The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-01-19
WAITING FOR THE NEW
YEAR.

WAITING FOR THE NEW
YEAR.
BY MARY RUSSELL.
I'll just wait until The New Year!n
Henry Miles ran his fingers through
the crisp rings Of his short, brown hair,
and felt much better after striking his
balance with his conscience, which had
been making rather an urgent demand,
just then.
All, who are not entirely hardened,
have these occasionnl calls Of conscience;
but few possess Sufficient strength of
character to meet its demands promptly
and squarely; they are just off with a
! promise to pay at some~ apparently o
convenient season, as in the case of this
gay young Harry Miles.
"Let's see," he continued, with a
thoughtful whistle, august, January;
Ave months. can finish my wild oats
in that time, and then for reform IA
long face and the steady snail-trot of a
proper life, as the old folks dub it.
Every letter from home is full of warn
ings and cautions against that broad
road but the simple, old fogies don't
know how broad and Jolly the road really
is, nor how long I've been travelling
therein. My pretty Maud, with only
her eighteen years, is wiser than they,
and has guessed somewhat Of my course.
How sweetly she pleads in this letter for
sher Harry to he his own noble SELF and
turn noao into the upland of safety.
There is always danger in delay" she
adds ominously.
Heighol but / can't do it now. l
must have time to screw up my courage;
and then the New Year is a fine time to
begin anew, as it were-turn down the
blotted page and begin On a clean one!
The young man arose and proceeded
to put his hat on before the little mirror
in his lodging-room settling it to his
satisfaction with q jaunty tip, he drew
on his gloves and then sauntered down
the street TO join his gay companions,
and spend half the night in pleasure
seeking and carousing.
He was not naturally bad, this young
clerk in the counting-house Of Braddock
n Co. on the contrary, his inclinations
were rather toward goodness; but he
was OF q pleasure-loving, volatile nature,
as his hnky, yellow-brown hair and
bright blue eyes fully attested.
Fol the first year in the city, he con-
Quoted himself with steadiness and cor
RICHNESS, after his simple, home-bred ways,
and quite succeeded in gaining the conf.
dence and respect ofhis employers. After.
ward, as he became more intimate with 9th.
er yourg menand clerks city bred and not
few of them decidedly fast, he gradual
ly found himself straying into forbidden
paths and being more innocent in the
ways and penalties Of sin than those, he
often failed to exercise even their iudg
ment and caution. in the pursuit Of its
pleasures. 1t was "oeucedly dull" as hs
termed 1t, in his cheap lodgings Of ar
evening, and after the steady tread-mill Of
the counting house all day "a fellow
needed something stirring"
Everywhere he was a fayorite; ga iol
ly good fellow" they called him, sunny
tempered and handsome, and liberal to
FAULT. The very kind that go SO quickly
Even this careless youth had, a
length, began to realize how slipper,
was the ground under his feat. Hi
aroused conscience, strengthened by
pleading letter from his sweetheart, haa
given him q day Of gloomy abstraction
quite rare to his sanguine temperament
"I1I Just wait until the New Year,
that had been the final compromise, an,
he kept on in the old way, light an,
buoyant, and, sadly true, more wild an
~ reckless than before. at must be
short run, 30 I'll see to 1t that it is a me-
ry one,' he said gayly.
Some four months after this one of b
employers took him aside and said wit
decision mAeAw
Young man, you must sput on th
: brakes or We shall discharge you. FL
the first year and q halt we have no con
plants, but lately your work is not u
to the mark. Besides 1t is against OF
rule y keecsa dinipsted clerk in OF
he'd holly and he star
quiz rikht, Dir; but | a
b6t113{ 4 I'm going to lea
al my bad habits behind with the o
:. year. Indeed, sir, / am"
Hnmph," .growled the old man, &c
New Years ssf6rm : I've heard of SUI
things before but, Young sir, what VI
suit your case is to begin Sowp
There seemed 10 Be q clap Of thund
9 in that last word, and II rang in Henry
brain al day with Z 6eafenine sensatio
1hat eye1ins he determined not to
out; % b ~ alone IN his cheerle
~lodging-room With his elbow resting
the rough dsal stsnd, his head in /
hAnds, and be thoughts plunged in 1
depths Of gloom. By-and-by. he "
Z Aroused ~ sheef<y dap on the should
and Z veil known voics in his ear:
Why, Hal old boy. what are "
mourning hare FORT Come, we've be
waiting or you. IT'S time for the Va
itys b1t i6rst we'll drop in At the Q.
ner and tale spmething to drive d.
car away. You look decidedly blue"
Harry benitated. He had ARMY
tended % refusss but then Il would
intoierable to spend the long wn'
evening in that dull cherries ro'
with-himself; that is, his conscien