The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1869-01-06
The Old Year and the New!


joys and sorrows, 'hasty greetings and sb.
rupt farewells,' has takeat its march .adown
the deep, dark passage Of the past, and we
have-left of the days, the weeks ard the
months, but the remembrance of them
Twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hun.
drcd and sixtv-6ve days! Might we not
reduce the same to neutrality-suspicious. key
moments-for FIVE of which, mortals are
often willing to exchange earthly crowns
How much Of time in which to have ae.
complished good-how much unfortunately
in which TO have done evil. What is the
record to-day as, standing upon the thresh'
old of the New Year, our minds are carried
back through the year just closed? How
few of US can feel that our records are clear.
Alas, how few, 'for We have LEI: undoue
those things which we:ought to have donc,' u
&c. But we do not intend 10 nioralize; the
past belongs 10 the dead past, and standing
in the present, upon the threshold of ano-
ther year, let Us define our positions, and 90
forth from the twiligkt:lnto therfood-lisht
ofsthe battle Of life. If any of US have fall
len into the slough el dcspond, let US arise
therefrom. Have hopes long vanished and
deferred made the heart sick? Are tie
burdens weishty? Does centrifugal action
seem ready to disperse thought from the
chambers of memory? Does the mental
storm rage pitiless!y upon the heart ten
drils-is the ascent steep-and the deciivi
ties rugged? Hope on, press forward. has
poverty and grief thrown you upon the bit.
Ter waters Of mara? Never despair. These
are not phenomena. The best of men and
causes often suffer the greatest trials and
experience the sorest defeat. But is no,
sncceSs often dangerous-and are defeats
not often more apparent than real? Well,
then, if everything has happened-if the
wreck has beeu complete If fortune has
gone. friends departed, and the heart, lonely
and starved, keeps its vigilS, while the star
Of hope struggles through gloom and dark;
ness, drink ye in itss bitter e!oqueuce,
and, gathering up the asheR leaves, press for,
ward with Spartan coarage to the Ilomeric
strife before you.-. For the year that comes
is fraught with mighty issues, and woes are
uttered against those who are behind the
age.
With the experience Of the past twelve
months, however, whether for good or evil,
we can turn over a new leaf incur history
and strive to keep ,aclear the pages which
may be written against US for the coming
time. =
In the characters Of publishers and read
ers, We have logged along through the
months which are now gon' J., right pleasant,
ly, and pro6tably it is hoped. and though
"lost to sight, for the most time (only oc-
eusionally meeting on special high days and
helidays) We are none Of US the worse for
that. The weekly visits of our representa-
tive, the Herald, have kept all the links in
the chain unbroken, and to-day the SAME
friendly relations exist between US as in the
times past. Had we, met oftener, or dwelt
together in. the flesh, perhaps it might not
not. have been in; unity how much better
then that we have met in the spirit-not
spirits-and that nothing has fute:vened
or sprung up to break our harmony
Heraldistically, then, We are all happy,
though politically .andsocially the picture
may be dark for some or. all of. lis. We
have endured SORROWS, been buffeted, bark
ed at, and have suffered many ills, and we
take it for granted that none Of YOU have
been exempt from the trials which fall TO
the share of man, and therefore receiving
your sympathy, we extend q iq!! share OF
.ours, With the earnesthope that the year 1869
may be. full of the joys which satisfy, and
that the sorrows which come to us may be
tempered to our capacities. In the mean
while let US Hold our tempers In check. 4
happy new year., reader may ve sail to-
.ge:her as pleasantly as we have heretofore
done, and 1870 find us, still fast in friend
ship.