Dickens' A Christmas Carol
John Dickens, a Naval Pay office clerk, saw to it that his eight children received schooling. He aided their education by returning home from work with cheap reprints of 18th century novels like Robinson Crusoe, Tom Jones, and Peregrine Pickle, that delighted his family. His London colleagues described him as "a well-dressed fellow of infinite humor; very courteous, imposingly so; the jolliest of men." John's flaw was a poor head for finance. The eternal optimist described himself as "a cork which, when submerged, bobs up to the surface again, none the worse for the dip."