Show the old year and the new seven eight nine do you hear bear that asked the old clock in the cor ner here it Is a full hour after your bedtime and yet you sit there staring into the fire in front of the fire sat an old worn wom an rn gray haired wrinkled feeble the voice of the clock did not disturb her but as she watched the fitful flames one could have read her thoughts but its excusable on this night continued the clock in soft tones heigho but its it s the last night of the old year three hours more and we are done with 1909 you and I 1 are going to watch match the old year out to gether lets let s seea how many years have I 1 seen come and go goa forty ex acely forty with this one that s a long time long time the woman rocked gently to and fro and by and by the clack suddenly called out what tears in your eyes come now bat no way to end the vear we are thinking of the same thing yes he was a good and loving husband and III say this tor for both of you that I 1 never heard an unpleasant word between you it is 12 ye years since he died I 1 could only look into his face as he lay on his dying bed and it if ever heaven sent its light to lead a soul across the dark valley it vas was given to him I 1 remember your tears and moans and sobs and you prayed that death might c come ome to you as well the woman wiped her tears aid and there was a feeling of suffocation as she let memory bring up the events eight nine ten called the clock after a while how time does fly I 1 distinctly remember striking the last hour of 1903 let me see some one then wept with you at that bedside there was a son and find a daughter ah ali I 1 now I 1 recall their faces their gentle ways their loving words swords two years latter there was another deathbed death bed more wails ails and sobs and I 1 saw the pall bearers as they carried the daugh ter s body out of the house it seems as it if the last blow must crush you and I 1 well remember saying to myself that it wouldn t be long before you were called to go the woman choked ba back ck her sobs and her lips moved as if fir she were speaking the names of her dead ones for many minutes her reverie was unbroken and she heard not the tick i tack ticktack tick tach of the steady old clock nine ten eleven I 1 suddenly called the clock the son ah ali how absentminded I 1 have become well do I 1 remember the day a woman with 4 a pale face and frightened eyes opened the door and handed you a letter which bore the insignia of death you opened it with trembling fingers and next moment you were like one dead there were days and days when you hovered between life and death and 1 I for my part gave up all hopes died dleo in i foreign land burled buried among strangers over the sea it was a blow aimed at a heart twice broken I 1 the woman covered her face and M moaned in anguish and the clock con tinned don t grieve so the dead are at rest forevermore tor evermore life s mistakes may need to be washed away with tears but the dead reaped their reward you 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 past for a moth er ers s 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 I 1 count ten eleven twelve a happy new year yearl the woman did not move heigho called the clock we have left the old behind hr hor hands had dropped her and her head had fallen dead clicked the clock as the J i last faint echoes of his bell died away 1 |