midnight
Which would be right , she or I ? I know only too well that , taking the world as a whole , we ought to _ encourage _ Christian parochial work , because too many girls who possess the golden opportunity of leisure allow it to be wasted , and so commit the `` sin of omission ; '' but there would have been quite as much good done had Carrie dutifully helped in our invalid home and cheered us all to health by her bright presence . And besides , I myself could then perhaps have taken a class at me night school if the stocking-mending and the other multitudinous domestic matters could have allowed it . The chimes of St. Barnabas were pealing through the midnight air before I slept . Above was the soft light of countless stars , sown broadcast over the dark skies . Christmas was come , and the angel 's song sounding over the sleeping earth . `` Peace and goodwill to men '' -- peace from weary arguments and fruitless regret , peace on mourning hearts , on divided homes , on mariners tossing afar on wintry seas , and peace surely on one troubled girlish heart that waited for the breaking of a more perfect day .