In Stave 3, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Ebenezer on a tour of other peoples' Christmas celebrations. He visits his nephew, Fred, where he gets to see firsthand the party that he opted not to attend. He also visits the home of Bob Cratchit, the worker we met earlier in Stave One. Here, Bob welcomes his eldest daughter, Martha, home from work, as Bob's own meager salary (paid by Scrooge) requires that Martha work to support the family. Peter, the oldest son, sports a shirt that is clearly a hand-me-down. Tiny Tim, the youngest, is crippled, and the family appears unable to pay for proper medical treatment for him. The small goose for dinner completes the picture of a loving family that has little money to support themselves with. We understand that Scrooge is meant to reflect that it is his own unwillingness to pay Cratchit a fair wage that has brought about this poverty.
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