The Nevada journal., 1857-01-02
THE NEW YEAR.


!. ter of not the slightest moment at this
r present writing-for it is gone, irrevo-
cably, with all its imperfections on its
head, leaving behind it, like most of the
. years, little besides beggarly account
Of empty resolutions. We suppose we
: could, "an' if we would" get up senti-
mental ponlet for our readers, COM
pounded ef thoughts suggested by this
. interesting occasion, of wise lessons
! drawn from past '56, and wise auguries
for coming 81, interspers ed with rehec
tions on the flight of time and the coming
of the end thereof; but we are impress
ed at the outset with the idea that there
has been striking similarity between
the year just passed and all the years
which have gone before-that eating
and drinking and sleeping have, as usual
been the chief employments of all our
readers during its passage; that money
has been made and spent, and that on
the whole there is nothing particularly
romantic in the simple fact of our being
one year older than we were just three
hundred and sixtyfve days, six hours
and thirty odd minutes ago; and for
the future, we shall pass the next year
too, those of us who do not stop by
heway, and whether we shall be nearer
Heaven, or the other place, will not de-
pend upon any pious New Years refec-
tions of the Journal.
A few experiences, however, Sc has
shown to us which do not appear in the
record of the common years. On the
18th of July last, Nevada was a pros
porous, thriving town, bearing the evil
dent marks of years of California good
fortune-the fairest city among the
mountains; on the evening of the 10Th
there were only heaps of black and
smoking ruins to show where the town
had been, and under the ashes were
buried, not only the fortunes and hopes
of many of our citizens, but sadder than
all that, the disfgured bodies of some
whose lives were esteemed, and whose
fearful deaths we found time, in the midst
of all our troubles, to lament. Only five
months have passed, and no external
traces of the fire are left. With a
rapidity that would be marvellous any
where but in California, new town, as
large, and fairer than the old, has sprung
from its ruins. In the undiminished
energy of our citizens we read an augury
of the undiminishing prosperity of Ne
vada.
We have passed the great political
campaign of 1856. We were beaten
we are very sorry for it, but we can't
help it. The great unwashed are vic
torious again. We are sorry for it.
Now will come the hard struggle for
Offices, fat and lean, and the ''ferce de-
mocracie" will get them all, and we
are very sorry for that. For four years
more democratic rule is fastened upon
us, and for all these calamities we are
sorry, but we could not prevent one of
them. We did our utmost to prevent
them, but our utmost was not enou gh.-
One melancholy hope is left us. The
next administration cannot be worse
than the last. We know that no future
four years of our history can contain as
many stupid blunders as have been
crowded into the imbeci!e rule of
Franklin Pierce.
whate'er betidcs, we've known the worst.''
The new year is ushered in with the
doiorous cry of "hard times" If, as our
Supreme Court POLITICALLY remark, "ev-
cry atmosphere of California is heavy
with gold," very few of them have de-
posted their burthens as yet in the
vicinity of Nevada. The commonest
money instruments are unpaid bills of
the date of sc. May '57 settle them.
We trust in Providence and the now
falling rains to accomplish this desirable
result. We have all confidence that the
good time is coming" though we con-
fess it travels in remarkably slow
coach.
The old year is dead. To our citi-
Gems the benefits it has conferred are
somewhat equivocal-of rather mixed
character; but we would no more find
fault with it than we would recount the
failings of friend or foe lying stiff
and cold at our feet. sNothing of the
dead but good" We can't helpit Its
record is made up, signed and sealed
and filed away, to trouble us no more,
but to gather mould with the records of
other years. The old year is dead