Connecticut western news., 1892-12-29

CIOCkS, Auu tue ClCy CLOCKS, ana Cne na- tional clocks strike one! twoi threei fouri fivel six! seveni eightl ninei tent elevenl twelvei
 THE DEAD YEAR AND ITS DEAD.
 Sorry am to have 1892 depart this life. It has been a good year. What bright daysl What starry nigntsl What harvests! What religious convocationsi What triumphs of art and science and invention and enterprise and religion. But, alas, how sacred it has been with sorrowsl What pillows hot with fever that could not be cooledi What graves opening wide enough to take down beauty and strength and usefulness. What octogenarians putting down tue staff of earthly pilgrimage and taking the crown of heavenly rewardi What chil dren, as in Bible time, crying: My head, my headl And they carried him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon and then died" This year went the chief poet of England and the chief poet of America. Our JohnG. Whittier great in literature and simple as a child-for did l not spend an afternoon with him in barn in the Adirondacks, and in the evening we played blind mans buff, he tying over my eyes the handkerchief while the hotel parlors rang with the merrymaking2 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 lningling of emotions in this clos ing yeari What orange blossoms for the marriage altar, and what myrtle for the tombs of the deadl 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 archangePs 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 Dec. 81 has sped away we shall enter blissful eter- nity? The most overwhelmingly solemn week of all the year is the last week of December.
 But on opening this subject, "In re- spect of a holy day." as my text puts it, or holiday, as we moderns write and pronounce it, advised that you divide this season into three chapters-the first 8 chapter of illustrious birthday, the sec ond 8 chapter of annual decadence and the third chapter of chronological in- troduction-andt this last chapter we have reached. In olden> times there was style of closing an old year and opening a new one that was very suggestive. The family would sit up until twelve o'clock at night, and when the clock struck twelve the family would all go to the front door of the house, take duwn 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 our door in the closing night of this week. With what spirit shall we let the new year in? I have already indicated that it is to be one of the greatest years of all chronology. ''Why9" you ask. Have you any forebodings or premonitionsY No. "Are you expecting the millen- Llum this ye..." No! "Why, then, say this about the coming year5" For the simple reason that find as the years go by they become more and more event. full. Compare the Nineteenth century with the Eighteenth century.
 EACH YEAR MORE EvENTFUL.
 Compare the first half of this century with the last half. The surges of this ocean of time are rolling higher and higher. The forces of right and wrong are rapidly multiplying, and their strug- gles must be intensified. It is a chrono- logical fact that we are all the time com ing nearer to the worlds edenization first and then to its incineration, to it. redemption and its demolition. And so I expect that 1893 will be greater year than 1892s Its wedding bells will be merrier. Its obseQuies will be sadder. Its scientific discoveries more brilliant. Its prosperities more significant. Its opening more grand. Its termination more -stupendous. Look out for 1898! Let printers have in their cases of type plenty of exclamation points to set up sudden paragraph. Let the econservatories have profusion of flowers that can be twisted into garlands. Let churches have plenty of room for increased assem blages. Let men and women have more religion to meet the vacillations, and the exigen- cies, and the demands, and the raptures, and the woes of this coming 1893. In what mood shall we open the door of the new yearp With faith, strong faith. buoyant faith, triumphant faith, God will see you through. His grace will be sufficient if you trust him. You can go to him at any time and find sympathy.
 My little child got hurt one morning during her mothers absence. We looked after the case as well as we could. To ward night her mother returned, and for the first time the child cried and cried vociferously. Some one said to her: "What do you cry for? You did not cry all day" Her reply was, .There was no one to cry to-" And so you some times suppress your trouble because there is no full resource of earthly sym pathy. But rejoice to tell you that in God you always have some one to cry 10. He will condole and help in every crisis. Come, now, let me unstrap that knap- sack of care from your shoulders. Come prosperity or diversity, come wedding or burial, come health or sickness, cone life or death, come time or eternity, alrs well, all's welli Keep your heart right and all else will be right Men and women have sometimes given strange and whimsical directions in regard to what shall be done with their hearts after death. Robert Bruce ordered his heart to be sent to the Holy Land for burial. The Earl of Leicester ordered his heart sent to Brackley hospital. Isabella, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke, died at Berkhampstead, but ordered her heart 4alxa,, To.x.lxool,,.,..x o. 4l.al~1