The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-01-06
Fustian Fragments.
"Whcn shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning or In rain ~! !Shahespsar.

|
We three, you dear friendly reader,
the new year, and myself, now meet
together for the first time. You come
to us, to while away dull and perhaps
otherwise unoccupied moment, the New
Year coming to both, gives an oppor-
tunity for fitting introduction, and we
hope, time to become more intimately
acquainted, one with the other, and
lastly we come endeavoring to find, il
possible, some kind and not easily
wearied ones, who will lend us at once
their favor and their patience.
Gentle reader, we at this, our first
meeting, earnestly wish you Happy
New Year" We know that this is an
old custom, and in this age of novelty
may appear stale to many. But thank
God, there are some old customs which
shall be coexistent with the world. The
glad "merrie," Christmas, only few
days ago enjoyed by US, in remembrance
of day of the olden time, when at eve
the angels. sang, and babe was born,
and God gave to earth One who re-
deems us from all our sins, is eternal.
Christmas, day on which the childrc..
.and grandchildren gather together
around the ample feast Of the old white
headed ancestor, when jovial song and
merry laugh end warm and free love
circle round the board, and then all
hearts being made glad by the happiness
Of others, they kneel down in holy rev.
erence, while, with the shaking hand
extended unto heaven and with trernb-
ling lip hardly able to speak, the aged
man pours forth thanksgiving, in which
all hearts join, to the Father who doeth
all things in love, that these have met
again, even unbroken. But the hand
shakes more evidently, and the trcmb-
ling lip utters more inaudibly the voice,
when the prayer is breathed that another
Christmas may find them still alive, for
the saint of an hundred years sees BE-
yond the gates of death, into tn DWELL
ings of the holy, and feels that he shall
be there. Tho children and the. chill
dren's children weep at the tbought of
the patriarch's departure, while the
third generation We p for sympathy
There are tears now, where laughter
was moment ago. Sorrow for joy,
mourning for rejoicing. But there is
relief in prayer. AS the words issue
from the old mans heart, he grows more
strong, his strength inspires the others
and holy calm takes the place of sad
ness. When they part at eve, it is with
the same too ardent love, and the bless
ing of the MERRY Christmas" lives,
like the constant box-tree, ever green.
Yea, thank God, let all thank God, for
that old, old, glorious day.
And the New Year still finds us under
the influence of love and joy. The old
year is now gone. 1t has been kind
year to us, if We have been able to make
single breast throb with pleasure, or
to remove from one heart an atom of its
weary load. And it is now gone.
With all its lights, and with all its
shades; with its pains, its griefs, its
fears; with its hopes fulfilled, and its
hopes blasted; with its crimes and its
good deeds; with its blessings and its
curses; it has gone into the past. The
past has swallowed mp many, many
years. At the end of each, We, may
hap, have made VOWS for the future vows
of holy lives aud upright communica-
tions, but during that future, we have
broken them many times. Vows are
now being made and they who make
them hope and expect to. keep them.
But these will be broken and the end of
this just beginning year will find us still
unholy.
Yet, dear reader, let us strive, even
should it be vainly, to progress in wis
dom and in love. Love, the first and