New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-31
4" pESOT UED TH1T-v

We have already discussed the " fattened
"pocket-bookp moralities of this festive and
homiletcal season, but we may still venture
upon other timely didactics. This is the last
day Of year upon which no human being
can look back without observing, in what he
has done or left undone. more failures than
successes, much loss at least of opportunity, and
little gain compared either with his wants or
his debts. Such retrospect can make no re-
Elective and sensible person comfortable, and
accordingly it is upon the 31st Of December
that great numbers of dissatisfied people usu-
ally resolve that they VIII be wonderfully
circumspect in their omissions and commits
sions, at least for year to come. Jones
forswears cigars and Mrs. Jones SOL
ennly determines to "nagn him no more.
Smith vows to be good" expecting
also to be "happy." Robinson, whose
bills for raiment have ceased to be
joke, does MT perhaps make up his mind to 90
naked, but he would if such nudosity were not
forbidden by law and the climate. Students
buy new reading-lamp, and betake them
selves to furious digging Bacchanals discard
the whole series of potations FROM the matin
cocktail to the vesper toddy; some swear off
monest-give up tea and coffee. Perhaps the
secret of all this is that we are fond of making
little experiments with ourselves. We are
curious to know whether, like free and indie
pendent creatures we are running our own
machines, or whether some little contemplate
half-accidental habit has really got the better
of us; and unfortunately we sometimes find
that it has. 1t may not be a decidedly bad
one, but some men chafe under any form of sla-
very and do not relish being the serfs evan of the
virtues, though this is kind of bondage to
which few of us are subject. We frequently
admit that we are poor, weak creatures, but
we do not expect anybody to believe U.S. and
our real opinion is that we are giants of te
nacious purpose and miracles of wisdom. The
vilest habit which we have is that of lying to
ourselves. Whom man can comprehend his
duplex nature, can understand that he is both
promiser and promisee, and that one part of
his constitution can be foully false and dis
honorable to the other he will then be in O
position to make resolutions and, better still,
to keep them. We do not sufficiently take in
the force of Shakespeare's admontion-" This
above all, to thine own soul be true"-and it
is for this reason that hell according to DR..
Johnson) is so remarkably well paved.
There is religious aspect of this topic,
which it is not our province to discuss, but
surely secular newspaper may in its New
Years preachment call attention to the uni
versally admitted and universally disregarded
principle that Honesty is the best Policy. The
weight and stress of the prOverb is in the last
word of it. What we should always remem-
Der, whether we be profane or pious, is the
folly, even if worldly wisdom were all, of
weakly yielding to temptation and of doing
evil under the lunatic notion that good can
come of it. There is a whole group of human
infirmties which bring their own penalty
along with them. mtemperance is at least the
ruin of the body; to be dishonest is finally to
be distrusted by everybody; to lie is to be in
contnently disbelieved even when speaking
the truth gluttony means dyspepsia ideness
imports poverty, either material or mental
and avarice ends in human hatred and con-
tempt. Far be it from us to give good advice.
1t is the cheapest and the most worthless of all
commodities. rs the reader may be obliged
to live through A. ID. 1873, he is interested in
finding out how he may live Che most hap
ply by which we mean the most wisely but
the discovery he must make for himself. since
Generally, it is not well to spread our pro-
jects over TOO large space of the future.
Hardly worth while is it for us to be bother
ing our brains about what we shall be doing
next July. Twenty-four hours are about all
we can take care of at once, and much more
than many are able to plan campaign for.
Most "plans" are a snare and delusiOn. For
her intellectual cultivation, who has not known
some enthusiastic girl to map out course of
study ranging in history from Herodotus to
Hume, in poetry from Hesiod to Tennyson, in
intellectual philosophy from Plato to Sir Will
liam Hamltoni And who has not lOnged to
say TO her, "Not so fast, and not so much,
" my dear young ladyr 1t is not otherwise
in other matters. Haste is not only wasteful
but it is confusing and weakening. One book at
a time is ensugh,-nobody car swallow the whole
Astor at gulp. And 30 in most other matters
moral and material the rule Of making haste
slowly holds. The ore fatal mistake, though,
is to fold our hands and do nothing ut all.
Waiting is sometimes wise, but waiting by no
means precludes working. Wisdom is mostly
picked up in small fragments. here little
and there little-never in the lump.
Nobody can tell how strong the impulse is
which we feel to give advice on this last day
of the year. nor how difficult it is for Us to
disobey the call. We come back to the main
point Of good resolutions. When we say 81 ,cill
20 40 thisr or " sciu not do thatn IL should