One of the most frightening scenes in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol occurs when the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals to the yet unredeemed Ebenezer Scrooge two ragged and wolfish children--a boy and a girl, cowering in the folds of his robe. Even flint-hearted Scrooge is intimidated by the sight of them: "Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing."
"Spirit," he asks, "are they yours?"
"They are Man's," the ghost replies. "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree,...
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