Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s see what our 1913 book has to say about New Year’s Day.
New Year’s Day
hear month season perhaps January vacation birthday colors
A happy New Year, boys and girls!
A happy New Year to all!
I am the little new year.
I came last night when you were all sound asleep.
You did not hear me come.
Listen and hear my merry bells.
They are ringing for a glad new year.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
They tell us all to be happy.
Open your doors and let me come in.
Do you know what I am bringing?
A whole long year of days.
They are coming after me one by one.
Each day will bring something new.
To each little boy and to each little girl I bring a birthday.
May it be a very happy day!
The days will come along in months.
Do you know the names of all the months?
January is the first month, and New Year’s Day is the first day.
I bring the four seasons, — spring, summer, autumn and winter.
What season do you like best?
It is winter now, and snow is on the ground.
You can use the sled and skates that Santa Claus brought you.
By and by spring will come.
The birds will come back from the sunny South.
The trees will put on their green dresses, and the flowers will grow.
Do you like the spring better than the winter?
Summer will come and bring you a long vacation.
I know that you like long vacations.
The days are long, and the sun is bright in summer.
When autumn comes you will be ready for school again.
The apples will be ripe.
Jack Frost will come to dress the tress in bright colors.
He will open the chestnut burrs.
He will put ice on the ponds, and paint pictures on the windows.
When the snow comes again and the sleigh bells ring, I know that Christmas will soon be here.
Then I know my time is growing short and I must say good-by.
But there is always a new year coming.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow.
