The Wilmingtonian., 1823-12-11


Stern December reigDs without,
With old winters clustering rout.
urSnY KIRKE WRITE.
Apce mar hail thee, thou gloomy December y
Ance mair hail thee, VII sorrow and care.
BURNS.
Permitted to complete our design of en-
deavouripg at stated intervals, to cause
salutary reflections on the fast flowing
current Of time, we have only now to sub
nit to each one, who has perused our oc-
casional hints, the questions, Has the year
which has almost passed been the epoch of
any improvements Are we better or worse,
happier or less happy, than we were twelve
months agoa These interrogatories are
pregnant with important results, but we
must leave them to the serious mind,
which will easily evolve them.
The next subject Of reflection that ma
turally arises, and as it were protrudes it.
self upon US, is the goodness which mas
guarded and preserved US so long. wei
must be conscious of our entire unworthi-
ness, and demerit Of such care, before wei
can be rightly and fully sensible Of thel
magnitude of the blessing. Who is there
in the world, and above all, who is there in
our country, that has not reason tor the
most lively gratitude : Is there an indivi-
dual who has been blessed with uninter-
rupted health; who has had continued to-
him his associates and friends: who still
retains his liberty and his property, and
yet refuses to acknowledge that all these
are mercies favours which so far from de-
serving, are totally the contrary OF what
would accrue to him it he was recompens-
ed according to his merit! Every condi-
ton of life, from those who have reached
to the very summit of happiness, even to
those who have lost friends and health and
estate, who have been injured, betrayed or
broken-hearted, will all find subjects for
humiliation on account OF their ingratItude
for mercies that have raised them so
high, or the compassion that in their an
suish tempered their sorrows and allevia-
ted the heavy burden of their griefs, by
means not recognised perhaps until reflec-
ton brought them to their minds. Those
who have passed their time with no solid
benefit to themselves and have wasted
SO considerable portion of their existence
in sloth and sin. should have very serious
feelings of their impending danger. Vain
complaints of the loss Of time and the ne
glect of opportunities is unwise: whilst
we regret, we might be reforming: he evn-
ces the possession of true wisdom from his
experience, and genuine sorrow for his
prodigality in what is above all things the
most precious. who redeems his mis-spen
time by as careful an attention, and al
dligent an Improvement of the present
as his past time was thoughtless and FOOL
ish.
The season which commences this day
can hardly arrive and pass without excl
ting these dispositions. In the contem
plative hours which it affords; surrounded
BY happiness and delight, unless man ha
internal peace with his conscience, it viii
be awake with him in the midst of his pro
fusion, admonishing him of his duties.
There is but one thought that damp
the pleasing anticipation of cold and bar
renness, for the question forces itself upo
us,
Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,
That bde the pelting ofthls pitiess storm,
How shall your houseless heads, and united side
Your looped and wjndowed raggedness defendyo
From seasons such as these!
But then, on the other hand, the heal
which has pited and relieved the misers
Bile and raised the perishing, derives iro'
the circumstance Of their comfort mil
and lasting happiness, which in strengt
and solidity is not to be compared wit
the transient pleasures Of an hour. Willis
it gives a zest to other enjoyments, itten
pers into complacency, what may be cal
ed, the extraneous happiness resultir
from the season.
Proportionate to the number and varle
of winters charms, are the enconlun
which have been lavished on them. Eve
poet, finds in its sterility blossoms Tor h
verse; and even prose deigns to pluck
sprig Of evergreen from its wilds. IT
most sublime scenes in nature are to
beheld the clear cold moonlight shsdil
i,o+,, ba nnW clad aarth. q