The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-01
The Custom of Making New
Years Presents.
Services i'm Catholic and Epis-
cOpal Churches.
Weel may we a. be,
III may we never see.
Here's to the lassies

but thousands were out, padding through the
mire, and yet they somehow seemed happy. The
close neighborhood OF New Years made them for
yet the dscomfOrts that envirOned them-the
drlzzlc, the perilous walking, the overcrowded
cars. The principal business concentrated around
the markets, the grocery stores and the drink
Ding saloons. The old year received q
gay "send off - but the newcomer, as the rising
sun, viii be accorded the principal honors and his
health will be toasted IN half million bumpers be-
Nore night. A great number Of people postponed
going home last night till an immoderately late
hour They were busily engaged hunting up tur-
Keys and demljohns, as II the city about being
esieged and the laying up Of supplies against pos
sible famine was the imperative necessity OF the
hour. Many Of those who went home last evening,
especially by the ferries well provided against the
horrors of starvation, grew absent-minded on the
wav and left their supplies behind them. Such as
these cannot say turkey" to-day, and their c0ndi-
tion Ii much to be pitied. When the snowfall
turned to rain yesterday aud made the
SIDEWALKS AS SLIPPERY AS CREASED GLASS
there were many gloomy forebodings that the
great eventful occasion of New Years. would turn
out bitter mockery of enjoyment, that the walk
ing would be as '.parlousn as navigating q tight
rope, and that nothing short of fifty dollar sleigh
or carriage would fetch fellow through his des-
tined list Of calls. A change however, came over
the situation before night, and while there an
increase in the slush there was q corresponding
diminution in the risk OF breaking ones neck But
before midnight 1t changed again. and II everybody
who goes out paying visits to-day gets home safe
9nd sound of limb before morning Providence win
have proved exceedingly kind.
De confined to the Catholic and Episcopal churches
These will be brief, and sermons VIII be generally
{ The custom OF making calls on this day has al.
ready been alluded to. 1t is very commendable
social practice and receives its fullest development
everywhere throughout the country. In spite Of
mated. and which have prejudiced many worthy
people against it. the custom is hardly ever
nod On the social Sas % M
be apt to flourish Tor all time. They have some
ahing similar In Paris, but It is OF less muscular
Charles Lamb used to say that no one Of whatever
rank can regard 1t with Indifference. "Of all
Sounds OF all BELLS" says he, "most solemn and
THE PEAL WHICH RINGS OUT THE OLD YEAR.
i never hear 1t without gathering up Of my
mind to a concentration OF ali the fmages that
have been diffused over the past twelve months !;
all have done or suffered, performed or neglected
in that regretted time begin to know It's worth
as when person dies. 1t takes personal color;
nor was 1t poetical flight in contemporary
/ saw the skirts of the departing year.
The merry ma kings of New Years Day are OF very
ancient date in England. The head Of the house
comicaily called lambs wool, from which he drank
their heaths then passed it to the rest that they
might drink, too. The word that passed among
them was the ancient Saxon phrase, acoss hazel
taat Is your health. Hence this came to be recog-
THE wAssAIL OR wAssEL BOWL.
Tie poorer class OF people carried q bowl adorned
with ribbons round the neighborhood, begging for
a, that they too, might enjoy wassail as well Is
10 S m ns ey had
example has been preserved
Wassai wassail the town.
Our ,sss, II Is white, our ale n Il brown;
We be good fellows ali; I drink to thee
Here's to Filpah and her long tail.
God send our measter US never may fall
And then you i shall hear our Jolly aG ~as,ai
Be here any maids, suppose here be some
sure they Will not let young men stand on the cold stone
And the airest maid in the house let US ali in
The custom Of making presents on this day though
almost obsolete In England, fourishes vigorously
among ourselves The custom was, no doubt, de-
hoS eUW m oaads npesa a@e
presents except on this day: Brand in his popular
.Antlquitlesm observes, on the authority OF Bishop
stillingdeet that the saxons kept the festival Of
the New Year with more than
FEAsTING AND JoLLITY,
ana with the presenting OF New Years gifts to each
other. Fosbroke notices the continuation of the
practice during the Middle Ages, and Ellis in his
that Henry ILL., extorted New Years sifts from his
subjects. The New Years gifts presented by indi-
viduals to each other were suited to sex, rank,
situation ana circumstances. From Bishop Halls
'satires" It appears that the usual gilt Of tenants
In the country to their landlords was q capon,
and Cowey, addressing the same class OF society,
When with low legs and in humble guise
Unto his wo oR pa Z the New Years tide
An orange stuck with cloves was common
present and Is explained by Lupton, who says that
The flavor of wine Is improved and the wine itself
preserved from mouldiness by an orange or lemon
stuck with cloves being hung within the vessel so
AS not TO touch the liquor
a
Gloves were customary New Years gifts. they
were formerly very expensive article, worth as
much as from five to ten dollars pair. Occasion
% OF was ws
too often were accepted by magistrates and
judges.
cded cause in favor Of lady with the unsttrac.
tive name of Croaker, on the ensuing New Years
Day she sent him pair Of gloves, with forty Of the
gold coin called angels In them. Sir Thomas re-
turned the gold, with the following note Mis-
tress-since IL were against good manners TO re.
your gloves GLOW sSt as for Tie lining utterly refuse
IT. When pins were first invented aAd brought
sntS sS SS me e ne s
acceptable TO ladies' and money given for the
purchase purchase OF them was called .pin money" an
OF money secured by husband on his marriage
aor the private expenses Of his wife. During the
New Years gifts to the sovereign was carried TO
an extravagant height. The Queen delighted in
gorgeous uTesScs, IN JeWeiry, IN all Kinds OF Orn0-
inents for her person and palaces, and i'm nurses
filled with gold coin. In the reign OF lanes Il
The money gifts seem to have been continmad for
some time, but the ornamental articles presented
appear to have been few and Of small value wa
initiate Paris rather than London in the practice
OF giving and receiving presents on this day.
NEW YEARS IN PARIS
In Paris IL is by NO means uncommon for man Of
5000 or 10000 francs year to make presen IT, on
New Years Day which cost him fifteenth part OF
his income. No person able to give must on this
day pay visit empty handed The day commences
with the Parisians at an early hour by the inter-
change OF their visits and bon-b0ns The nearest
blood nave had their calls, then friends and ac-
quaintances The conflict TO anticipate each others
calls occasions the most agreeable and whimsical
hoa prof N pOlite