The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-12-28

,arture. Yea, / must sound yourlown
yoing out of life. must go on. Unjust
70 on. Tick, toclrl Tick, tockp
But there is great city clock high
ip in the tower. There are 20 many
wrongs in all our cities to be righted, so
many evils to be extirpgfed, so many
prisons to be sanitaried7Rtop the city
Clock until all these tlngs are done.
Let common council aF ~ the people
Of the great towp decree that the city
hall clock shall stop. We do not want
the sins of 1892 to be handed over TO
1898. We do not want the young year
to inherit the misfortunes Of the old
year. By ladders lifted to the tower
and by strong hands take bold and halt
that city clock
''No, mol" says the city clock. "IcAl
not wait until you correct all eHi1
soothe all sorrow or drive out n
have been counting the Il
as city. i hal - Your
opportunities l Id 70 deplored your
neglects; but time wasted is wasted for
ever. / must 60 on. / must 60 on
Tick, tockl Tick, tockp' But in the
tower of the capitols at Washington
and London and Berlin and Vienna and
all the great national capitals there are
clocks.
Suppose that by presidential procla-
nation and resolution Of senate and
house of representatives our national
clock in the capitol turret be ordered
to stop. ''Stop, o clock, until sectional
animosities are cooled off, until our
Sabbaths are better kept and drunken
ness turns to sobriety, and bribery,
fraud and dissipation quit the landl
Stop, o clock in the tower of the great
United States capitolp mo, mol" says
the clock, II have been going on
SO long 1 can not afford to stop l
sounded the birthday of American
Independence. rang out the
return of peace in 1895. / have
seen many presidents inaugurated. l
struck the hour of Lincoln's assassina-
tion. have beat time for emancipa-
ton proclamation, and Chicago fire, and
Charleston earthquake, and epidemics
Of fever and cholera. Nations never
stop. They march on toward salvation
or demolition. And why should they
stopP chime for the national holidays
/ toll for the mighty dead, l must go on.
must go on. Tick, tockl Tick, tockl
There may be difference Of a few sec
onds or q few minutes in the time
pieces, but it will be serious occasion
when next Saturday night about the
same hour the family clocks, and the
city clocks, and the national clocks
strike onel twol threel four! fiyel six
sevenl eight ninel tenl eleven! twelvel
Sorry am I to have 1892 depart this
life. 1t has been good year What
bright daysl What starry nights
What harvestsl What religious con-
vocationsl What triumphs of art and
science and invention and enterprise
and religionl But alas, how sacred II
has been with sorrowsi What pillows
hot with fever that could not be cooled
What graves opening wide enough to
take down beauty and strength and use.
fulnessl What octogenarians putting
down the staff Of earthly pilgrimage
and taking the crown of heavenly re
ward What children, as in Bible time
crying; my head, my headl Anc
they carried him to his mother, and ht
sat on her knees until noon and ther
died"
This year went the chief poet of Eng
land and the chief poet OF America
Our John G. Whittier-great in litera
ture and simple as a child-for did
not spend an afternoon with him In I
barn in the Adirondaclfs, and In thu
evening we played blind mans buff, h
tying over my eyes the handkerchief
while the hotel parlors rang with thu
merrymaling? And Tennyson, thi
year gone-he who for this particula
season of the year wrote:
Ring out, wild bells, 70 the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light
The year Is dying in the night
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die
What mingling Of emotions in this clos
ing yearl What orange blossoms fol
the marriage altar, and what myrtl
for the tombs Of deadl Hosannas ant
lamentations in collision Anthem AM
dead march mounting from the sam
ivory keys Before this year quite leave
the earth let II hear our repentance 70
opportunities that can never return
kind words spoken too late or no
spoken at all; means Of getting good o
doing good so completely gone by tina
the archangel's voice could not recal
them. Can II be that this year is cloi
ing and our sins are unforgiven, an
we have no certainty that when our las
December 81 has sped away we shal
enter blissful eternity2 The mos
overwhelmingly solemn week Of all tn
year IL the last week of December.
But on opening this subject, I'm re
spect of holy day" as my text put II
or a holiday, as we moderns write AM
pronounce II, | advised that you divid
this season into three chapters-the frs
chapter Of illustrious birthday, tn
second chapter Of annual decadencs
and the third a chapter of chronologics
introduction. and this last chapter W
have reached In olden times there wa
style Of closing an old year and open
ing new one that was very suggest
i've.
Tho family would sit up until twelv
o'clock at night, and when the eloc'
ntruck twelve the family would all n