Milford chronicle., 1892-12-30

I l0Ju anu tlf o nltls
This year went tile chief poet Of kx.
and the chief poet OF America Gu
G. Whittier-great IN literature
pie as a eaild-lor did not spend an
noon with him ia barn ia tie AtiifUudas
aed IN the evening we played blind mar
buff, lie tying over my eyes the hanukeI-
chief, while the hotel parlors rang witch
the merryEsHiingi And Tent ison, this
year gone-he who for this particular sea.
] son Of tile year wrote:
Ring out. wild bells. to the wild sky.
The flying cloud, osty light.
The year Is dying in the night.
Ring uut. wild bells, and let him die.
What mingling Of emotions IN this closing
yearl What orange blossoms for the mar
riage altar, and what myrtle for the tombs
OF the dead IIosannas and lamentations
in collision. Anthem and dead march
( mounting from the same ivory keys Be
fore this year quite leaves the earth let it
hear our repentance for opportunities that
can never return; kind words spoken too
late or not spoken at all; means Of getting
good or doing good so completely gone by
that the archangel's voice could not recall
them. Can it be that this year is closing
and our sins are unfOrgiven, and we have
no certainty that when our last Dee. 81 has
/ HpN4 away we oNAAAA NAAIA a HAA11AAA NA1AT
nity2 The most Overwhelmingly solemn
week OF all the year is the last week of De
cember
THE GLORIOUS NEW YEAR
But on opening this subject, I'm respect
! OF q holy day" as my text puts IL, or a holi-
day, as we moderns write and pronounce it,
| 1 advised shat you divide this season into
three chaptels-the first chapter Of IL
| lustriOus birthday, the second a chapter Of
! annual decadence and the third a chapter
| of chronological introduction. and this last
| chapter we have reached. In olden times
| there was a style Of closing an old year and
| opening a new one that was very suggest
! i've.
The family would sit up until twelve
! O'Clock at night, and when the clock struck
| twelve the family would all 60 to the
| front door Of the house, take down the bar
| and turn back the lock and swing the door
wide open to let the old year out and the
new year in. And that is what we are
| going to do. With the same measured
/ step that time has kept since It started it
| will come to cur door in the closing night
/ Of this week With what spirit shall we
let tie new year in' have already indi-
Gated that it is to be one Of the greatest
1 years Of all chronology.
'Whsu syou ask. Have you any fore
bodines Or ,,remonitionsfn MOI Are you
expecting the millennium this yearf"
| MOI "Why, then, say this about the com
I ing year3" For the simple reason thof
| find as the years 90 by they become more
| and more eventful Compare the Nine
/ teenth century with the Eighteenth cen
/ tury. Compare the first half Of this cen
turv with the last half The surges Of
/ this ocean Of time are rolling higher and
l higher. The forces Of right and wrong
are rapidly multiplying, and their strug-
| giles must be intensified.
| It is a chronological fact that we are all
! the time coming nearer to the worlds eden
/ ization first and then to its incineratiOn, tn
| its redemption and its demolition And go
/ I expect that 1898 viii he greater year
than 1872 It's wedding bells will be mer-
rier It's obsequies viii be sldder It's sei-
| entific discoveries more brilliant. It's pros
perities more significant. It's opening more
grand. It's termination more stupendous.
| Look out for 1881 Let printers have ia
/ their cases Of type plenty Of exclamation
points TO set mp a sudden PARAGRAPH. Let
the Conservatives have profusion Of dow
ers that can be twisted into garlands. Let
churches have plenty Of room for increased
assemblages. Let men and women have
more religion to meet the vacillations, and
the exigencies, and the demands. and the
rapturcs, and the woes Of this coming 1888
In what mood shall we open the door Of
the new yearg With faith, strong faith,
buoyant faith, triumphant faith. God will
see you through. His grace will be sufh-
cient if you trust him. You can go TO him
at any time and find sympathy My little
child got hurt one morning during her
faa I'll
as well as we could. Toward night her
mother returned, and for the first time the
child cried and cried yociierously.
Some one said to her: "Nhat do yOp Cry
forg You did not cry all day" Her reply
was, "There was no one TO cry to-" And
so you sometimes suppress your trouble De-
cause there is no full resource OF earthly
sympathy But ! rejoice to tell you that
in God You always have some ane tocry %.
He will condole and help 10 every crisis.
Come, now, let me unstrap that knapsack
Of care from your shoulders. Come pros
perity or adversity, come wedding or burial,
come health or sickness, come LIE or death,
come time or eternity, ALPS well, all's we'll
Keep your heart right, and all else will be
right
Men and women have sometimes given
strange and Whimsical directions 10 regard
owhat shall be done with their hearts
.fter DEATH Robert Bruce ordered his
heart to be sent to the Holy Land for
burial The Earl Of Leicester ordered his !
heart sent to Braei.ley hospital. Isabella, /
daughter Of the Earl Of Pembroke died 40
Berkhampstead. but ordered her heart /
taken to Tewkesbury cathedral. Lord I
Windsor, dying in a foreign land, ofoeled 4
his heart inclosed in lead and sent 20 Eng /
a. 4 q 3. u Al. .I.. ..V
ham Now, what shall eve decree for our
hearth That it be the Lords, and then it I
makes no difference what else becomes Of 4
it. Living and dying, may It all be hisi
REJOICE IN THE LORD,
Thus IN three chapters have counseled I
that the holidays BE grouped. May noth-
ing interfere with their feiicities May I
they be so spent that they viii be food for (
0leasant "reminiscences fu-ther on You (
know that after awhile the old homestead /
will be broken up. For years and years
the children come home TO spend the holi-
DAYS, aud the house isrumnaeed from gar
ret to cellar, and the scenes OF childhood (
are rehearsed, and we laugh til the tears
come as we talk over some boyish or girl
ish freak or cry over some old trouble
ended, but the sseart swings bach. again to
mirth, for It d = ASst take a half second
for q taaS - ~ strike the smile Of
the i 81 Tlars he grandchil-
o. - Sof grandchildren Is
tel - GIL hg. Then after a few
~. E.r-e$srSs 4 gathering at the Old
homesslsf l-lsl--sss, broken up, for father or
mother is gone. About two years after
for there are geperaily about bwo years
between the timeof taeir going) the other
half Of the holiday he.lson IS broken up.
Then the old house goes into the possession
OF strangers, and tile sons and dau.shters
by that time have homes Os their own.
Ihey plant their own Christmas Trees and
hang up their own cAiidreu's stockings
and twine their own holly and mistletoe.
and lave their own good times.
They Will perhaps be riding out on some
Of those holidays either ia sleigh or car
riage twenty or thirty years from now
b. q. .