To workhouses, prisons or just die and reduce the surplus population
Scrooge believes that the poor should go to prisons and workhouses instead of relying on charity from others.
she knew he did not want to marry her because she was poor
He ignorantly believed that prisons and workhouse for which he paid taxes would be sufficient
The two gentlemen arrive at Scrooges counting house seeking a donation to help the poor at the christmas time . Scrooge questions whether the prosions, workhouses and tread mill are all still working as he already pays in taxes to support these. Therefore the poor should go there
The two "visitors" refer to the two business men who approach Scrooge asking for a charitable donation to help the poor and needy "at this time". Scrooge asks "are there no work houses?", are there no prisons?" And the treadmill is that still in use?" . All of which he thought that the poor should suffer because they were poor.
He says this in reference to a solitary boy left at Christmas time in School - The "poor boy" was in fact Scrooge
Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's employee, asked him to donate to the poor during Christmas time. Scrooge initially refused but eventually agreed to donate after his encounters with the ghosts.
Bob Cratchit
No, in the beginning of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Scrooge refuses to donate to charity, saying that the poor should go to workhouses or prisons instead. It is only after his visits from the ghosts that he becomes charitable and generous.
Bob Cratchit is an abused and underpaid clerk who works for Ebenezer Scrooge.
The large man wants Scrooge to mend his ways and change his selfish behavior so that he can avoid the same fate as Marley - being bound in chains and condemned to wander the afterlife as a tormented spirit. He warns Scrooge that he still has a chance to change, but time is running out.
That would be Bob Cratchit.