`` Bells ring others to church , but go not in themselves . '' No one saw the spirits of the bells up there in the old steeple at midnight on Christmas Eve . Six quaint figures , each wrapped in a shadowy cloak and wearing a bell-shaped cap . All were gray-headed , for they were among the oldest bell-spirits of the city , and `` the light of other days '' shone in their thoughtful eyes . Silently they sat , looking down on the snow-covered roofs glittering in the moonlight , and the quiet streets deserted by all but the watchmen on their chilly rounds , and such poor souls as wandered shelterless in the winter night . Presently one of the spirits said , in a tone , which , low as it was , filled the belfry with reverberating echoes , -- `` Well , brothers , are your reports ready of the year that now lies dying ? '' All bowed their heads , and one of the oldest answered in a sonorous voice : -- `` My report is n't all I could wish . You know I look down on the commercial part of our city and have fine opportunities for seeing what goes on there . It 's my business to watch the business men , and upon my word I 'm heartily ashamed of them sometimes . During the war they did nobly , giving their time and money , their sons and selves to the good cause , and I was proud of them . But now too many of them have fallen back into the old ways , and their motto seems to be , ` Every one for himself , and the devil take the hindmost . ' Cheating , lying and stealing are hard words , and I do n't mean to apply them to all who swarm about below there like ants on an ant-hill -- they have other names for these things , but I 'm old-fashioned and use plain words . There 's a deal too much dishonesty in the world , and business seems to have become a game of hazard in which luck , not labor , wins the prize . When I was young , men were years making moderate fortunes , and were satisfied with them . They built them on sure foundations , knew how to enjoy them while they lived , and to leave a good name behind them when they died . `` Now it 's anything for money ; health , happiness , honor , life itself , are flung down on that great gaming-table , and they forget everything else in the excitement of success or the desperation of defeat . Nobody seems satisfied either , for those who win have little time or taste to enjoy their prosperity , and those who lose have little courage or patience to support them in adversity . They do n't even fail as they used to . In my day when a merchant found himself embarrassed he did n't ruin others in order to save himself , but honestly confessed the truth , gave up everything , and began again . But now-a-days after all manner of dishonorable shifts there comes a grand crash ; many suffer , but by some hocus-pocus the merchant saves enough to retire upon and live comfortably here or abroad .
It 's very evident that honor and honesty do n't mean now what they used to mean in the XXXXX of old May , Higginson and Lawrence .
Eve crash day days hocus-pocus labor now-a-days stealing war years