St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-12-25
The Close of the Year 1856.

The Close Of the Year 1856.
This is the last number of the Lntelligencer
that we shall be able to issue in the year 1856.
Before another number will appear We shall
have entered upon new year, if life is spared.
The exit of the Old and the entry of New
Year places us on an eminence from which we
are naturally led to look back and survey the
ground we have gone over; and forward to the
dim and distant future, all unknown, and yet
perhaps pregnant with the most important
events. In taking these retrospective and pros
pective views of life, and especially in fondly
anticipating the purcr and more satisfactory
joys of the future, we are prone to overlook
the amazing brevity and fleetness of human
life, which every stroke of the pulse is calcula-
ted to impress upon u.s.
The Iatins expressed this subject in two
words, "Tempus Fugit time flies. The
rapidity of time is represented in scripture by
the shooting of an arrow, passing vapor, and
the flying cloud. Itseems but as yesterday when
we were comfortably settled in the land of the
Pilgrims-the good old Bay State-to all
appearances firmly established in the business
of our vocation as editor, printer and publisher.
Now, we find ourselves fifteen hundred miles
away, in a new land among strangers, again
comfortably settled, established in like bust
ness, forming new attachments and associations,
and laborng in an entirely new field for the
4 l. g. - k6o
gaining livelihood for ourselves, and the pro-
motion by our pen and press of the welfare of
those around us. We entertain no regrets for
the past, but are sanguine with bright expecta-
lions of the future. To us it matters but little
| in what sphere of usefulness our lot is cast.
Whatever our hands find to do that will we
do with all our might. "Let us work while
the day lasts, for the night cometh wherein no
man can work" 1t seems but an hour since We
mingled in the sports Of childhood, or were
occupied in youthful studies, and began to
pluck the flowers that grew along the path of
life. But few short months seem to have
elapsed since we entered upon the active bust
ness of the world, full of hope and courage =
Intervening years now seem but as hand
breadth, and the whole period of active effort
is comparatively dwindled to point.
The people of this community have great
responsibilities and vastly important duties
devolving upon them. We have come togeth-
or from all parts of our common country, for
the purpose of lettering our conditions in a
wider and more appropriate field of labor. In
no way can we promote our own welfare bet
ter than by promoting the welfare Of those
around us. 1t is for us, the pioneer settlers of
this new land, to determine whether frater-
nal solicitudc for the prosperity and happiness
of our neighbors, the exercise of kindly Offices
one toward another, the encouragement of ed.
ucation, refinement, social intercourse virtue,
morality and religion or, on the other hand
strife, discord, tale-bearing, vice and crime
shall characterize the people of this lovely
country in present and after years. We feel
that the allusion to this important subject is
scarcely necessary. Our people are too intelli-
gent and far-seeing not to comprehend the
question fully and act upon its requirements.
Society here is good, in the main, and it can
uuV w ehO Vi tsAA EOou NApiACAS, IiOV Ollly
that it should continue such, but that it should
be constantly improving. We find that vice
and immortality are promptly rcbuked and
punished, and the perpetrators are at once
given to understand that good department
will be required if they are permitted to re-
main on terms Of social intercourse with res
pectable people.
The labors and trials of the present year are
nearly at an end, and the curtain of the new
year is about to rise. 1t is to be hoped that
the instructions of the great teacher, Time,
for 1856, bave left good impressions upon the
mind but at least let us take heed to those
which shall distil like the gentle dew as we
enter upon the year 1857. Millions of throb-
bing hearts, with hopes more or less raised,
anxiously look for the revelations of the flu
ture. Nevertheless We may be assured that
the course of events will be much as it has
been the same causes will produce the same
effects. Those who seek for happiness in the
fading objects and transitory pleasures of this
world, will find themselves as far from the OBJ
ject of their wish at the end of the next year
no Nv tlAC COAuIucuCVIutut.. luC year lCO( Will
probably DO but as the reprint of 1856 to very
many-the repetition of it's errors, its follies
and its vices Whatsoever a man soweth
that shall he also reap" Let parents and tea
cheers awake to deeper sense Of their respon-
sibilities1 Let the young men Of our comuni-
ty weigh well their responsibilities and actions
remembering that now they are forming
for life. Let young ladies look at
the important position they occupy, and fail
not to exert that conservative influence which
they are pre-eminently fitted to exercise. With
these kindly admonitions and suggestions, we
wish all our patrons and friends "a happy
new year.
Our friend Kelly, of the St. Charles Hotel,
celebrated Christmas in the most extravagant
style. After the distribution Of presents to the
amount of nearly a hundred dollars, his whole