The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-01-01
"HAPPY NEW YEAR."


Festival at the Present Time.
Thus wrote the Caliph Abdalrahman
"I have now reigned fifty years in victory
4. or peace; beloved by my subjects. dreaded
by my enemies and respected by my allies
Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have
waited on my call, nor does any earthly
blessing appear to have been wanting to my
felicity. In this situation / have numbered
the days of pure and genuine happiness
which have fallen to my lot; they amount to
fourteen. o man! place not thy confidence
in this present worldr'
Perhaps the caliph was more miser-
able than most men would have been
in his position; perhaps he was simply
more honest than others in acknowl-
edging his disappointment; but any
how his experience is sufficiently near
that of other human beings to make
one wish he had fully described the oc-
currences of the fourteen days that were
happy. The Others are easily account
ed for.
The Happy New Year" slips from
the children's tongues trippingly
enough, and it makes a convenient sub
stitute for conversation in New Year
calls; but outside of its conventional
anu USE. 1t 10 Il COuNtIstHl
formula for expressing a real and earn
est desire for friends welfare. 1t is
benediction after its kinda sort of
invocation for blessing upon the life
of another.
There are few men of as many years
rs the caliph reigned who do not re-
gard their own lives as failure; there
are not many whose New Years grow
happier with advancing age. Perhaps
majority of adult men and women
have their chief pleasures in retrospect,
rs younger persons have theirs in an
ticipation. To these the greeting of
the day may seem like a part of an
empty ceremony-like the expression
of = hope that no one expects to be full
fillcd-and vet it is surely better to
bring joyous words and pleasant wishes
than that the season should be loaded
with vain regrets and sorrowful recol-
lections.
The disposition to start the New Year
with happy auguries and pleasant sur
roundings has naturally shown itself by
deeds as well as words, and hence we
have the custom of making gifts which
was anciently much more common than
it is now. The Greeks gave it to the
Romans, and the Romans to the early
BritonS, whose descendants a few hun
dred years ago We're accustomed to take
this occasion TO bride their magistrates.
This particular kind of New Year gift
is said to have been prohibited by law
in the wear 1890, but even down to the
reign Of James II. the English monarchs
received tokens" on New Years day
from their subjects. Gloves, formerly
much more costly than now, were ia
yorite articles for gifts, and it is re-
corded that certain Mrs. Croaker.
ia whose favor Sir Thomas Moore had
decided a case as Lord Chancellor.
sent him on New Years Day a pair
OF gloves with fifty of the golden
coins called angels" in them. This
particular Judge could not be III
iucad 10 violate either the statute or
his own conscience. however. and so
he sent back letter with the gold.
saving: Mistress. since ii Were against
good manners to refuse your New
Years gift. | am content to take Your
gloves, Tut As for the lining, | utterly
refuse it.
Sumptuous apparel for the feet. as
well as the hands, was reckoned be-
fitting to both. royalty and the New
Years Day. and when silk stockings
first came into use in the sin
teenth century. they were esteemed
by the ladies most proper and
acceptable present for the New
Year. Perhaps it was not on this
festival anniversary that Queen Eliza
beth received her first pair. but we
read that sometime in the course of
the wear 156l she ..waS presented
with Q pair of black silk knit stock
ings by her silk-woman, Mrs. Mon
tague. and thenceforth she never Wore
cloth hose any more. -
Almost equally important with en-
broidered gloves and silk ..hoSen'' as
New Years gifts were metallic pins.
which were invented and brought into
use about the middle of the same cen
fury. Sometimes money for their pur-
chase was given in place of the pins
themselves. and when this was done it
was called pin money! phrase
which has since entered into the Ian
ouage of the law as indicating an al
lowance TO a wife or the settlement of
a certain sum upon her for M ,scellane-
Gus eSpCl>cS. EOi blN lllp al cOl-
siderable number of pins themselves
which came to take the place of those
that were made of lockwood. bone and
silver for the rich, and of the thorns
and small wooden Skewers that were
used by the poor-a pretty sum was
needed, for the prices ruled so high
that in 1543 Parliament felt obliged TO
pass IAN Acte for the true making of
Pynnes" which provided that the price
should be limited to 6s Sd per thou
sand, which, making allowance for the
difference in the value of money between
the sixteenth century and the nine
tecnth. would make the rate about a
cent and a half per pin.
1.-The Happy New Year" of the
present time is not necessarily accom-
panied by a present of any kind; in
deed. nearly the whole business of
present-making has been transferred
from New Years to Christmas. A
card is all that is expected. and even
that is not obligatory. Little dinner
parties are sometimes given on New
Years Eve. and during the day the
calls occasion more good eating than
is usual and a good deal more drink
inc; but for all that can be said. the
material obserEanceS have mostly
passed away. The sentiment and ira
d ton of the fest val remain-the kind
ly wish-the Happy New Year and
that is about all,-Detr0h Post aRd
Tribune.