He worked for more than a decade to establish a project to help destitute girls and young women in mid-nineteenth century London. Urania Cottage was a safe house for young women in Shepherd’s Bush, saving young women from lives of prostitution and crime. He supported his brother-in-law’s Health of Towns Association, pressing for reform of housing and sanitation of the poor. And he was adamant in helping the Children Hospital to insure proper medical care for the poorest children of London.
“The truth is that Dickens’s criticism of society is almost exclusively moral. Hence the utter lack of any constructive suggestion anywhere in his work,” wrote George Orwell. “For in reality his target is not so much society as ‘human nature.’ ”