AUBURN — A few weeks before Christmas, teacher Carlene Magno stood before her English class dressed in Victorian garb: a black shawl, long skirt and cameo brooch. She read about Ebenezer Scrooge in the cemetery with the phantom, who was pointing to a grave.

Expressing Scrooge’s fear in her voice, she read: “Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” Scrooge said, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of the things that may be only?”‘

The ghost kept pointing.

Magno kept reading.

“‘Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” Scrooge said. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”‘

She stopped reading and asked, “What does ‘men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends’ mean?”

Student Aaron Metayer answered, “Depending on what you do depends on what happens.”

Correct, she said, then asked, “What does ‘but if those courses be departed from’ mean?”

James Everett answered: If people change, their outcome will be different.

Welcome to Miss Magno’s freshman English class at Edward Little High School, where every December students read Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol,” written in 1843.

Magno’s room was decked out with posters of Charles Dickens, the city of London and Dickens’ work.

Victorian Christmas decorations filled the space; ornate patterns framed schoolwork, vocabulary words and the chalkboard. Brochures of London were displayed, as were Dickens’ books and miniatures of buildings and people from 1800s England.

“I’m fascinated with the Victorian period,” Magno said after class. “My home is decorated in 19th-century Victorian. It’s something I’m passionate about. I enjoy it. I tell my students, ‘We’re not in the 21st century anymore. We’re in the 19th century, and we have to adjust our thinking.'”

Magno hosts a Victorian tea at her home for friends. She’s spent a month in England visiting museums, including Charles Dickens’ home and Queen Victoria’s summer island home. Magno is a a fan of the Victoria Mansion in Portland, and she serves on its Education Committee. She takes her students to the Portland mansion. “Going to the house adds to their information,” she said.

Back in class, Magno was near the end of the story, where Scrooge pleads with the spirit to let him make amends, saying “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” Magno paused and read the sentence again, explaining that it’s still used today and is a famous line.

Magno has been teaching “A Christmas Carol” since she came to Edward Little in the early 1990s for several reasons, she said. She wants her students to make connections with their lives and history. Many current Christmas traditions date from the 1800s.

And, she wants to expose them to Dickens. When he wrote the novel in 1843, “it made a big impact,” she said. “People from all walks of life read it. Dickens was a very accomplished writer. Everybody wanted to read his writing.”

All of his works have a message, she said. In this one, Dickens shows society that those who have a lot need to focus on those who don’t. The way society treated the lower class had to change.

That message of caring is the biggest reason Magno wants students to know “A Christmas Carol.” The story, which has been made into a movie many times, including the current Jim Carrey version, continues to offer a lesson for all, she said.

“Buying gifts, decorations, spending money, are part of Christmas, but there are people in society who need help,” Magno said. ” We need
to
focus on other people, not just ourselves, to put a hand out to other
people. Even in the 21st century, that’s Dickens’ big message.”

While less enthusiastic about the Victorian era and Dickens, her students agreed.

Marissa Fernald, 15, said she liked the second and third chapters in which the spirits show Scrooge how he’s been selfish. People would improve themselves, Fernald said, “if we could see more of what we’re doing.”

Aaron Metayer, 15, said he found the book at times confusing. “It loses you after a few parts, but then it picks up.” The lesson in it, he said, is “we need to help the people who need the help, instead of the people who don’t.”

After reading the novel and discussing it in class, what James Everett got out of it is “the true meaning of Christmas,” he said. “It’s not all about presents.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com