Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-01-01

that malice was concealed in its bsstowal
This belief takes uniying root and another
friendship goes headlong to the canine
country.
A bouncing doll, with foolish face and
fashy garments. fetched up as the property
of a little girl who has begun the study oil
Latin, thinks she is big and always did hate
dolls
The poor actress, who plays one night
stands" has no home, and keeps her extra
trunk in storage, is favored by ironical old
Santa Claus, with big arm chair, which,
under the circumstances, is about as useful
to her as a royal Bengal tiger would be.
An invalid lady. who never so much as
dreams of a walk, receives a dashing little
hand-satchel, with her initials thereon 1t
leads restful and inglorious career forever
after, safe in a bureau drawer in the box it
came in
A book on etiquette falls 70 the lot of a
swell who is cut to the heart at the thought
that any human being should think there
was anything on that subject for him to
learn
A brush and comb, expensive and splen-
didly caparisoned, is laid in the hands of
the ancient beau, whose hair has gone, with
his youth and attractiveness, into the ir-
recoverable. For the life OF him he can't for
give such a misapprehension Of his necessi-
ties
A writing desk, by the gracs Of Santa
Claus, becomes the property Of a woman
who has three others exactly like it and
who doesn't write so much as q letter once
In six months.
pair of delicatey tinted kid gloves to a
street car driver. His loving aunt, to whom
be writes cheerful letters from time to
time, dreams not OF his changed fortunes,
hence the gloves
4 blue satin, hand-painted pin crshi>n.
almost as big as mattress, fnds its way n
= woman who ives in one room, on bare
floor, and does her own cooking.
A decantsr and wine set, of the finest
quality, get themselves presented to a fam
ily Of total abstainers, where they viii Be Q
disgrace to be seen at all
A jewel case gravitates to a poor little
sewing maid, who hasn't a jewel on earth to
put into it, and no hope of any.
A pair of vases, very large and very
breakable, are landed at the door Of school
teacher, who lives in hall room so small
that she can't get her trunk inside. SIe
hasn't SO much as a shelf to set bottle o!
medicine on, to say nothing Of two su'
delicate elephants as the vases
And so on third ough ths long list of mortais
goes the ironical old imp Of the chimney,
dropping his ''misft" gifts and laughing in
his capacious sleeve at the mischief he has
made in the name of Pleasure
1t has always been the fashion to greet
tlienew year as friend. ssntimentalizs
over the milestone in the endless road OF
time which We call the beginning Of year.
1t holds nope, success, happiness-all the
60 Is of the gods-in its keeping 1t is tt
measure out our joy and supply our sorrow,
and so we meet it with propitiatory ad-
vances, hoping, nay, half believing thai
according to our cordiality will it be unto
us
We have pictured the New Year as a rosy
boy, bright with the promise of gladness,
flushed with the spirit OF joy. We have
fancied it climbing the hills in a halo Of
gold, bringing with it sweet odors from the
unknown Gardens of Peace
To the Old Year we give the same person.
ality Time has worn since mortals made him
a figure in their calculations, that of with.
cred old man, whose sickle falls from his
nerveless grasp as the midnight bells ring ir
his successor. he is dropped from our ii ves
like worn-out garment: but he holds hi.
place in memory; he has recorded himsel.
in history; he was and he is not
These mutations of time we think about
and commemorate, forgetting that ther
was no old year and is no new; that what
we call marks on the dial of time exist
merely in our imagination, and only enabl,
us to space OFF that bit of the cesseless stream
which we happen to be in contact with. We
talk of the turning points of time-time thai
had no beginning and has no end.
Mankind has Q fancy for philosophizins
on what it does not comprehend No sub
ject receives more attention than Time. Th,
schoolboy makes it the text of his first ef
forts at pinning thought to paper. The col
lege graduate gives it the benefit of hi
bookish intellect and tawdry rhetoric Tn,
professor descants upon it The sentiment
alists harp thereon, and the poets make il
their pet Pegasus
Old, new Time; measureless, csaseles
Time. We talk of the fight of Time--o
his swift wings, his pauseless progress W,
marvel at bis rapid rowing when his boat
in sight of the Happy Isles Yet we 60
Time stays
What is the wisest of thingsr' asked al
Egyptian king three thousand years ago, an.
a sage replied, 'Time, for it has found ou
many mysteries already, and in the long ru
it will solve all"
And SO the ceaseless stream runs on. Tha
part of it we touch may be known by any
name, it is 50 brief Yet each mortal, in tn.
boundless egotism of his soul feels that th,
sun shines for him, and for him also th,
earth blossoms with vsrdure and flowers
Around the little horizon which the circum
stances of his life have made he looks il
towering self-consciousness, forgetting tha
the chirping cricket and era wiling worm an
as great within themselves; forgetting, too
that the grave is in the distance
iIThinking of these things we remember th.
New Year; remember to smile at the simi
larity between it and the year just going, o.
the years already gone. They differ no mort
than two ticks Of the same clock; they art
only two atoms of time. With one we hsv,
become well acquainted; the other holds ths
hands of fate in its keeping.
This New Year will be a year like othel
years. 1t will have its full complement o.
tears 1t will hear the sound Of laughter
and the voice of mourning. Death viii
come into it. Poverty will stalk through it
Hypocrisy will walk pompously down it,
broaiest streets, while humility covers and
shrinks at the corner. 1t will have million.
aires to amuse and bsggars to feed. It will
hear the voice of mercy pleading for the
erring, and it will grow familiar with tn,
sounds of woe. 1t will see fools faunt theiI
folly, and the wise wait in vain for tb,
recognition Of their wisdom. 1t will lool
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