midnight
`` Thank you kindly , '' said the New Year ; and she gave the watchman one of the roses of hope from her basket . `` May this flower keep a sweet smell long after I have bidden you good-bye ! '' Then she stepped on more briskly through the silent streets , and such as were awake at the moment heard her footfall and said , `` The New Year is come ! '' Wherever there was a knot of midnight roisterers , they quaffed her health . She sighed , however , to perceive that the air was tainted -- as the atmosphere of this world must continually be -- with the dying breaths of mortals who had lingered just long enough for her to bury them . But there were millions left alive to rejoice at her coming , and so she pursued her way with confidence , strewing emblematic flowers on the doorstep of almost every dwelling , which some persons will gather up and wear in their bosoms , and others will trample under foot . The carrier-boy can only say further that early this morning she filled his basket with New Year 's addresses , assuring him that the whole city , with our new mayor and the aldermen and common council at its head , would make a general rush to secure copies .