Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-01-07

"New Years" in New York means great deal
and keeps it up for week. AS the week from
Christmas out may be called the grand elbow
out" of the year, 30 the week from January 1st
is the great opening Or blowing in. II we could
only have the national anniversary and the an
nual moving day also occur on the first of jan
nary, it would leave little to be desired. AS il
is We content ourselves with two days compliment
tary calls, one male and one female" Gas the new
married swain said when he asked for his pass
age tckets) an annual balance sheet in hun.
dred thousand counting houses more or less, the
reorganization Of the city and state governments
the meeting of the respective Legislatures, and
the voluminous messages OF their respective
chief magistrates (chiefest Of chief magistrates,
for yarn" are Tilden and Wickham, of this
New Years., and the Week Of Prayer
To begin here and go backwards the last
named Observance has naturally shifted from its
pristine position as great combined effort OF
devotion by the Christian World AZ such, and
though unchanged in theory and form, tends to
become in practice what the same periodic sea-
son is in secular affairs, the starting point OF
the religious year-which unfortunately, is not
a year, by any means, but three or four months
season. So many great revivals have dated their
inception to the Week OF Prayer, that it is be.
coming too much tho custom to look for little,
and attempt little until the signal is given by
| the Evangelical Alliance for long pull, strong
pull, and a pull altogether. Some think that
for this reason the date Of the "Week" ought to
be set back to the first Of November. But then
the holidays would come in to mar matters, and
it is the general feeling in church in Congress,
that not much can be done until after the holi-
days.
Yesterday, therefore, the annual new departure
began, in the natural way of all business, with q
sort Of taking account Of stock, in the form OF
General Thanksgiving for mercies on hand, pro-
utlxr uni
vices are kept up in churches central to large
districts of this city and Brooklyn. Quite a num-
ber of churches, especially of the Methodist de-
nomination, are strong enough III forvid purpose
to sustain independent daily meetings.
Brooklyn-and for that matter measurably the
whole Christian public-is this year very unfor-
tunate in having large proportion OF the Swear
er's Prayer mixed into the Week. The excite
ment over the Tournament of tho Titans already
runs high and will be hot before the week is out,
with hard swearing on the crescendo to pitch
more terrible than our army in Flanders ever
dreamed of. Yesterday and to-day, they are
fighting for the Judge. The two junior
judges of the Court (McCue and hey,
to stand in position of presumable bias the lat
ter for Iiton, the former for Beecher while
the presiding Judge, Nelson, has been regarded
HI in a perfectly impartial position, AZ well as
uucommonly respected and a Judicial ability and
character. For these reasons, it was some time
ago arranged between the JUDGES and counsel,
that Judge Nelson should try the case Mr.
Beecher has judicous friends, as well as other
men, only you don't hear from them and they
we're freshly chagrined and discouraged by
Shearman's and Tracys snapmove and sharp
struggle to get the case on before Judge McCue,
before the time arranged, 30 AZ to secure for the
trial of the case, the judge whose decision IA,
vorable to their tactics had Just been overruled
by the majority of the Court As in each Of
Mr. Shearman's previous sharp strategic move
ments. he took Jothing by his motion except the
odium OF it. Never, surely, was a man 30 cruel
" handled by his friends. But the War of the
Ttans a to be grand affair, whoever is hurt /;
and when the great oaks and rock-rooted hills
begin to fly, shall be there to see The plain
tiff leads the Tilt on with sharp lance OF
Beech though some offer to bet he Will iind
the fibre of the defendant Beecher. The Shear
man draws blood at every clip-bnt whose
There is mighty Porter on hand with plenty OF
up hill work to do. Fullerton is no joke any
way that can see. Aud while the attack will
have the Pryor argument, it will be finally re-
pulsed by the most consummate forensic Evarts
| effer put forth in court OF justice.
| To return to our moutons, to wit the Demo-
cratic lambs just returning to the folds and pas
| lures of the municipal government-the true
| old Ring is clear enough in the long and well
written message OF Mayor Wickham. The new
Boss displays the tactics OF the old, on which his
popularity, or that of any other Democratic
Boss in city like this rests. Not in vain was the
augury of the Mayor expectants exploring tour
provement" projected and begun under for
| mer not 10 very fragrant regime nor that OF
| the prompt appointment Of MIR. Martin the great
| Improvement Man-perhaps the coming Hauss'
mann of the American Paris-as Commissioner
| of Public Works. Now l am no party man nor
carping critic Of our rulers, and shall make no
| insnuations on the Mayors immediate and Ca
| ger resumption of the Tweed Improvement poll
cy. 1 have not intimated that magnificent
| regime of expenditure can be intended only for
that other magnificent purpose to which it was
applied by the former Boss. l might have said
that both Kelley and Friday are wiser in then
| generation than the children of Reform could be
| without becoming children OF the Other Person
age But didn't say, did II that one of them
was all Unjust Steward, or the other represen
tative city creditor such as Wickham is EN-
phatically in favor of treating fairly-who may
expect to make a good thing of it. oh, no
we are all in the ,parlor Just now' st
sweetly exchanging the compliments ant
ibations of the season. 1t wont dt
for rude correspondent, Ignorant OF the amen
ities, to lift up his barbaric yawp and. make DIS
tubance. Only we do know that proletariat Of
| contractors and their voting gangs is indispen'
sable to the support of any Democratic admins
tratiop in this citv; body whose support In turn
| requires fat Jobs i'll plenty; and a body to whicl
the honest economy Of Reform is..mere cucumbe
inoonshine. These late hosts of Tweed hav'
been sore and sulking, these two years OF "har'
times" and with the bitterness they had il
store against Illuen, LneTe WOuiu uhNe pooh Nv
Governor of that name unless the mind Napo
leonic splendors of the old Ring had been go
before their eyes as the city's share in the fruit
of victory. So much for the Mayors message
Happily we are poor.
In one respect we are on the mend Gu
New Years drinking customs, spite OF the sneer
of-the Times, for instance-at the effort, ar
palpably yielding to the attack of common sens
philanthropy and decency. A large inquiry ha
assured me that the earnest requests of pastor
and writer's for the banishments Of temptation
| from the tables of the ladies have been implicit
observed by thousands who had never done 81
before. Especially noticeable was thi
In the houses of the very rich an
influential people of the city, who are YER
largely serious and invariably mora
class. The question was sinply-will you fool
lectively) request and press every msn win
| makes fifty or hundred calls, to make hinsel
drunk ?-as lie must do unless he will disoblig
you individually by refusing to mix in his stomac
the heterogeneous alcoholic drinks you wonl'
, force his polteness to swallow. Ladies are be
ginning to see the question. 1t has but on
answer, The custom Of Offering wine &c. a
New Years is doomed, 30 far as the more re
spectacle and influential society OF this city
concerned. DELAWARE
Charlie Ross statistics.
The statistics in the Charlie Ross case, mo-
, | coming in. are depressing enough. More tina