| Show the old year an and the new seven eight ninel nine do you hear bear that asked the old clock in the corner here it is a full hour alter after your bedtime and yet you sit there staring into the fire in front of the fire sat an old woman gray haired wrinkled feeble the did riot not disturb her but t as she h watch edthe one could have read tier her thoughts but its excusable on this night continued tho the clock in soft tones but its the last night ot of the old year three hours more and we are done with 1909 you and I 1 are going to watch the old year out together lets leej see ilow how many years have I 1 seen come anil and go 7 forty exactly forty with this one a long time long time the woman rocked gently to and tro fro and by and by the clock suddenly called out what tears in your eheal come n now OW but no way to end the year we are thinking of the same thing yes he was a good and loving husband and ill say this for both of you that I 1 never heard an unpleasant word between you it Is 12 years since he died I 1 could only look into his thee face as he lay on his dying bed flud it if over ever heaven sent its light to lead a soul across the dark valley it was waa given to him I 1 remember your tears and moans nioaka arid and sobs and you prayed that death might come to you as well tho woman wiped her tears and there was a feeling of suffocation as she let memory bring brine up the events eight nine ten called the clock after tt while how flow time does fly I 1 distinctly remember striking the last hour of 1903 let me seal see some one then wept with you at that bedside be dalde there was a son and a daughter AM ah now I 1 recall their faces their gentle ways their loving words two years latter there was another deathbed death bed wore more walls and sobs and I 1 saw the pall pah bearers as they carried can led the daugh body out ot of the house it seems seema as it if the last blow must crush you and I 1 well remember saying to myself that it be long before you were called to RO go the woman choked brick back her sobs and her lips moved as it if she were speaking the names of her dead ones for many minutes her reverie was unbroken and she heard riot cot tho the ticktack ticktack tick tack of the steady old clock nine ten eleven suddenly called the clock the son all ah how absentminded I 1 have become well do I 1 remember the day a woman with a pale face and frightened eyes opened the door and handed you a letter which bore the insignia 0 of f death you opened it with trembling fingers and next moment you were like one dead there were dayo and diya days when you hovered between and death andi and I for my ceif javo up ul all hopes dle died in a foreign land bur burled led among strangers over the sea it was a blow aimed at a heart twice broken the woman covered tier her face and moaned in anguish and the clock continued dont grieve so the dead are at rest forevermore lifes mistakes may need tobo tobe to bo be washed away with tears but the dead reaped their reward you arenlt are old and poor and broken but who can tell what new friends the new year may raise up for you I 1 cannot tell you to forget the nasf past for a mothes mothers r heart ever goes out for her dead but the new year may have more sunshine come now I 1 am about to strike the old year out and the new year in let us greet the new with a smile of welcome as aa I 1 count ten tea eleven twelve a happy new year the woman did not move Helg hol called the clock we have loft left the old behind mar hr hands had dropped beside tier her and her head had tallen fallen clicked the clock as the lost last taint faint echoes of his bell died away |
