Page:Tales of the White Hills.djvu/100

94, they say, dwells in the mansions of Eternity; but we can only lead mortals thither, step by step, with reluctant murmurings, and ourselves must perish on the threshold. But hark! my task is done.&rdquo;

The clock in the tall steeple of Dr. Emerson&rsquo;s church struck twelve; there was a response from Dr. Flint&rsquo;s, in the opposite quarter of the city; and while the strokes were yet dropping into the air, the Old Year either flitted or faded away,&mdash;and not the wisdom and might of Angels, to say nothing of the remorseful yearnings of the millions who had used her ill, could have prevailed with that departed Year to return one step. But she, in the company of Time and all her kindred, must hereafter hold a reckoning with Mankind. So shall it be, likewise, with the maidenly New Year, who, as the clock ceased to strike, arose from the steps of the City Hall, and set out rather timorously on her earthly course.

&ldquo;A happy New Year!&rdquo; cried a watchman, eying her figure very questionably, but without the least suspicion that he was addressing the New Year in person.

&ldquo;Thank you kindly!&rdquo; said the New Year; and she gave the watchman one of the roses of hope from her basket. &ldquo;May this flower keep a sweet smell, long after I have bidden you good-by.&rdquo;

Then she stepped on more briskly through the silent streets; and such as were awake at the moment heard her footfall, and said,&mdash;&ldquo;The New Year is come!&rdquo; Wherever there was a knot of midnight roisterers they quaffed her health. She sighed, however, to perceive that the air was tainted&mdash;as the atmosphere of this world must continually be&mdash;with the dying breaths of mortals who had lingered just long enough for her to