Came bumpeting down and thumpeting down.

Then, "Come, you two," said the Journeying Man,
"We have twelve calls to pay.
We'll visit the months this time, if we can.
Now listen to me: at every house
Many clocks will be ticking away:
Grandfather clocks and cuckoo clocks
And moon-faced clocks on shelves,
Clocks with alarms and eight-day clocks,
All talking low to themselves;
Little gilt clocks and clocks with chimes,
And all of them keeping different times.
And any minute of any hour
(You never did see their like),
Evening or morning, with never a warning,
One of the lot will strike.
And you _may_ be talking your everyday talk,
But the instant the hour shall chime,
Quick as a flash you must stop, and dash
Right into a rollicking rhyme!"

"What kind of a rhyme?" gasped Amos and Ann.
"What kind of a rhyme, J. M.?"

"Any kind at all," said the Journeying Man,
As he twinkled his eyes at them.
"But it must begin with the very two sounds,
(Or three or four, if you like,)
_The last few sounds that were on your tongue_
_When the clock began to strike_!"

JANUARY

_I_

_JANUARY_

[Illustration: _Aquarius_]

They went to the January house,
A house made all of snow,
With windows of ice, and chandeliers
Of icicles all in a row.
The trim young master was dressed in fur
And didn't seem cold at all--
A red-cheeked, rollicking, frolicking chap,
Who offered each caller an ermine wrap,
And let them skate in his hall.

[Illustration: _They went to the January house_]

While they were skating round the hall, Amos's feet flew from under him
and he sat down hard on the ice.

"Did you break anything?" asked the January boy. "I hope not, indeed," he
added earnestly, "because so many things are broken here."

"What kind of things?" Amos wanted to know.

"Mainly resolutions," answered January with a wry face. And then he
further said: "So many of _them_ get broken that sometimes I think I'll
move into another house."

"But then," put in little Ann, "we shouldn't have any New Year. And oh,
how we'd miss New Year--"

A square-faced clock on the hall-landing struck one just as Ann said she'd
miss New Year.

"Oh!" said Ann with a gasp. "Now I've got to say a rhyme beginning--'miss
New Year.' What shall I say?

"Miss New Year, miss New Year--" Then all at once, to