Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-12-18
CHRISTMAS.

TO LHe universal Custolu WILL tHo "eSNiJ
press, to take advantage of the Christmas
holidays for short relaxation from the in
cessant toll incident to the publication of g
paper, we will intermit next week; and the
next number of the ENQUIRER will appear
on the 1st day of January, 1874. For the
ensuing year, we have many attractions in
store, and shall endeavor to make the En-
oUIRER more worthy of the liberal support
it receives than it has ever been heretofore
With the beginning of the next volume will
be commenced Mrs. Nellie Marshal McAfee's
new story-"Destiny or Hounded Do,cn, u
which is one of the most thrilling, yet capti'
waiting stories that has ever appeared from her
pen. In addition to this and other charm
ing serials already prepared, the usual variety
of miscellaneous reading will be given. Sub
scriptions will be received singly or in clubs,
as announced in prospectus on the fourth page
In answer to many interrogatories from those
making up clubs, we would say that they
can receive names of persons whose subscrlp'
ton may not have expired, and that all COM
petitors will have an equal opportunity for
the premiums offered, as the awards, in no
instance, will be made until / o'clock P. NJ,
on the first Monday of March next.
TO our friends, one and all, we present the
compliments of the season, wishing each a
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
THE TIMES.
With this weeks issue, we close the present
year. The terminating of one year and the
ushering in of another, is calculated to sug-
gest to the meditating mind a train of reAec'
tions. There is in nature nothing which abb
solutely indicates that the year should begin
and close at any particular period of its revo-
luton. The four seasons-Spring, Summer,
Autumn, and Winter-are so intimately con-
nccted, that it is impossible to mark the day
when the one ceases and the other begins.
By common consent, in many civilized ma
tions, January is the first month in the year,
and December is the last. This, then, is the
last month of eighteen hundred and seventy
three, and in accordance with an almost uni
versal custom amongst newspaper publishers,
to the ENQUIRER it is the last week.
The thought fills the soul with reflections
Of a contradictory nature. On looking back
over the past year memory recalls much that
is pleasant, and much that is sad. In our
own county and in most of the counties of the
State, the seasons were favorable; and where
industry and skill we're used in cultivating
the fields, good crops were realized. Whilst
provisions are not so abundant as they were
one year ago, there is, when VIC consider the
system of farming which our agriculturists
practice, moderate supply of food in the
county and State.
So much of the past is pleasant; but there
is much that is unpleasant, and much that no
single word will express, unless it be the word
distressing. The year which is now drawing
to close, will mark an epoch in the history,
not only in the State of South Carolina, but
in the history of the whole United States. In
all probability it will be spoken Of by future
generations, as we are accustomed to speak of
1887 and 1857. The year eighteen hundred
and seventy-threc has been a hard year on
the people of the country generally. TO ac-
count for the general pressure is no easy mat
ter. tits problem too difficult for even the
ordinary statesman. There are intricacies in
it's solution which evade the grasp of the
minds of ordinary men. The calamity, what
ever may have been its procuring cause, is
national. In the South, where we are op-
pressed and distressed with badly administer
ed governments, the calamity has not fallen
so heavy as on the inhabitants of the States
which have not undergone the reconstrueting
process. Possibly the wave may pass over u'
mercifully, regarding us as already sufficient
ly burdened; or it may be that in its tida
movement, it has not as yet reached US in Its
strength.
1t is vain to speculate what will or will moi
be the results, since we are not fully acqualnt
ed with either the procuring or operating
cause of the difficulties All that we feel safe
in sayingis, that the countryis passing through
a great financial crisis. There is nothing ex
travagant in saying that the immediate pas
has been hard; the present is still hard and thu
future isnot free from gloom. The density o
this gloom is intensified and made almost i'm
penetrable by the fact that men, in all sec
tions, have lost confidence in the institutions
of the country, and in one another. The for
mer is the natural result of the latter This
ofitself, is sufficient to ruin the country ant
convert it into Babel.
To build up and develop the resources of
country, requires concert of action. No on
individual can make a nation great any NOR
than one stream, however large, can till tn
channel of the great ocean. "Iittle drops o
water little grains of sand, make the might,
ocean and the beautcous land;" but thes
drops of water and grains of sand must b
brought together. In their isolated state
they make nothing. So with men to make
nation they must be brought together. A
single individuals they can accomplish moth
ing, unless in concert with other individual;
Where there is no confidence there can be II
concert of action. This, to some extent,
our deplorable condition and we may safel
say, without any speculation, that until md