The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-01-04
The End and the Beginning

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you, involuntarily you find you: self con
trastinS your condition and prospects will
those OF just twelve months ago. Then
as now, you formed bold resolutions; then
as now, you tried to analyze your actions fo
the past year, repudiate that which, was nu
profitable and multiply ard strengthen thai
which was commendable. Like q new tenant
enterin. new no, Sc, you plan many i'm
provements: First, the windows shall be
longer and wider, so that the whole building
will be flooded with sunlight. There wasn't
enough sunlight i'll the old house, and shad
ows were oftentimes long and oppressive
There was an artificial light that so resem-
hled the natural, that strangers could scarce
ly detect the fraud. You knew better, but
so long as the world gave you credit for JOY
and radiance, you kept on paying the heavy
price, and even tried to delude yourself into
the belief that it was not a deception. Some
times you actually thought so, blindly yield
ed to the deluson, and imagined that your
household was bright with light that came
gratutously, whilst all the time there were
knockers at the door camoring noisly for
the price. They were considerate knockers,
though, and only called when you were
alone. Sometimes when there We're visitors,
they would tap gently, AS il to remind you
OF their presence, and then retire; but when
into notice and demand recognition Of their
claims. Oftentimes you were tempted to
tell them to turn off the lights-better that
the world should know that you were living
in darkness; better that the glare should 60
out forever than be thus continually harrass-
ed. But no, that would not do. People
call this pleasure Some firmly believe and
count it not dearly bought. You feel that
you are swindled, but will submit to it lit
tie while longer. And, again, in this tene-
ment you are just entering, the walls will
be brighter, the gliding more prominent and
| the sunbeams shall circle their delicate pen
cilings all round and round the ceiling. You
| do not intend to allow them to become
smoked and soiled and blackened, and there
| should be no cobwebs to liarbor spiders and
| proclaim your own careessness. No, no.
You are quite tired of that. They grew on
you imperceptiby last year, but you will
| watch carefully in the future, and when the
| least spot is detached, its erasure shall be
swift and sure.
There are many other improvements which
your hordel experience and immovable de-
termination to better and brighten your life
will suggest, but you can't just remember
them now-by-and. by they will come to you
again. There are two things you are sure
Ola brighter tenement and walls free from
the Gust and dirt which so strongly marked
and so tenaciously chung to the old habita-
ton you are leaving. When you come to
gather together you stock and store, you
are surprised to find so little worth the moy-
ing. 1t is the accumulation OF Il years.
year which sou thought better than its pre-
decessors which the world perhaps,
thought profitable one to you, and yet the
garnering is scarce worth the counting, and
even that which you have treasured so jeal-
ously, and guarded so vigilantly, seems to
have have dwndled immeasurably since you
laid it away. nplying the seive which sep
arates the good from the valueless, among
the chat which heaps up in the great pile
below, you recognize the plans you drew
just one year ago. They were gilt-edged and
rosy-hued then, and the lines were clear and
distinct Now they are faded, bleared and
musty, but you would not retrace them if
you could. The bitter experience of twelve
short months has demonstrated that they
were entirely impracticable-- were even
childish, and you half smile in comparing
the Utopia you then thought the world, to
the stern, harsh reality that has since con
fronted you. You were even foolish nough
oroiy on friendship, and fondly dreamed
that into the current Of yonr life Loves
crystal waters would -gladdcning and
frightening it along the rugged passage.
But, all how different have been the lessons
taught, and you are quite willing to let those
old plans and the unfulfllled hopes and unre-
allied expectations they summon in review,
fade out forever, leaving you naught to re-
member them by save the determination to
avoid reliance upon them in the future.
You hesitate somewhat, and are unwilling
to put your own deeds and doings to the test;
but you know that they, too, must be siftcd,
and so resolutely and with confidence you
enter upon the task Strange, one by one
they also fall through the seive to swell the
stock OF the worthless. You are certain that
something has been accomplished during the
past year worthy to be preserved throughout
your whole life. 1t needs no stretch Of men,
ory to recall the promises made to yourself,
the unspoken promises made to friends and
the assurances held out to those near and
dear to you, and yet there is little evil
dence of them to | e found now. You repu-
dated friendship. Has it proven more faith
less than you? You scoffed at love. Have
you merted more than you received: 1t is
bitter to gather up the tattered and incon-
grlous fragments and carry them to the new
tenement, and bittcrer still to realize how
wide the difference between prospective
and the retrospective, but we must face them,
and upon that which is past build up that
which is to come. mot in Hudes alone doth
mortas on Gods green earth are given tasks
as difficult and seemingly as proftless. Your
own hand must shape and igive tone to the
destiny before you, and however dark and
threatening the shadows that fall athwart
your pathway may be, that hope which springs
eternal in the human breast, will buoy you
on and strengthen you for the contest.
NEW YEARS MISUNDERSTANDING the
continuous snow Of Monday, the New Years
callers were out in full force, and the Gus
tom was generally observed. At many pri-
vate residences, elegant receptions were held
from eleven o'clock until three, and at nearly
every house, refreshments and wines greeted
the callers. There was an almost univer
sci exchange OF the compliments and
courtesies Of the season, and Happy New
Year" resounded from all directions. The
benedicts out-numbered the single gents,
and attacked the decanters in battalions OF
from two to twenty. There is no telling how
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