It is young, and like a child, because Scrooge was a child in his past, which he will be shown, and it is old because his youth is in the past, and Scrooge is now old. The ghost is dressed in white, "It wore a tunic of the purest white", because it is angelic, and pure, and symbolises the innocence of childhood; something which Scrooge has lost. "It held a branch of fresh, green holly in it's hand". This is to symbolise Christmas, as one of the aims of the spirits is to help Scrooge to re-discover the joy of Christmas. "It had it's dress trimmed with Summer flowers". The flowers are to symbolise growth and youth, because the spirit is going to take Scrooge to look back on his youth. "The strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of it's head, there sprung a bright, clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of it's using, in it's duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under it's arm." The extinguisher is to do with Scrooge forgetting what it was like to be young, and therefore, extinguishing the spirit of his youth and childhood.
Scrooge learns a lot with the first spirit, who takes him to his past Christmases. The first stop is the school he went to as a child. They come to a boy, left there on his own, while all the others have gone home for Christmas."A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed." This is a good start, as Scrooge's tears are the first real emotion he has shown for a long while. They move on to a class room. "At one of the desks, a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self, as he had used to be". The memory of how lonely he had felt at that time deeply saddens him. "It fell upon the heart of Scrooge with a softening influence". He sees how engrossed he was in the book, "the spirit pointed to his younger self, intent upon his reading", and Ali Baba, the subject of the book, appears to him.
