Eight o'clock: The clock is eight! To Bethlehem all is told, How Noah and his seven were saved of old.
Nine o'clock: Hear, Brethren, hear! The hour of nine is come; Keep pure each heart and chasten every home.
Ten o'clock: Hear, Brethren, hear! Now ten the hour-hand shows; They only rest who long for night's repose.
Eleven o'clock: The clock's eleven! And ye have heard it all, How in that hour the mighty God did call.
Twelve o'clock: It's midnight now! And at that hour ye know With lamps to meet the bridegroom we must go.
One o'clock: The hour is one! Through darkness steals the day. Shines in your hearts the morning star's first ray?
Two o'clock: The clock is two! Who comes to meet the day, And to the Lord of Days his homage pay?
Three o'clock: The clock is three! The three in one above Let body, soul, and spirit truly love.
Four o'clock: The clock is four! Where'er on earth are three, The Lord has promised He the fourth will be.
Five o'clock: The clock is five! While five away were sent, Five other virgins to the marriage went.
Six o'clock: The clock is six! And from the watch I'm free, And every one may his own watchman be.
The landlord of colonial days may not have been the greatest man in town, but he was certainly the best-known, often the most popular, and ever the most picturesque and cheerful figure. Travellers did not fail to note him and his virtues in their accounts of their sojourns. In 1686 a gossiping London bookseller and author, named John Dunton, made a cheerful visit to Boston. He did not omit to pay tribute in his story of colonial life to colonial landlords. He thus pictures George Monk, the landlord of the Blue Anchor of Boston:--
"A person so remarkable that, had I not been acquainted with him, it would be a hard matter to make any New England man believe I had been in Boston; for there was no one house in all the town more noted, or where a man might meet with better accommodation. Besides, he was a brisk and jolly man, whose conversation was coveted by all his guests as the life and spirit of the company."
This picture of an old-time publican seems more suited to English atmosphere than to the stern air of New England Puritanism.
[Illustration: Sign-board of Washington Hotel.]