shall have time enough to-night, for you know you promised to let us
sit up till the clock strikes twelve; so we can talk, and read, and
tell stories too. There will be time enough for all, before Mr. Old
Year goes out and Mr. New Year comes in."

Mrs. Chilton consented. Frank placed her little stand by her, with
the German lamp upon it, in the way she liked to have it, and she
read as follows:--





THE BIRTHDAY.




Near the coast of Northumberland, at a little distance from the
land, you can just see rising up a group of little islands, rocks
scattered without order, that grow in number at low water; you may
count as many as twenty of them, whose sharp, menacing crests seem
to defy the returning waves.

Nothing can be more desolate than the appearance of the little Farne
Islands; formed of rocks barely covered with a thin vegetation,
surrounded by precipices, they seem accessible only to sea birds,
who take refuge there in the tempests.

The Island of Longstone is at the head of the group, and serves as a