`` Good people , '' answered he , `` the camp-meeting is broke up . '' So saying , the Methodist minister switched his steed , and rode westward . Our union being thus nullified , by the removal of its object , we were sundered at once to the four winds of heaven . The fortune-teller , giving a nod to all , and a peculiar wink to me , departed on his northern tour , chuckling within himself as he took the Stamford road . The old showman and his literary coadjutor were already tackling their horses to the wagon , with a design to peregrinate southwest along the seacoast . The foreigner and the merry damsel took their laughing leave , and pursued the eastern road , which I had that day trodden ; as they passed away , the young man played a lively strain , and the girl 's happy spirit broke into a dance ; and thus , dissolving , as it were , into sunbeams and gay music , that pleasant pair departed from my view . Last night , between eleven and twelve o'clock , when the Old Year was leaving her final foot prints on the borders of Time 's empire , she found herself in possession of a few spare moments , and sat down -- of all places in the world -- on the steps of our new City Hall . The wintry moonlight showed that she looked weary of body , and sad of heart , like many another wayfarer of earth . Her garments , having been exposed to much foul weather , and rough usage , were in very ill condition ; and as the hurry of her journey had never before allowed her to take an instant 's rest , her shoes were so worn as to be scarcely worth the mending . But , after trudging only a little distance farther , this poor Old Year was destined to enjoy a long , long sleep . I forgot to mention , that when she seated herself on the steps , she deposited by her side a very capacious bandbox , in which , as is the custom among travellers of her sex , she carried a great deal of valuable property . Besides this luggage , there was a folio book under her arm , very much resembling the annual volume of a newspaper . Placing this volume across her knees , and resting her elbows upon it , with her forehead in her hands , the weary , bedraggled , world-worn Old Year heaved a heavy sigh , and appeared to be taking no very pleasant retrospect of her past existence . While she thus awaited the midnight knell , that was to summon her to the innumerable sisterhood of departed Years , there came a young maiden treading lightsomely on tiptoe along the street , from the direction of the Railroad Depot . She was evidently a stranger , and perhaps had come to town by the evening train of cars . There was a smiling cheerfulness in this fair maiden 's face , which bespoke her fully confident of a kind reception from the multitude of people , with whom she was soon to form acquaintance . Her dress was rather too airy for the season , and was bedizened with fluttering ribbons and other vanities , which were likely soon to be rent away by the fierce storms , or to fade in the hot sunshine , amid which she was to pursue her changeful course . But still she was a wonderfully pleasant looking figure , and had so much promise and such an indescribable hopefulness in her aspect , that hardly anybody could meet her without anticipating some very desirable thing -- the consummation of some long-sought good -- from her kind offices . A few dismal characters there may be , here and there about the world , who have so often been trifled with by young maidens as promising as she , that they have now ceased to pin any faith upon the skirts of the New Year . But , for my own part , I have great faith in her ; and should I live to see fifty more such , still , from each of those successive sisters , I shall reckon upon receiving something that will be worth living for .
The New Year -- for this young maiden was no less a personage -- carried all her goods and chattels in a basket XXXXX no great size or weight , which hung upon her arm .
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