The Kanzas news., 1858-01-09
words of counsel and Cheer.

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glance eresrospectireiy and prospectively over
the field of life aud labor IN which they move,
when the unfaltering hand Of Time buries
the oiden, and breafhes life into the New
Year Our greeting comes late, for amid
the earnest struggle in which Kanzas is en-
gagged, we had almost forgotten that the
shadow of 1858 was darkeaing its thresh-
hold For the first time in our columns,
and in accordance with the customs of the
fraternity, we bid our readers ga Happy
New Year." and we do it in no idle spirit,
but with the feeling of earnest men meeting
brother men at crisis in the history of
great struggle, when manly toll. thoughts,
enduranees and actions, may all be required.
Brother men of Kanzas, we stand on the
threshold of year whose womb must be
pregnant with great events for our veal and
woe, and we have hidden farewell to period
In which we have seen the sun of our con-
test rise and fall many a time upon US; a
period in which we have gathered strength
for the final wrestle, and where all the foes
of our holy cause have combined against
US. Eighteen hundred and ffty-seyen
dawued upon Kanzas amid gloom more gen
eral, and distress and poverty that was wide
spread over the land. Then our citizens
were compelled to grasp the outstretched
hand of charity, and lean for aid on the gen
erous hearts of the North. Since then our
material prosperity has grown amazingly.
That which our foes used to curse US has
turned into blessing, and material wealth
and plenty have crowned our labors. The
hardy sons of Free Labor have come to our
swelling plains, and from forlorn hope on
the western border of Ruffianism we have
grown up into people strong and potential.
A bountiful harvest has smiled upon US, and
peace has enabled Us to garner it unmolested.
The seasons have passed lightly over US
The spring, though long coming. kissed the
earth until its warm bushes deepened into
the rich, ripe summer flush, gloWed in the
bronzed hue of autumn, crowned with
wreathed corn, and fruit, and faded away in
the clear and pleasant breath of the winter
now resting so beautifully upon US.
Yet, much as we have reason to thank
the God of Nature for all the blessings he
has so bountifully bestowed, we still have
our dark and gloomy side to view. The
foes of Truth and Humanity, who for three
years past have beset US. are by no means
beaten or discouraged. They too have not
retreated single step. but, learning cum
ming by experience, are seeking to gain by
fraud what they formerly endeavored to
wrest from us by force and violence. The
revolution which began on the plains of
Kanzas, and which ultimately viii stamp a
deep and ineffaeeable mark on the nation,
has not gone backward one step, either on
our part or on that of our foes. A Consti-
tuition has been framed by the vile represen-
tatives of vile minority, and is now sought
to be fastened upon US against our wish and
win. An administration and corrupt party
are aiding the schemes of the usurpers with
all the enormous power and machinery they
possess.
The question hangs trembling in the bal
ance, and upon its decision rests the future
of this nation. Upon the casting of this
die rests the issue, and that is whether peace
shall smile in plenty and beauty, or whether
wars red-handed angel should ride forth
over the land. Upon the result of the con-
test now pending at Washington viii the
fat go forth, and the people of Kanzas learn
whether they shall live freemen. or die fight
ing for their rights.
We have passed through momentous
period. We are looking anxiously down the
long drawn vista of the incoming cycle that
We may perhaps discern something of those
events with which it must TEEN. We have
passed through, and are now entering upon
another phase of struggle which demands
all that we possess of manly courage and
heroic virtue, that we may meet them as
becometh men and patriots. Black as has
been the past-dark as may seem the future
still there is much that is hopeful and
promising. We should be thankful even
that we live in and are of times like the
present, when all the manhood and noble
ness of our natures are called into being
times from which newer and brighter light
shall spread its glory over the history of the
country, until the far future shall catch its
radiance and be trans6gu red by its glow.
Let us take heart of courage, amid ali
the perils ed changes Of our position. and.
holding fast by the truth. be prepared for
Whatever toll and trial may come. All our
noblest aspirations are awakened, and the
voices of the dead alike with the faint chant
of the future. bids US be true to our highest