Harper's Young People, January 3 1882 / An Illustrated Weekly

NEW-YEAR'S DINNER IN THE NURSERY.

Pray where do the Old Years go, mamma, When their work is over and done? Does somebody tuck them away to sleep, Quite out of the sight of the sun? Or, perhaps, are they shut into crystal jars And set away on a shelf In a beautiful closet behind the stars, Each Year in a place by itself? Was there ever a Year that made a mistake, And staid when its time was o'er, Till it had to hurry its poor old feet, When the New Year knocked at the door? I wish you a happy New Year, mamma— I am sure new things are nice— And this one comes with a merry face, And plenty of snow and ice. But I only wish I had kept awake Till the Old Year made his bow, For what he said when the clock struck twelve I never shall find out now. Do you think he was tired and glad to rest? Do you think that he said good-by, Or melted away alone in the dark, Without so much as a sigh? Do I bother you now? Must I run away? Why, that's what you always say; The New Year's just the same as the Old; I might as well go and play. Oh, look at those sparrows so pert and spry! They are waiting to get their crumbs. For the New Year's sake they shall have some cake, And I hope they'll fight for the plums.
We left Germany early in October, and went back to England. Father took lodgings in a pretty little village, where I might have led an untroubled existence, after my thrilling experiences among the Prussians, if it had not been for one thing.
It was this: The pretty little English village was situated very near a large town where bicycles were manufactured, and before I had been there a week the mania to ride one seized me. I knew at once what it must come to, and I will now proceed to relate what it did come to.
One morning father and mother set out for London, leaving Thad and me behind in charge of the landlady, a kind, motherly person who would see that we did not break any bones playing horse with her furniture, or make ourselves sick by eating too much of her jam.