Midnight
_ _ O these money-getting times ! What 's a heart for ? What 's a hand , But to seize and shake the land , Till it tremble for its crimes ? _ Midnight , and the mighty trees knock their naked arms together , and creak and cry wildly in the wind . In Forty-nine 's cabin , by a flickering log-fire , Carrie sits alone . The wind howls horribly , the door creaks , and the fire snaps wickedly ; the wind roars -- now the roar of a far-off sea , and now it smites the cabin in shocks , and sifts and shakes the snow through the shingle . The girl draws her tattered blanket tighter about her , and sits a little closer to the fire .