The Red Cloud chief., 1885-01-02
"RApp~ NEW YEAR"
a Friendly Grreiing-Th~ Ancient Custom
"f Making Gifts on New Years Day-The
Festival al Tho Present Time.

rNFl
of Making Gifts on New Years Day-rhe
Festival nj the Present Time.
Thus wrote the Caliph A~bdalrahman:
81 hav" now r"igncd Mfg years in victory
or p"&"', hclGyrih by my subIcci-. dreaded
10y my enemies and respected by INV allie.
HIchcS 5:'d honcr-. power and pleasure. hHyc
%aIt"l ON my call. nor DE, ANY earthly
blessing Hpp"irto have b"'D wanting to my
felicity. Ina this -ituatIon 1 have numbered
the days OF pure and gebuine happiness
which hav" fallen to my lot; they amount TO
fourteen. mar. place no; thy confidence
in tii.s present world
Perhaps the caliph wa more mi-cr-
able Than most men would have been
III his position: perhaps be Was simply
more honest than other in achuGwl-
sd%ing his ii >appointm mt; but any
how his experience j. sufficiently near
THAI OF other human beng TO maxi
one wish he had fully do. bed the pc-
~rurTcE"c- 81 IA" fourteen lay that we're
happy The pthcr- are ol-.ly account
cd for.
The Happy Ncw Year slips from
tn" children tongues trippin@iv
enough. and it maxi "a convenient -ub-
siilItc for conversation ia New Year
call. hu' ou'~.d. at At conventional
and uminraunw U-'. Il T. = Convenient
formula for cNprr--!mw 4 real and carr
"~' dc-.rc Tor "A friend wclfar". l. l.
Il bru'd c'iou after IL Kind a sort 81
invocation tor a blessing upon In" If"
Of another.
1hcT" are i"w men Of as MANY wears
a. ia" calIph rrI"ucI who do not rc-
card Their oHn lives a. a failure; Their"
ar, 40, MANY Whn-r New Year, nov
happier with ~adlanciu" a@c. Perhaps
Il majority II adult men and women
haY" lh'lr chief pleasures ia retro poet.
a. NoHu"rr persons have thcir- IN an
ticIuHluu. 3" the" the ".''iiuw -
ihc 10, H...y stem Lac u lavl vi ~
empty ceremony i.kc the rnr-"~sinI
OF a hope that no u expects To be full
fll,d- and yet il i surely better 10
bring JOYOUS words and pleasant wishes
than that the season should Ice loaded
with vain regrets and sorrowful rccol-
iccti ms.
The disposition TO start the New Year
wit happy augurics and pleasant sur
rouuding, la, naturally shown its,lf by
iced ~ well a. words, and hence we
have the custom of making gifts which
" IL ancicntly much more ommon than
II j, now. The Greeks gave il to the
10 mans, and the Romans to the early
Brituns. whose descendants 4 few hun
drci wears " were accustomed to take
tai, occasion 80 bribc their magistrates.
This particular kind of New Years oft
is said Ia have been prohibited 10y law
In the wear 1890, but V q down la the
rr;gn of james II. the English monarchs
received tokens" oh New Years day
from their subjects. Gloves, formerly
puch more costly than now. were IA
,ori,r at clcS for riff, and il i re-
corded that a certain Mrs. troakcr.
rs whose favor Sir Thomas Moore had
.frCid,d a case ~ Lord Chancellor.
81 nj him o. New Years Day Il pair
OF gloves with fifty of the wold.n
cons called angels i'll them. This
particular .Iudga could not be- in
dacvd 10 violate either the statute or
his own conscience. however. and -
he sent back Il letter with the gold.
Saviuw: Mistress. since il w'r. against
good manners Ia rciu~" Your New
Years fl. | am content Ia take your
gloves. iut a. for the HniHy, | utterly
refuse it,
SumptuouS apparel for the feet. aS
wei a. the haUd~. was rcckoucd be
fitting la both ROYALTY ami the New
Year Dan. and when silk stockings
/ first came into use IN the sin
3 tccnth century. they We're esteemed
by the lalicS a most proper and
acceptable present for the New
Year. Perhaps it was not on this
festival anniversary that Queen Eliza
/ beth receive her first pair. but we
! read that sometime in III. course of
the ycar IJ6l she was presented
with "A pair of black silk knit stock
ingS by her silk-woman. Mrs. Mon
tagur, and thenccforth She never wore
doth hose any more
\. Almost equally important with en-
broidercd glovcs and silk '.hoScn" as
New Years gifts were metallic pins,
which We're invented and brouyat into
ipSc about the middle of the same cen
uury. Sometimes money for their pur-
chase WAS given .ln place of the pins
themselves. and when this was done it
was called pm moncy-a phrase
which has since entered into the lam
g,Ia@" of the law as indicating an al
,iewancc 10 Il wife or the settlement of
a certain sum upon her for m!Sccl!anc-
oarS expenses. For buvin" any on
siderable number of pins themselves
which came 10 take the place of those
that were made of boNwood. bone and
silver for the rich, and of the thorns
and small wooden skewers that were
dsct by the poor-a pretty sum was
aiecded, for the prices ruled ~ high
iat in las Parliament felt obliged Ia
,aSs An Acte for the true making of
ynnes" which provided that the price
should he limited 10 is 81 per thou
sand. which. making allowance for the |
Inference in the value of money between |
.lre sixteenth century and the nine
zernth, would make the rate about a !
cent and a half per pin.
1.-The Happy New Year of the
crescent time is not necessarily accom-
.,anicd by i present of any kind; in
iced. nearly the whole business of
discriminating has been transferred
mm New Years Ia Christmas. \
:sri is all that is expected. and even
hat is not obi gato-y. Little dinn,r
,artic> are sometimes given on New
Gears Eve. and during The day the
alls occasion more good eatiay than
~saisual. and 1 good deal more drink
n; but for all that can lie said. the
Material ohServanceS have mostly
aSsed away. The sent.m nj and ira
sltion % the fest val remain-.he kind
" wish the Happy New Iear-ana
hat i about al.,-Defroit .cSt cad
Sr6Ganc
"HOERlES" AND "FGOS."