The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-01
NEW YEARS DAY.
The Fashionable Agony
Of the Hour.
Thoughts and Speculations Con-
corning the Coming Year.
Peeping at the Present and Guessing
at the Future.

good resolutions are ever broken there for the
simple reason that none are made. The wheels OF
postmortem vitality never need oilng, but life
runs on in one smooth eternal rat, which never
gets clogged We know OF 40 satisfactory reason
Nhy good resolutions should break out, like moral
v6ds, at the beginning OF the year. But they do
How is it that new diary Is bright, and its pos
SCISSOR natteps himself that every page, without ex
ceptiOn, shall bear the record Of q victory accom-
plishedf Literally, day is to be without line,
and that line is to be worth recording. This would
be very pleasant, perhaps, were 1t practicable.
Only the world would be freer of prigs and human
ity would be so exceedingly virtuous that 1t would
cease tobe amiabe. Sometimes we think that man
and woman would be very nice sort Of thing If 1t
were not for the human nature in them-the hu-
man nature that is so fun OF meannesses that when
we meet man Of moral grandeur he seems to be
OF kindred to a god. Still, we have no disposition
to say anything very severe against custom
which is not without its good side, and which
probably prevents q good many ingenious young
people from being quite SO ''last" and careless as
they would otherwise become. 1t Is better that
good resolutions should be made and broken than
that they should not be made at all The trouble
H. in the case OF the confirmed offender, that what
he mistakes for resolution is only neeting phase
Of feeling, passing impulse toward good, that the
emotion Of the next lew moments VIII Obterate.
We must say that we have more admiration for that
moral residence which Tennyson has described
In his blank-verse portrait OF St. simeon Stylites
than for that supine remorse which everlastingly
mourns an irrevOcabe sin, without striving TO out
grow 1t and forget retaining the blasted ground
of individual crime and error and planting beauti-
ful blossoms and healthy fruit upon spots desc.
Grated by the mildew and the blight OF guilt.
THE COMING YEAR.
These thoughts by way OF the new year. which
dawns upon us to-day. 1t is impossible to cross
this fresh Intel which Time, that venerable
penter, has just laid down, without wondering
what sort Of house this new year is which we
are going to inhabit. Is it o house OF glass at
which the past and the future may throw stones2
viii 1t be Inhabited by good ACTIONS and worthy
motives that will bear the light of day and the
inspiration Of the historian, and not prove un.
worthy OF our record as a nation Unnappily it Is
not difficult 10 reply to such questionings. Social
changes are wrought too slowly lOr 1t not to be
easy to predict that the general characteristics OF
the coming year will very much resemble those Of
the year that is just over At intervals, under
the prestidigtation OF some great political leader,
mighty change is effected at a blow, and new
order of things springs from q coup Getat accom-
plished In q moment. But, rule, events do not
overstep each other and impinge on one another's
heels. The process OF the SUMS is gradual one,
and when We come to the end Of lie we find we
have just seen enough to have our curiosity piqued
to The utmost and catch ourselves wishing to
live, II only to see how the thing is going to
turn out We would great deal rather
hnger on to a good old healthy centenari-
anism and revisit the earth for little space
after the lapse OF 500 years. Upon moments re-
nection such visit implies q host of contradic-
tions too obvious to combat. The very prospect
makes one feel just as ''eere" as an invitation to
60 back In person to the fourteenth century with
all ones nineteenth century ideas fresh upon him.
The nineteenth century man would have peen
burned or beheaded imprisoned for life 500 years
ago, just as he will be regarded a smart savage,
an embryon OF civilization, 500 years hence. Look
little into the matter and you will see that this
new year has not so much to felictate itself upon
rs you may at first suppose. Some time ago one
OF our daily papers declared that the exer-
tons in the midst Of US Of "Society for the
Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals" were evidence
OF high state OF civilization. Not So On
the contrary, 1t is evidence of low state. A
high state OF civilization would render such
society absolutely unnecessary, for the best
protection Of the animals would be public senti-
ment. Doubtless our present stage Is better than
many past stages, but the transition point al too
low level to deserve any very hearty congratua-
tons Doubtless, too, the coming year will do
something toward raising that level. Let US In
quire briefly into some Of the matters in regard to
which the year that has just dawned may be
imagined as exerting itself to some purpose.
LOCAL CgIvALRY.
without taking into view those wide questions
which are OF universal application and effect, the
history OF the race and humanity at large, let US
limit ourselves 20 local facts and specuations
Will the coming year erect any great change In our
local chivalryH The idea Of chvalry Is associated
with the Middle Ages, and 1t is only justice to the
modern New YORK man to acknowledge that he Is
true to that idea and acts as though he
had no concern with an institution that
New Year can do anything valuable for as 1t can
improve the conduct OF the average man toward
the average woman. 'The polteness Of American
gentlemen Is proverbaL" you Will say. True. The
politeness Of q gentleman, be he American or
the politeness Of the American mans Is that
prover6ial, tooY II so, let US make it something
fact The imponteness the brutality Of the average
New York man and boy Ia nowhere more iorcibly
and y ths ana On
Jersey City and neighboring places, and on the
street cars all over the city. Men may elbow
ton is likely % reach him IN some form
the weaker sex, the monopolizing Of seats espe.
OF not a very high degree OF civilization. And the
same spectacle which Is seen at steamboat land. |
held at the depots OF the street cars and in the
cars themselves. The element o. savagery must |
be pretty strong In the man VINO can JoStle aside |
q weak woman make use OF that advantage
BY obtaining O.. seat and complacently con.
template standing before him during q |
long and tedious ride the victim whom |
he has elbOwed out OF her rights This Is
Is not sentimental exaggeration II Is fact that
repeats itself hundreds OF times daily. We are
quite aware that some women are better
able to keep their feet than some men,
and we do not pretend TO lay down
universal rule which shall determine
the precise amount and degree OF concession to be
made by masculines in every case. The problem
Of detern lining whether the robust lady with the
fine complies i0n and the healthy sparkle of eye |
Is not much better able to remain standing half
an hour than that thin wisp oil man who looks |
as though breath OF AIR too much might cause |
the place that now knows him to know him no |
more Is one too difficult for to solve. For aught
we Know the lady may preserve only the shell and |
outside show OF health, and be sinking daily into
tne grave by incnes perceptible to none but the |
mnlIY nlYRCian nan mr. an mn nOaa