Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-12-26

face of that centenarian of & timepiece
and pushed them back you might ex-
pect that time would stop or retreat for
at least few minutes. NO, nor says
the old family clock. - must go on. |
saw your father and mother on their
wedding day. 1 struck the hour of your
nativity. | counted the fe5tal hours of
the day in which you brought home q
bride | sounded the knell at your
fathers death | tolled at your mothers
departure. Yea, must sound your own
going out of life. / must go on. L must
go on. Tick, took! Tick, tock!'
TEE UI;c4sAsING FLIGHT OF TINE.
But there is greet city clock high up
in the tower There are so many
WRONGS il ali our cities to be righted, SO
many evils to be extirpated, so many
prisons to be standardization the city
clock until all these things are done.
Let common council and the people of
the great toEn 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 in
herit the misfortunes of the old year
By ladders lifted to the tower and by
strong hands take hold and halt the city
clock s'No, nor says the city clock
81 cannot wait until you correct all
evils OF soothe all sorrow.or drive out all
sin. | have been counting the steps of
your progress as city. [ have seen
your opportunities. [ he deplored
your neglects, but time wasted is wasted
forever. | must go on. / must go on.
Tick, took! Tick, tock!' But in the tower
of the capitols at Washington and Lon
don and Berlin and Vienna and all the
great national capitals there are clocks.
Suppose that by presidential proclama-
ton and resolution of senate and house
of representatives our national clock in
the Capitol turret be ordered to stop
''Stop, Q clock, until sectional aninos-
tiles are cooled off, until our Sabbaths
are better kept, and drunkenness turns
to sobriety, and bribery, fraud and dis
sipation quit the land! Stop, O clock,
in the tower of the great United States
Capitol!'' mo, nor says the clock. Il
have been going on SO long | cannot af-
ford to stop. | sounded the birthday Of
American independence. / rang out the
return Of peace in 1865. | have seen
many presidents inaugurated. | struck
the hour Of Lincoln's assassination.
have beat time for emancipation proc-
lamation, and Chicago fire, and Charles
ton earthquake, and epidemics of fever
and cholera. Nations never stop. They
march on toward salvation or demoi-
ton. And why should / stop? Ichime
for the national holidays. toll for the
mighty dead. must go on! must go
on! Tick, took! Tick, tock!' There may
be difference of few seconds or a few
minutes in the timepieces, but it will be
81 serious occasion when next Saturday
night about the same hour the family
clocks, and the city clocks, and the ma
tional clocks strike one! twol three!
four! five! six! seyeni eight ni1e! ten!
eleven! twelve!
THE DEAD YEAR AND IT'S DIED.
Sorry am L to have 1892 depart this
life. 1t has been u good year. What
bright daysl What starry nightsi What
harvests! What religious convocations!
What triumphs of art and science and
invention and enterprise and religion
But, alas, how sacred it has been with
sorrows! What pillows hot with fever
that could not be cooled! What graves
opening wide enough to take down
beauty and strength and usefulness,
What octogenarlans putting down the
staff of earthly pilgrimage and taking the
crown Of heavenly rewardl What chill
dren, as in Bible time, crying: s'My head,
my head! And they carried him to his
mother, and he sat on her knees until
noon and then died" This year went
f1n f.i,Tpf of T-,o1o,,l \ Al. -. e
poet of America. Our John G. Whittier
great III literature and simple as a
child-for did | not spend an afternoon
with him IL d barn in the Adirondacls.
and in the evening we PLAYED blind
mans buff. he tying over my eyes the
handkerchief while the hotel parlors
rang with the merrymaking? And Ten
nyson, this year gone-he who for this
particular season of the year wrote:
Ring out, wild bells, to 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 1ningling of emotions in this clos
ing year! What orange blossoms for the
marriage altar, and what myrtle for the
tombs of the dead! Hosannas and lam
entations in collision. Anthem and
dead march mounting from the same
ivory keys. Before 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, ard we have nc
certainty that when our last Dec 81 has
sped away we shall enter blissful eter-
nifty? The most overwhelmingly solemn
week of all the year is the last week OF
December.
But on opening this subject, ''In re-
spect of holy day" as my text puts it
or holiday, as we moderns write and
nronnunca II [ advised that Won divide