The Kanzas news., 1859-01-01
The OLD Year and the New.
"The wave is breaking on the shore
The echo fading from the chime
AGAIN the shadow moveth DER
The dial plate of time 20

The unfaltering hand of Time has bur
ried the olden and breathed the breath o
life into the '.New Year." For the second
time in our columns, and in accordance
with the customs of the fraternity. We give
our readers Happy New Year" greeting
We are standing on the threshold of new
year, while the olden one is noiselessly IA
king his departure. A Lew year is before
as with its pleasures and pains, its trials
and responsibilities. The hour is suggest
i've of many useful thoughts. to those who
will give the time for reflection. The past,
whether it has been productive of much OF
little, good or evil, in the experience of each
individual or of the world at large. is be-
yond redemption. Its events belong to his
tory. We would amend them, but we can
not We would recall what has been done
= s-aiss, but n, --a;..-- The past - uncnange-
able. Its record is forever. We can only
say let not the future be as the past; but
let US labor to make its days brighter and
better.
The year that has just gone to its resting
place SO quietly, has witnessed many mem
orable and mighty achievements in the
world of science. politics, religion and lit
erature. The relative importance of these
achievements is differently estimated. With
the politician and statesman the extraordi-
nary political excitement which for long
months has agitated the public mind. as the
tempest the ocean, is the most important
and noticeable feature of the past year. To
the individual whose search after the ''High-
er Christian Life'' has shut out from his
mind the consideration Of questions of mo-
ment. affecting the intellectual and physical
well-being of community, the great revival
in religion which was so widespread and
successful during the late monetary crisis,
is the event which should set its mark above
all others, of the just departed year.
But not SO; these things, important at
the time, must soon lose their importance,
and the memory of them be swallowed up
in the more exciting events of the future
The thought of the thinker, working away in
his obseurity, may arise to eclipse and ou,live
all the noise of political excitement, and the
fervor and heat of religious reyivals. The
physical development, intellectual growth,
and the achievements of an inventive genius
which characterizes the age, especially in
our own country, outbound the concept
ions and schemes of the shrewdest states
men and politicians. 1t must be great
idea, indeed, that does not become antigua
ted in twelve-month Verify this is no
time for dreamers; nor will the age tolerate
an aristocracy, either of wisdom or of
wealth. All fame is short-lived, and for
tunes are held by precarious tenures- cit
is a fast age is often said. The Locomo-
tive, the Telegraph and Fast Printing Press
are the machinery of our activity, and yel
these are but in their infancy. By means
of these, all travel, thought, communication
and enterprise become concentrated and in
tensifed in effect. But wise as We are, we
are not to the end yet. Some things-aye,
many things more wonderful still will be
next in the future. The last, in connection
with other years of thought and experiment
has demonstrated the praclicabiity of subma-
rine lines of telegraph. This achievement
belongs to the year 1853. What other
achievement is like unto it? 1t eclipses all
achievements of this or any former age
Let no one say that the former years were
better than the present. We may envy the
Gvo hah af caKA
it is not wise. The age demands of US a
higher degree of activity, and different
mode of life, and We cannot avoid the cir
cumstances which surround Us without be-
coming laggards in the race.
To the people of Kansas the year just
past has been one of peace and plenty. A
bountiful harvest has smiled upon US and
peace has enabled US to gather it unmolest-
ed. The seasons have passed lightly over
us. The spring. quick coming, kissed the
earth with its warm bushes, deepened into
the rich. ripe summer-fush, glowed in the
bronzed hue of autumn, crowned with
wreathed corn and fruit, and faded away in
the clear and pleasant breath of winter
resting so beautifully upon US.
The New Year bringeth duties manifold
upon us. We have gloriously fertile soil
waiting but the toiler's hand to make il
s'bloom and blossom as the rose The
year whose dawn we have just witnessed,
must not close upon US without greater
strides in industrial development to crown
its last hours. And while working for the
material progress of our new home let US
by no means forget the intellectual ad-
vancements so necessary for our adopted
State to achieve successful position ia the