not been for the strong hopes and wishes that filled her tired
heart, she could not have stayed long enough to keep that last
merry Christmas with her dear ones.

And so the old years, fraught with memories, die, one after
another, and the new years, bright with hopes, are born to take
their places; but Carol lives again in every chime of Christmas
bells that peal glad tidings and in every Christmas anthem sung
by childish voices.