Nevada County picayune., 1890-01-01
NEW YEAR TALK.
Uncle Bolivar Gives Some Good
 Thoughts to the Boys.

leaves. trying to work misery into their melodies. There is no good reason for such sadness. Artcmas Ward had listened 10 his daughter thirteen times, when she was trying to sing, Why do summer roses fadc!' He stepped politely to the parlor door and said: My child. don ask that qeestoa any more. It is their business to fade. - He was right. It is according to the plan of roses of any season to bud and bloom and fade and die. There is nothing sad about it. To die as roses die is to sleep as we sleep The awakening is new roses for the old stems; new life for us. A year IS the period of life determined by one revolution of the earth around the sun, which is accomplished in about three hundred and sixty-livc and ncfourth days. For convenience the period is now fixed to commence l January 1 and end December 31. . 1 There is no visible beginning or end l ing of a year. Inc turn might be called at any time where the judges and timers stand and place the string. Before l752 the civil year in England began on March D. Julius C~sar figured on q year and ran time on it for awhile. The Gre gorian year corrected the Julian year. There are heather years and religious~yea All of these years offer many opportunities for wishing friends happy new years. Your Uncle Bolivar has been there.
 Whether or not the ending of an old year, my boys, is to he sad de- i bends upon the conscience of the man and not upon the songs of the poet. You have been taught the lit tic verse: "Ilow pleasant is Satur- day night, when you've tried all the week to be good" Well, when you can feel that you have been doing the square thing to your God, your self and others all the year through, you can afford to let her slide with out pain or regret. The sadness comes in when you think of the mean things you have done, of the oppor- tunities you have wasted, of the i times you have done nothing when you might have done good. Your Uncle Bolivar has been there.
 So, boys, as there is no particular sadness in the death of the old year, there is no special joy in the birth of the new year. It is all inside of yourselves. You have attended what some kind of religious people call a watch meeting-a meeting of good people to watch the old year out and the new year in. They are on their knees and the eyes of the leader is on the clock, while there is "glory to Godi" waiting in his mouth. The clock strikes F, at midnight, and there is joyous shout from all throats. Suppose the clock had been made an hour fast or slow! The good people would have their shout all the same. Your Uncle Bolivar has been there.
 The beginning of the new year, my boys, is an excellent time for forming good resolutions. Resolu- tions, you know, are mainly things that men at mass meetings make and ask newspapers to publish free thus leading themselves to believe they have done something when noth- i ing has been done. On New Year s day young man will resolve to lead a different life. He puts the motion to himself and has it carried. He will drop all the bad habits he can think of. No more smoke, no more drink, no more gamble and spending money foollshly for him. He resolves to keep diary, to write down every thing he does and some of his 1 thoughts; he will make q clean breast of himself He buys the blank book and new pencil, and records faithfully the events of three days. Then he finds the book takes i up too much room Tn his pocket, and not seeing the need of keeping it anyway, loses it. At the same time he will pick up some of the bad hab- its before discarded, and commences l playing again the same old games. Your Uncle Bolivar has been there.
 Now, my boys, begin the new year right. Make good resolutions and keep them. Turn over new leaves