Daily national Democrat., 1859-01-01
8 So.

should certainly be- that We have lived to
see its coming, while so many thousands
who had hoped to have seen it with us, have
gone down the lonesome path to dusty
death" 1t is the fate of human existence
thus to have every joy mingled with sad
ness. 1t is an inseparable part of our human
lot. Mirth and gladness are but the silver
fringing of the cloud that is ready to distil
its tears of sorrow While we behold the
laughing friends around US, on this merry
New Years morn, we remember those who
were near and dear to us, that are slumber-
ing beneath the silent sod. In some coming
New Y ear, oar friends, who are enjoying the
New Y ear with us now, will have the same
sad thoughts Of us. We too shall be sleep
ing in the silence of the grave--slumbering
in those "beds so still and white" to be
awaked no more till the long, long night is
past!
But more of JOY than sorrow, more of
hope than regret, should reign in our bosoms
to day. 1t is the part of true philosophy TO
be happy. We should remember that life
itselfis a source of blessings, beyond all com
putation. Even the little life of the insect
or the bird, filled with its hopes and joys of
briefest date, is better than the unconscious
ness of the stick or stone Though life should
last but day, it is n glorious thing to lire
How much more, then, should we be happy,
whc feel that we shall live forever THAT
the insect and the bird shall die; that our
own material life shall perish; that suns, and
the syst ms which revolve around them,
shall be burnt out and darkness fill their
place, but that we shall survive it ALL the
ever living witnesses of life and death, decay
and wreck, and all that appertains to the
innumerabe changes, strange and ineXplica-
bic, of mortal things We should be happy
because we live, and because we believe that
we shall live forever
Sill we should remember that the measure
of happiness which we may put into our
lives is in our own hands Life itself is
joy, and it must be sadly distorted in order
to become a curse Indeed, to make exist
ence wholly miserable, there must be some
rare departure from the laws of nature and
the dictates of that average degree of reason
which belongs to humanity at large There
are but few who are wholly miserable, and
those are the least miserable who are the
most careful in their ot edience to the laws
of nature and to the dictates of reason. No
filter time could be found for forming good
resolutions for the future than the beginning
of the new year. With the old year should
be buried all that was unworthy in it. The
frailties and the short comings which charac
tcrized it, should sleep with it the sleep that
knows no waking.
"Our beings end and aim," says Pope,
and he says truly, is "happiness." lie who
has the least idea of what happiness really
is, will soonest, Of course, obtain it. There
are many who wholly mistake the true char
acter of happiness, and go after it in ways
which inevitably lead to its opposite. In the
beginning of this New YEAR, dear friends, let
us all strive to hit upon the true path to
happiness. Let us, first and above all things,
strire to do right, for, having done right, we
have taken a sure step in the direction of the
great aim of existence, and we have but to
continue in the same path to ARRIVE at all
that we would possess. 1t is not riches that
we want, nor power, nor fame. 1t is simply
happiness. True, many think that in riches,
only, or power, or fame, lies this treasure of
which we speak. But it is not so. The
poorest man upon earth may be happier than
the richest, the least in influence than the
mightest, and the obscurest than the most
famous. lie who has clear conscience, and
lives the nearest to the requirements Of ma
ture as explained by a calm and enlightened
reason, is the happiest. Consequently every
man may be happy who has fair degree oi
intellectual and moral eapability, and that
man who has the highest degree of both i:
blest, indeed.
We would fan say something mirthful tc
our readers on this blessed New Years morn
But there is Il sadness in the parting which
we give to the dear Old Year, that we can.
not wholly shake of. OF the future we know
nothing, but the past, how sacred are the
treasures which it holds The joys which it
contained are dearer that they are no more,
and may never come again, and its sorrows
are hallowed in the heart. We must, there
fore, still bless the year that has gone, taking
SO much with it that was sweet and mournfu
/ to the soul, while we wish all our numerou.
friends and patrons A HAPPY NEW
YEAR, and many returas of the present
joyous season!
LETTER FROM NANCouvrp w ,em~cro>