The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1885-01-02
miscellaneous.
The New Year and the Old.

"The King of light, father of aged Time,
Hath brought about that day. which is the prime
To the slow gliding months, when every day
Wears symptoms of q sober jollty,
And every hand is ready to present
Some service in a real compliment.
BE this day frugal, and none spare his friend
Some gift, to sh w his love finds not an end
With the deceased year."
AS day succeeds night, and one month
another, so does year follow year. Time
never halts on his solemn march, while it be-
comes part of ct, rnity itself Like to the
year, the human race is also ever coming and
disappearing, just as the phGnix is said TO be
reproduced out of its own ashes.
That the new year should begin with JAN
uary, or chilly month" as the Hollanders
call it, is not inappropriate SO far, at least, as
the northern hemisphere is concerned, mas
much as being close upon the winter solstice,
the year is made to represent a regular and
harmonious series of changes. 1t was Numa
who decreed that the new year should open
| with January, and who added two additional
months to the calendar. The first month was
aptly denominated Januarus, in honor of
Janus, the deity who was considered to pre-
side over doors The ancient Jewish year
commenced on the 25th of March, and for a
long time the Christian nations reckoned
their new year from the same date. 1t was
not until 1857 that the first of January Re-
came the initial day both of the legal and the
popular year.
BY our Saxon progenitors the opening
month of the year was termed "Wolfmonat
| or Wolf month. This arose from the circum-
| stance that people were more likely to be
| eaten by wolv, at that period than during
the other sections of the year, because of the
| difficulty of procuring food, owing to the
great severity of the season.
In the ancient Roman mythology, Janus
| and jana were held in special honor. Their
appellations nre derived from dies, light, or
| day, an appropriate symbol of the opening
year. Their original form was that of Diana,
| subsequently corrupted into the titles men
toned. Originally special rites were en-
| ployed in the worship of Jana and her broth
er Janus; but such became finally merged
| into common religious ceremony. II is
| supposed that the idea of Janus was borrow
ed fiom the Tuscans among whom a similar
| deity was worshipped from avery early peri
| cd, and that he was regarded rs presiding
| over The beginning of things.
Janus was highly significant. Two faces
were given to this deity. The one looked
| forward, the other backward, thereby imply
| ing that the god stood betw, en- the Old Year
| and the New:
"'Tis he the two tac'd Janus comes in view;
Wild hyacinthS his robe adorn,
And snow drops, rivals of the morn;
He spurns the goat aside,
But smiles upon the new
Emerging year with pride;
And now unloCks with agate key,
| The ruby gates of orient day..
| How tender and pathetically Milton refers
| to his great physical deprivation in the Third
Book of"Paradise Lost" He says:
"Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not TO me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or noon,
Or sight of vernal bloom. or summers rose,
| Or tucks, or herbs, or human face divine"
The first month of the year is thus allego-
rized:
"Lo, my fair the morning lazy,
Peeps abroad from yonder hill;
Phnbus rises, red and hazy;
Frost has stopped the village mill"
Not living aud inanimate beings alone are
calculated to speak to our eyes and ears. ad-
/ dressing social reasons inner sense with in.
| articulate language" The seasons also,
particularly the departing year, and the ad
| vent of the new, are specially calculated to
| "point moral" for mans behest Conjoint-
| ly, they address his reason, imagination and
| feelings, and it should be with results similar
to those so exquisitely described by Woods
worth
| "For the man
Who, in this spirit, communes with the forms
vi nature. VINO, with understanding heart,
| Doth know and love such objects as excite
No morbid passions, no disquietude,
No vengeance, and no hatred, needs must feel
| The Joy of the pure principle o. love
| 30 deeply. that unsatished with aught
Less pure and exquisite, he cannot choose
| but seek for objects of a kindred love
| In fellow nature, and kindred JOY
The season of the opening and closing Of
| each recurrent year serves rs garands for the
memory of those who have the skill to twine
| them: f.oi .
wears may roll on, and manhood's brow grow
| cold, .t ..I
| And ifes dull winter spread its rk'ning. pail
| Ger cherished hopes yet Time cannot withhold
! A precious boon which mem'ry gives to all; =
| Fond recollection when the tale is told
Which forms the record of Lifes festival,
| Recalls the pleasure of Youths opening scene,
| And Age seems young-rememb'rng what hath
| been"
The year stands to us in particular rela-
/ ton, while the regular advance of time but
adumbrates the progress and completion OF
human life. IL has been pertinently observed
in illustration of this sentiment that IAN old
man is full of years" His years have been