FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

The words of an old song (may have been a hymn) come back to me at this time of the year. The Christmas singers used to sing the first line as Christmas Eve the bells are ringing, but I was told it should have been New Year's Eve.The words are as follows, I don't know where they originate.

Christmas Eve the bells are ringing; and the echo sweet and clear,
With the message it is bringing, steals upon the frosty air,
Voices from the past seem calling, Tender memories abound,
While without thesnow is fallng, falling white upon the ground.

I am thinking of the impress made by each where'er we go;
Of the waymarks left behind us, of the footprints in the snow.
Footprints, some of shame and sorrow,
Thought of only with a sigh; Are the footprints true and steady?
What will ours be by and by?

Would some brother stray or stumble
Treading in these steps of mine?
Or, if following, would they lead him
Upward to a life divine?
Oh, how solemn now to ponder
Over youthful feet that strayed
And to think that some may wander
By the footprints I have made.