THE NEW YEAR'S BELLS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 196, 29 December 1876, Page 12

THE NEW YEAR'S BELLS.

The bells were cliiming merrily in the belfry of an English church awakening the village children from their sleep, and sta?tUng wild £?ww m i e nei^ boriD ? field s »»d ™ods. F They were Kng in the New Year; and, as the tranquil air became filled with thehsound, it was rafted to the ears of many who heard it variously! and various were the thoughts it exeitedin their hearts. Tremulous but loud lt smote upon thehearingof those who were neat at hand • now full now faint, now totally lost, and yet a<*ain clearly d£l cermbleitcame to those who were far away, as°SeUries of the past come oftentimes brokenly into the mind. It was thus it SSS , w I l^tlessly engaged upon some feminine employment, a piece of fancy work, knitting or embroidery or whaf U patters not, but as the pealing of the" beuTbSS^S 2 TO SfiSSS m*? S^ had beea Sittin -' she Md d ™ SbolfiS* ■which had laerved her for an occupation, and hearkened attentively. m Pist midnight," she said, " past midnight and they are rin*ing m the new year How many times lave I heard tSesame^a joyous greeting to the tyrants that spare no man, that brin? with them infirmity, age, and the wreck of all things." g . She rose and went towards one of the walls of the chamber • a picture hung there, and she stood under it and contemplated it Sdffi-1 T *OT ? a ? ° f a yy ° UDg and fceauSul Ss Sly clad in the mode which had been followed some thirty years previously: ample braids of silken hair encircled a browse and white as ivory; eyes, such as Greuse delighted to paint of blue looked softly from beneath long dark lashes ; the Seks J£j tinged with a color delicate as the pink lining of a shell, and the love mess of the face was in everything perfect. It was a supWel? 5?A PP ff C f\ ire ' ye f i ifc , had h f en *<*$*** thatithadharSy S ™« Ia * ie , model f ? om horn *™» taken. None would have S?X V *Jt n °T S i° od before ** had been th^t model Sv? S b?™ frf/f haU% had giV^ 77 to a few sca^ look- of grey; her brow and face were wrinkled and ghastly; her eves hollow and lack-lustre, were filled with an expression of disconSS ,' Sn! r suffe O rf n r SOn **' "* *" SUggestive Only of «,,*pf C f^ a L 3 \ e f S " th «y ar e failing the renewed life of the Uuef that steals both youth and health. It were more fitting to ring at nudmght in rejoicing over bis death; since one r>urem&ht serve as well as another, for he has no renewal who TrelentTes'sl v marches forward, we know not whither, bearino- witn W one generation of xaen after another. From all who fcnigM ar^otm? and making merry over his supposed new birth will he take a^f hag tuien from me, the grace of their youth an dSe^ride of Ses strength and to all will he replace them with bitter memories/ So the lady of the manor greeted the joyous pealino- of the new year's bells ; for wealth and rank, both of whLb she o°wned in or "to S- c'e '. ha f h T UD + t bl t to sWeld her from the han'd TSme! or to deliver her from the havoc wrought by recurring- years md SJT «> better comforter to whom, wiTE'tSK hS failed her, she might have turned for succour ° And now let us glance at another home where the glad sounds were likewise wafted this New Year's morning. It #as a dwes! l^S^^i^^f^S 0^ fr ° m the mUe manßion whoi fadld t^Lf Sf have i^ ked^Pon; poverty and want were plainly evident there, and its inhabitants had all the air of misery^ tJ them also the merry chiming came as a mockery, for the bygone Si? t^^ dependent on the cold world f6r a bare subsif ncr, and leave them heart broken as we are. There is but little wisdom m marking the lapse of time with mirfchTstoce allonS happiness is borne down its tide far away from us, a^dwe are ?eft l^^-^f 1088 sßpitS?'*5 Bpit S?'* and thou^ one **** by and iTitssy that that wMch is — *«A^s But still the cheery bells pealed on, and the village was alive with merry-making ; and yet again th« sounds of festivity reached

£lf«f ?? 6*6 *u er mto wtoae mind thfi y CaUed ideas differing f air from those of the mourners to whose plaints we have listened Xf o £ TA 0116 who i" 61 not Buff »ed less in the course of years JwEft? u8!u 8 ! v y^ th and stren & fcl1 ' f riendd and fortune, all had Whim buthedid not lament, for the years that had robbed ton of earthly goods had seen conf erred upon him heavenly graces. Ua -* he —*"■??. -i » nn ti,'^Sf i8 * J i? g oni f ard *? » t3 ffl*" he saM, "but thank GoS that they ring a peal of welcomes to this New Year, if in it thevwlm secure of gaining a knowledge of the truth, or even^eternnneTS seek for such; of pursuing wisdom, and entering hearted soul wS^fTf^ ll6^^^ 11 * 5 obtain Wfih to laTthem Wnt S^ ™w? Wh + f y s ed a^' ay - Othe^ise let them rather iament than rejoice ; the New Year brings them nearer to tha -TrTHols?* 116061^ 11 7ielding KIP ° f