ten o'clock
They played the Old Family Coach , Mr. Howard Marshman being the manager , and Ellen laughed till she was tired ; she was the coach door , and he kept her opening and shutting and swinging and breaking , it seemed all the while , though most of the rest were worked just as hard . When they were well tired they sat down to rest and hear music , and Ellen enjoyed that exceedingly . Alice sang , and Mrs. Gillespie , and Miss Sophia , and another lady , and Mr. Howard ; sometimes alone , sometimes three or four or altogether . At last came ten o'clock and the young ones were sent off ; and from beginning to end that had been a Christmas day of unbroken and unclouded pleasure . Ellen 's last act was to take another look at her Cologne bottle , gloves , pin-cushion , grapes , and paper of sugar-plums , which were laid side by side carefully in a drawer . But though life 's valley be a vale of tears , A brighter scene beyond that vale appears , Whose glory , with a light that never fades , Shoots between scattered rocks and opening shades . -- COWPER .