Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-12-26

ily clock You might suppose that time
would have especial respect. and that Z ,
yoa took hold Of those old hands on the |
face q that esntenari.n Of tmepiece |
and pushed them back you might ex- |
pect that time would stop OF retreat for !
al least few inmates. No, not says |
the cd family clock. Il must 80 On |
saw your father aud mother on their |
wedding day. l struck the hour q your
nativity. | counted the festal hours OF
the day IN which you brought home .
bride. ! sounded the knell 81 yoar
fathers death. tolied at your mothers
/ departure. Yea, must sound your own
going out OF life. nust go on. | must
| 20 on. Tick, took. Tick, t0ckr'
TIIE UScEAsING FLIGHT OF TIME
1 But there is great city clock high up
/ in the tower. There are SO many
wrongs in all our cities 70 be righted, 50
many evils 10 be extirpated, SO many
/ prisons 10 be sanitaried-stop the city
clock until all these things are done.
Let common council and the people OF
the great town decree that the city hall
clock shall stop. We do not want the
sins Of 1892 10 be handed over 10 1893.
| We do not want the young year 10 in
| herit the misfortunes Of the old year.
By ladders lifted 10 the tower and by
strong hands take hold and halt the city
clock. mo, nor says the city clock.
Il canno. wait until you correct ali
evils or soothe all sorrow or drive out all
sin. have been counting the steps Of
your progress as u city. l have seen
your opportunities. l have deplored
your neglects, but time wasted is wasted
forever. l must go ON. | must go on.
Tick, tockl Tick, tockr' But in the tower
OF the csp!tois 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 10 stop.
stop, y clock, until sectional aniInos-
titles 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, no!' says the clock. Il
| have been going on SO long | cannot af-
J ford 10 stop. l sounded the birthday of
} American independence. l 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 demoli-
ton. And why should stop? l chime
I for the national holidays. ! toll for the
, mighty dead. must go on! Unjust go
on. Tick, took. Tick, took" There may
, be difference of few seconds or few
t minutes in the timepieces, but it will be
0 a serious occasion when next SATURDAY.
!, night about the same hour the family
clocks, and the city clocks, and the ma
tional clocks strike one! two! three!
{ four! five! six! seven! eight! nine! ten!
o eleven! twelve!
: THE DKAD YEAR AND ITS DEAD.
Sorry am l to have 1892 depart this
life. 1t has been good year. What
J. bright days! What starry nights! What
! harvestsi 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
Q that could not be cooled! What graves
opening wide enough to take down
u beauty and strength and usefulness.
/ What octogenarians putting down the
= staff of earthly pilgrimage and taking the
= crown Of heavenly reward! What chill.
Il dren, as in Bible time, crying: MY head
. my headl And they carried him to his
mother, and ne sat on her knees until
9 noon and then died" This year wen,
Is the chief poet of England and the chic!
, poet of America. Our John q. Whittier
great in literature and simple as q
y child--for did / not spend an afternoon
% with him In barn in the Adirondacks
o and in the evening we played blind
s mans buzz, he tying over my eyes the
u handkerchief while the hotel psrlors
q rang with the merrymaking? And Ten
:, nyson, this year gone-he who for thi.
particular season Of the year wrote:
o Ring out, Wild bells, TO the wild sky,
% The flying cloud. the frosty light.
y The year is dying in the night.
\, Ring out, wild bells. and let him die
d What mingling OF emotions in this clos
v ing year! What orange blossoms for tn,
q marriage altar, and what myrtle for tn,
q tombs of the deadl Hosannas and lam
entations in collision. Anthem ant
n dead march mounting from the sam,
s. ivory keys. Before this year quite leave
II the earth let it hear our repentance 70
il opportunities that can never return
y. Kind words spoken too late or not spoker
Sc at all. Means Of getting good or dom,
s. good so completely gone by that TN
y archangel's voice could not recall them
4 Can it be that this year is closing an,
10 our sins are unforgiven, and we have n,
10 certainty that when our last Dec. 81 ha
II sped away we shall enter blissful eter
Il nityl The most Overwhelmingly solemn
4. week of all the year is the last week o
u December.
\. But on opening this subject, "In re
% spect of a holy day" as my text puts il
N CT a holiday, as we moderns write an,
II pronounce il, advised that you divid
et this season into three chapters frs
.. a chapter of illustrious birthday. the sec
m ond a chapter Of annual decadence an,
N the third chapter Of chronological in
pr troduction--and this last chapter We hav