Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-31
..TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF"

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF"
! We are all reformers at the end of an
old and the beginning of Il new year.
To-day we will review the pages of
the old year with their blOtted, blurred
and tOrtuOus records, and tomorrow we
: will turn over a new leaf, all bright,
promising. immaculate, and We will re-
| solve that it shall be kept clean and I'M
| sulliGd by any mistakes or irregularl-
/ ties.
! The business man observes that his
| affairs have been miSmanaged i'll this
| and that particular; that he has lost
money by a shOrt-sighted policy in GER
! tain directions; that his income might
have been doubled if he had pursued u
! different cOurSein certain contingencies,
! and he resolves that the year 1882 shall
see great improvement upon the
! methods and management of the year
! 1881. Tomorrow he will turn over 4
new leaf
AOther mans home life has not been
rs happy as he would desire; the affairs
! of his household have been neglected and
run at Loose ends; his children are grow
/ ingUpwith had habits and wcll-develOp-
| ed propensitieS to wicked lives; there
! has very little sunlight come into the
! window of his home during the year,
! and lac finds its atmosphere growing
! deSOlate and fOrbidding rather than
! making for him the dearest spot on
! earth" He has revOlved these things
| in his mind and thinks he sees the rem
| cdy and the means Of reform. To-
morrow he will turn over Il new leaf.
Another man finds in his personal
habits and pursuits many mistakes and
| irregularities which have been the source
of much misery and rcmOrse. He has
| injured his health and spirits by dissipa-
tiOnS of various kinds; he has deprecia-
ted his standing in the community by
absolute indulgcncicS and associations;
he has blunted his moral perceptions
and his capacity for rational enjoyment
by eNccSSeS i'll many directions. To-
morrow he will turn over new leaf.
In the matter of turning over Il new
Leaf it very much simplifies the pro-
cess if we can find n single, intalliblc
rule or guide by which to gauge our con-
duct, methods or management in any
reforms we aim to make. If in our bus
mess affairs, our home life, our personal
relations, we can find 4 single rule
which will, like a mariners compass,
both i'll storm and calm, always point
out the right course with unerring GER
tainty, it would very much simplify and
assure the reforms we seek.
Aud there i. = .. ...:
personal affairs, can always be relied on.
The Lord has so made this world that
a man can afford to do right; otherwise,
H. The Bible is fraud.
- l L. n ht,nNhlU
81 And the world has been OIL the
track for eighteen centuries.
This is going back to what may he
termed Fundamental principles" But
we get rule that is founded Onthc con-
stitutiOn of things. No man ever pros
pers permanently, or succeeds success
fully until be has put his attainment OH
a sure foundation. The miShapS and
misfortmCs of the year ISL have all
been the result of an msecurr-a false
foundation. See ifthey haven't.
Neither i'll business, in politics, i'll
commercial or professional life, has any
permanent achievement of value been
accomplished Mt any time, by any man,
under any circumstances, since the
foundation Ofthe world, unless based
upon the eternal principles of right. No
mortal man can upset the constitution
of things, and this world is constituted
so that either right doing shall succeed
or wrong doing shall succeed. Which?
When a machiniSt constructs loco
motive all its many parts are put tOgeth-
er for one prime purpose. There are
many separate parts, each of which per-
forms a distinct function, yet all work
together to one common end. Every
Part may not be absolutely essential to
the locomotive performing, for a. time,
the end for which it was designed. Yet
if any single part is not properly per-
forming its function, there i friction,
there is Il decreased power slackening
of speed, a wearing of the machinery,
which finally destroys the whole, and
the purpose for which the whole ma-
chine was put together is defeated.
We take it that the world is cOnstitu-
ted on a somewhat similar principle.
The prime purpose is that Right shall
succeed. Each individual life conSti-
tutesa part of the machinery of the
world, designed To work To the accom-
pliShment of the common end, the cS-
Establishment of the Right. When man
is seeking ends that are wrong, or the
accomplishment Of his purposes through
wrong methods, ne may not be able to
stop the locomotive but he represents
that part of the machinery which is
out of order, there is friction in his pro-
ceSSes, he is always ut disadvantage,
and out OF harmony with tn" machine
of which he is part. He must either
fail himself or upset the whole machine
the whole constitution Of things.
The failures Of the past year, ifrightly
ahalyzed, may all I've referred to the
friction we suffer by being out of har-
mOny with the balance OF the machine,
and If we run smoothly through thenew
year it will be the result of the concep-
ton that all success as we'll n reform is
on the line of right doing and only dis
aster and defeat is in the path Of wrong
doing.