The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1883-01-06


All Observation-Disclosures alone
exocpted-sstarts ont upon ANEW
year on the first tiay of Ianuary.
lin Russia New Years day on the
25th of March. This date was also
1.-The beginning OF tine day in Eng
flmd1pato about one hundred and
thirty wears ago. 1nIT51 tire fam
Gus Iaoul Chesterfield secured the
passage of a measure in the Eng
1 liSl parliament which set the New
! Year on the first OF. .IannaFy. Thus
the legal year was made to cores
AponIlwith the solar year.
i The fiFsto january became New.
1 Years day in Europe three eentu-
RES ago. In I5S2 it WAS SO ofdain-
ed by Pope Gregory Will, and was
adopted by all Europe except Eng
land, iRusSia and Sweden.
( Another change. besides altering
1.-The date 0fthe New Tear, WAS made
by Lord Chesteriieldjs reform of
llI7J1. Up to that time, in England,
the calendar was eleven days be-
/ hind the rest of Europe That is,
when II was the first of March, or
April or July, in England, twas
the 18th OF the month in eantinen-
tai Europe by Lord Cllesterfield's
act the English calendar was add
vanceGl eleven days.
Thus was brought about in our
mother country the change from
what was called the SON Style to
the New Style.7 Russia still adj
heres. alone among Europeanna-
tions, to the Old style; and when 1t
is the 18th OF the month wfthuS
it is only the first 0f.the month III
Russia. /
AS America was, in 175l, subject |
TO the mother country our calendar |
as well as that of England, was al
tered in that year in the manner
described.
We have become so accustomed |
to the LIST Of january as the date
of the New Year, tlIatit seems very
strange to think of it's having been
at so awkward a date as the 25th |
of March. But this only serves to
emphasize the fact that these -di-
visions of time are artificial, and,
ina sense, merely the creation of a
mans ingenuity, Still we are now
guided rby the movements of the
sun and moon in our calculation OF
time: so that it has been brought
into harmony ami fitness with the
physical scheme of the. universe.
There are, happily, few human
beings to whom the coming Of the I
New Year does not bring, to a
greater or less degree, the pleas
ire Of hope" On setting out upon
another year, Just as setting ont on
a long Journey or voyage; or begin
ming a new enterprise in business, !
OF building a new house, the faces
of men and women are turned TO- /
ward the future.
Memory Of what has been seems
most natural and most fitting f0T
reflection in the latter days of the /
dying year. The threshold passed |
into another, every one is impelled |
to cast his chances forward, to
wORder what is coming, to enter
with fresh zeal and fresh plans into
the schemes Of life.
And corresponding with this
feeling is the bindof moral impulse
to bnild anew, on the foundations
Of the new year, a better and higher
life. Hits a good thing 10 make a
large number Of good resolutions,
even if it turns out that they are
not at all kept. There is something
highly beneficial in the economy OF
time and mems affairs, in theregu-
lar recurrence, once in every twelve
month, ola date when mankind,
instinctively, as well as by custom,
takes long glance over an extend
ed period, and turns its thoughts
seriously to moral selt.imWoyement
as well as material advancement.