The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-12-26
"a Haprv New Year"

u Cne now OlQ year Will nave gone uOWn
into the tomb of the past and be forever
shut out from u vision. The fading
of the old and the beginning of the new
year ever brings both regrets and fond
, anticipations, tears for that which can
return to us never more and bright
I dreams for the days to come. We trust
! that all have enjoyed a happy Christ
mas, and that the new year may bring
e peace and joy and plenty to every
t heart, and to every home. The year of
| eighteen hundred and seventy-eight
t has left a fearful lesson upon its pages,
= which every one has felt to a more or
less degree. While a cyclone of fail
ures have swept over the north, mark
, ing its course with wrecks that never
can be gathered up again, the South
has been scourged with a fearful pesti-
) lence, bringing TO the doors of once
happy and contented hearthstones,
sickness, suffering, starvation, death
and ruin! How sad! Oh, how memoir
able of blasted hopes, suspended bust
f ness, hearts crushed, families ruined,
and the end not yet!
But why mourn and sigh for that
which is past? With the advent of the
New Year, let us form anew good reso-
l%utions, striving with higher aim and
nobler purpose than ever before, to
more closely follow in the footsteps of
Him whose mission on earth was ''peace
and good will to men," Each tender
feeling, every sympathetic tear for hui
man woe and misery, every good reso-
luton, every warm grasp of the hand,
is a step in the right direction, and an
advance towards that high ideal of a
glorious manhood and w~omanhood
which should be the objectof our lives,
and to the accomplishment of which we
should consecrate every energy of our
being. These good resolutions made'in
all sincerity, may be broken; our best
efforts .rove faulty and full of imper-
fections, as they have in all past years,
but let us not grow weary in well do
ing. Such is l~ife-sunshine and shade,
adversely and prosperity. Sometimes
up, and sometimes down. Some will
be afflicted, some prosperous, some tried
and embarrassed, some cheered and en-
couraged by fresh hopes aud new joys.
Let us not, however, be discouraged;
the good far exceeds the bad. Seed
time and harvest is su, ely promised.
The hard and frozen earth will be COW
cred with the golden grain. The bare
and ~leafless branches will bring forth
the beautiful flower and delicious fruit.
Life is but a struggle, a race for the
distant goal. Our three score years
viii o o be numbered; let us fill up
the short span with acts of kindness, in
deeds of charity, and words of cheer.
In so doing we initiate best the exam
pie of Him who has said cit is more
blessed to give than to receive" and
thus lay up treasures in heaven.
Kind friends and patrons, standing
on the threshold of another year, with
the shadowy and uncertain future
stretching away ahead of us in the dim
distance, what pleasant thing shall we
ask from the good Lord for all of you?
Not simply power-for uneasy lies the
head that wears the crown. Not mere
ly wealth, for riches take to themselves
wings and fly away. What better thing
then can we ask for you, amidst all the
approaching hilarity and ~merry-mak-
ing, than that the coming year may be
a happy n to you and yours? What
uncounted wealth of joy there is in The
expression, ga HAPPY NEw YEAR,"
There are no sweeter words in the
English language, and we tender them
in advance to Jul readers with all the
deep earnestness of onc who has seen
happy New Years. Like that simple
heartfelt prayer of the Master, it con-
tains all that we could wish for our
selves or our friends-a year Of smiling
plenty, of genial sunshine and waving
harvests of golden grain, q year in
which well-rewarded labor shall glad
den all the sons of toll. And if there
be any of our readers who are racked
upon beds Of sickness, we ask for them
that quick deliverance like ONE sweet
faced angel may come and fold them i'll
her arms. Friends Of the DEMOCRAT,
God speed you all in the HAPPY New
YEAR to come! May joyous hours like
golden sumbeams fall across your path
ways, and like them melt almost in
svnsibly away till health, comfort and
gladness welcome another New Years
day. Let us all go. forward then, to
meet the duties Of the coming year
all blessing God, giving thanks for the
past and taking new courage for the
/, future.
Were a mali to go to a bank and
get a little accommodation-for in
stance, a couple of hundred dollars
for thirty days-he would have to pay
a dollar or so for it. Were he to OBJ
ject to paying Oh the plea that it cost
the bank nothing to lend him the mo-
ney, and that the currency would
probably be idle anyway if he didn't
take it, he would be set down as q
fool, without ceremony. Yet, similar
objections are made by sensible peo-
pic when a newspaper asks pay for
; little services rendered.
Election Notice.
There will be an election held at
: Farr s. Beaty's Office, on Saturday
| evening, Dec. 2Stll, at 6 o'clock, for
the purpose of electing officers for the
3 Eaton Saving Society for the year
1879. A full attendance is requested.
HFNRVH EAPP