The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-29 00:00:00

Cke ctottrtiribe Ottsetter

SA.TURDAY, DECEMBER 29th, 1883.
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"A. HAPPY NEW YEAR."

"A Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year"—the heartfelt expression of good
wishes which has sprung to so many millions
of lips during the past few days, and the
latter half of which is springing to so many
even now, is one SO familiar to every one of
us that it isdifheult to believe how exceedingly
modern it is. Whoever was the first to use
that which has now beeome the accepted
watchword of Christmastide, he cannot
have existed much more than a century
since, a statement which can scarcely fail
to astonish such as believe any frtmiliar
phrase must of necessity be as of I as the
hills. It was not until the intro.lnetion in
1752 of the "New Style" of Cme-reekoning
that it could ever have been used, in this
country, for before that date the years
began on Lady Day, just three months
beyond Christmas. But, whoever may have
been the man that first gave utterance to an
expression so beloved, his memory deserves
to be held in honour as that of one who con-
centrated in a phrase a conjoined good wish
which is almost a blessing. "A Merry
Ohl:hitraaii" i 5 the ojitettlatiori a hope that

that season which above all others deserves
and has received the epithet "festive" shall
be apent with utmost pleasure ; but, beyond
the pleasure which flies with the days, there
is added the wish for"A Happy New Year."
If the words mean anything—and, despite
the mutterings of cynics, they mean in the
mouths of most of us a great deal—they
mean that the well-wisher trusts that his
friend in the neat futuremay be even happier
in the twelvemosith which lies before him
than in that which as immediately passed.
It is easy to be materialistic in such matters ;
it is easy to talk of lip-service and of hollow
wishes meaning naught ; it is easy to say
sears are purely artificial divisions of time,
and that, as a. matter of fact, there is in
human life really- no such a thing as a "new
vsar." It is easy to say all these things ;it
is never difficult to throw a coldness upon
the best impulses of human enthusiasm ; but
is it so true, after all, that there is in human
life no such a thing as a "new year?" That
no convulsion of nature occurs as the mid-
night chimes tell us that the night of the
31st of December has given place to the
morning of the Ist of January is true, but
who that has ever listened to the clock strik-
ing twelve on that occasion has listened to it
without an extra throb of the heart, an ad-
ditional °eating of the pulses, au added
excitement of every nerve? It may be that
physically there is no difference ; the world
continue its revolution around the sun, the
stars look down upon us with their bright
eyes, the winds and the waves ate not hushed
even for a moment into repose by reason of
the one year taking its final flight into the
realms of eternity and another taking its
place. But morally there is a difference and
a vast one. Good resolutions are formed
wnich ate not all wasted ; prayers are
offered which are not all lost ; men and
women and even children are impelled to be
better by the resolves taken on the incom-
ing of the year. Is this to be counted as
nothing ? Are we • ,Ter to b 3 mockeC, bv
reminders that the world is still exceedingly
evil, and that many New Year resolves have
conic to naught ? It may be so, _ and yet
what if it is ? There is something better•
to be done in this world, something much
more worth striving for than this constant
attempt to weaken the forces which work
together for good. We can all do something
to strengthen those not so strong as our-
selves ;we can all at least do something to
encourage those who stand in need of such
help ; wecan all aid by good wishes those
who are weary because of sadness at heart ;
we can all hope that for weak and erring as
well as for strong and steadfast the next
will be "A Happy New Year."