The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-12-28
The New Year.

Al ChristendOm-Russi alone ex-
cepted-staEts cut upon New Year on
the first day Of January. In Russia,
New Years Day Is the 18th of March.
This date was also tho beginning of the
year in England. up to about one hum
dred and thirty years ago In 1851, the
famous Lord Chesterfield secured the
passage of measure in the English
Parliament which set the New Year on
the first of January. Thus the legal
year was made to correspond with the
solar year.
The first of January first became New
Years Day in Europe three centuries
ago. In 1882, it was so ordained by
Pope Gregory Kill, and was adopted
by Al Europe except England, Russia
and Sweden.
Another change, besides altering the
date of the New Year, was made bv
Lord Chesterfield reform of 1851. Up
TO that time. in England. the calendar
was eleven days behind that of the rest
of Europe. That is. when n was the
first of March. or April. or July, in En-
gland. it was the twelfth of the month
in continental Europe. BY Lord Ches-
terEeld's act the English calendar was
advanced eleven days.
Thus was brought about in our mother
country the change from what was
called the ''Old Style to the New
STYLE" Russia still adheres, alone
among European nations, to the Old
Style; and when it is the twelfth of the
month with US, it is only the first of the
month in Russia
As America was. in 1851, subject to
the mother country, our calendar, as
| well as that of England, was altered in
that year in the manner described.
We have become so accustomed to
the first OF January as the date of the
New Year, that it seems very strange to
| think of its ever having cen at so awk-
ward date as The 25th of March. But
this only serves to emphasize the fact
that these divisions of time are artifi-
cial, and, in a sense. merely the creation
of mans ingenuity. Still. we are now
guided by the movements of the sun
and moon in our calculation of time; so
that it has been brought into harmony
and fitness with the physical scheme of
| the universe.
There are. happily, few human beings
| to whom the coming of the New Year
does not bring, to a greater or less de-
gree, the pleasures of hope On set
| ting out upon another year, Just as on
setting out on long journey or voyage,
or beginning a new enterprise in bust
ness, or building a new house, the faces
| of men and women are turned towards
| the future.
! Memory of what has been seems most
natural and most fitting for reflection
in the latter days of the dying year. The
threshold passed into another, every one
is impelled to cast his chances forward.
to wonder what is coming, to enter with
fresh zeal and fresh plans into the
schemes of life.
And corresponding with this feeling
is the kindred moral impulse to build
anew, on the foundations of the new
| year, a better and higher life. 1t is a
| good thing to make a large number of
good resolutions, even if it turns out
that they are not all kept. There is
something highly beneficial in the econ
omy of time and mems affairs. in the
| regular recurrence, once in every
twelvemonth, of date when mankind,
instiEctively, as well as by custom.
takes a. long glance over an extended
period, and turns its thoughts seriously
to moral self-improvement as well as
material advancement.-YO YOUTHS Com
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