Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1870-01-01
Mr.. Anderson,s Column.
New Years Day.

tne lingering shout oil the merry Cnrlstmass-
softened Ms the memory comes in from It's great
reach back to the Nativity, and looks at the
detail of the one year. 1t is the lingering vi
bration of tire Christmas chimes, softencd as
they reach on out of The past, and see the
coming future. The old year is dying, and
we are husheti as we see him die. Are wciess' 4
hushed as we stand by to witness the travail
which Is to give us the newborn year
There stands by us grim Time, and he Is
writing with sharp stylus the closing page Of
the volume Of 1860. When il is written, the !
book will be shut, and locked, and Time will
give the key to God! We can never open
the book again. to alter any Of the history, or
to scratch out any of the blots that may be on
its pages. Whatever of power we may have,
we cannot touch the past. aI
A new book is to be opened before as on
which we shall write whether we will OF not)
the history of 1870. The leaves of itare clean
and pure, now will they be so year from
now 7 glt
What wonder that the glad shout or the
merry peal, of week ago, is mellowsd and
almost birshed, to day
Itis a day for rctrospcctions. We look back
| OuJs We uiI COlilt W plHNC w IlSIC
we sit down and turn our faces To tho road over
which we have toiled through the twelve
months gone. Our seat is higher than all the
hillocks Overswhich we have walked, and We
can see into the valleys in which we have
found shadows. What do we sce2
There hare been bright spots IN tie 'ray. Eve
ry year has its spring time, when flowers
bloom. Bright sunshine and gentle showers
unlock the ice-bound streams and send the
waters rippling, and gurging, and laughing
on their way ;-and they unclasp the hand Of
the Frostking from the earth, and lei up the
tender grassblade. Then evnIe the flowers
and leaves, heralded by the arbutus and the
singing birds make an echoed song il our
hearts 10 ur
These arc glad times, that have como in the
year, when loves, and hopes, and gladnesses
| that made us sing, came TO us. The footsteps
of such days are marked in flowers in our
memories, and as we sit here, and look back,
: we are smiling again at thought of them.
} What if there were sometimes tears in the
} midst of those days. What would April be,
If there were no showers-and then, what
, would May be, if there had been none?
l There has been tie time for labor IN MeAot SUM-
What year can be. without summer The
toiler must have remembrance of the dust, aud
sweat, and weariness of the day OF toll The
+ glebe of the earth must be broken,--the weeds
: which iniest the corn must be removed,-th
toughening stalks needs culture and watching
What though our toll was in hearts? Is the
glebe there more easily broken, than is that OF
: the 6eldsg Do weeds that grow in the heart
, and that make a very wire-grass Of habits take
less Of labor than though they grew in the
{ fields Are there not mental and mo fal uten-
sils, that weary as much us do agricultural p
:. Are not the little shoots of the mind those o
taste and desire, and experience as needing o
: culture as any that are yet to bear fruitage
!. Then there has been the time fer Me iqgat1er
I ing Does not cacli year hold its autumn, ant
each autumn its harvest? Every seed-sowina
is toward u reaping-time. "While tire eartl
remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold
and heat, and summer and winter, and day ant
i night shall not cease" (Gea oiii 22)
o Each year of ones life shows the results o
his earlier years There are crops gathered il
bitter tears from the "wild oats" of YOUTH
. There are glad harvess from the earlier virtues
|
8 OF purse, or of heart, relieved, gathers com
>. pound interest rs the years go on. The yea
past has shown of such ingathering. God for
bid of the kind that comes with tears. Got
y grant OF the kind that makes glad the song O
!, the Harvest Home"
u lSo, TOO, (GOd he.p u.s. there has been tie soiate
n time. The year begins and ends with winter
10 and so, sometimes, does the year of tie llfe.-
, The bowling winds blow then, and drive tn
= cutting sleet. BodSss grow pinched and gath
v or to themselves garments for warmth.
Why not so of hearts Does not the coll
ll winter of aflllcton come 2 Do not peopl
IN gather comforts as garments for the heart
, warmth The garments that at the begin
a ming of the year were gay with life and love
v are changed for sombre ones that tell Of th
= cerements OF death, and that have the colo
@, damp smell of the chanel house upon them
n Somewhere In the path of the last year ther
n. Is small mound that catches the eye of som
one who sits on this hill OF observation, an
a looks'back to-day. The mound rises over
still heart (perhaps little heart,) that q yea
y ago beat warm and loving How the leade
h. wiRry sky seems to settle down when you al
IL sNS"s"S " 'hos ihshO hhiONh ~ - tnc lHOi
prominent thing you see,
There are places Where the wind came such
ID Ing through yalleysA"valleys of shadow" til,
o, We're colder and harder topass than even. III
va valley of the shadow of death The vale,
er of afiliction are matched by the valleys
:. trouble, and valleys of doubts, and valleys
~ regrets There is sweet valley, thousI
- through which one passes--sometllnes viii
o. tearsT-and II Is valley of humiliation, but 4
ID shadow Is the shadow of the cross VIII
he passes through that can read the Psalmist vii
az rich intelligence, as he siugs Of those twl
l. passesthrough the valley of Baca weeping
:" make ii . weh" Who oan pass through sucl
70 and not make Of 1t a refreshing and a comic
N TO an0thergt p
70 But out ef isiatT eorses ne spring time. S
he out Of our winter comes ourconfort. "Befol
Al was aiiilcledI went asiray, but nolr have
kept tny word u The dawn Of day Is beaut
~ fll because of the night that is now gone
vi The lniseries of earth are food for our longing
H. Who dnao NOT lnufr lar haa.,... a.. -.