The clock in the tall steeple of Dr. Emerson 's church struck twelve ; there was a response from Dr. Flint '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 , 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 . `` A happy New Year ! '' cried a watchman , eying her figure very questionably , but without the least suspicion that he was addressing the New Year in person . `` Thank you kindly , '' said the New Year ; and she gave the watchman one of the roses of hope from her basket . `` May this flower keep a sweet smell long after I have bidden you good-bye ! '' Then she stepped on more briskly through the silent streets , and such as were awake at the moment heard her footfall and said , `` The New Year is come ! '' Wherever there was a knot of midnight roisterers , they quaffed her health . She sighed , however , to perceive that the air was tainted -- as the atmosphere of this world must continually be -- with the dying breaths of mortals who had lingered just long enough for her to bury them . But there were millions left alive to rejoice at her coming , and so she pursued her way with confidence , strewing emblematic flowers on the doorstep of almost every dwelling , which some persons will gather up and wear in their bosoms , and others will trample under foot . The carrier-boy can only say further that early this morning she filled his basket with New Year 's addresses , assuring him that the whole city , with our new mayor and the aldermen and common council at its head , would make a general rush to secure copies . Kind patrons , will not you redeem the pledge of the New Year ? SNOWFLAKES . There is snow in yonder cold gray sky of the morning , and through the partially-frosted window-panes I love to watch the gradual beginning of the storm . A few feathery flakes are scattered widely through the air and hover downward with uncertain flight , now almost alighting on the earth , now whirled again aloft into remote regions of the atmosphere . These are not the big flakes heavy with moisture which melt as they touch the ground and are portentous of a soaking rain . It is to be in good earnest a wintry storm . The two or three people visible on the sidewalks have an aspect of endurance , a blue-nosed , frosty fortitude , which is evidently assumed in anticipation of a comfortless and blustering day . By nightfall -- or , at least , before the sun sheds another glimmering smile upon us -- the street and our little garden will be heaped with mountain snowdrifts .
The soil , already frozen for weeks past , is prepared to sustain whatever burden may be laid upon it , and to a Northern eye the landscape will lose its melancholy bleakness and acquire a beauty XXXXX its own when Mother Earth , like her children , shall have put on the fleecy garb of her winter 's wear .
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