The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-02-18

and London and Berlin and Vienna end
al the great national capitala there are
elockA
suppose that BY presidential procaAt
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
anirnosities are cooled of, until our
Sabbaths are better kept ana drunken
ness turns to sobriety, ard bribery,
fraud and dissipation quit the landl
Stop, o clock in the tower Of the great
United States capitoll'' mo. mol" says
the clock, II have been going on
so long / can not afford 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 Linceln's assassina-
ton. / have beat time for emancipa-
ton proclamation, and Chicago fire, and
Charleston earthquake. and epidentcs
of fever and cholera Nations never
stop. They march on toward salvation
or demolition. And why should they
stop? / chime for the national holidays
Itoll for the mighty dead, I must 60 Oh.
must 90 on. Tick, tockl Tick, tockl
There may be difference OF few sec
ends or a few minutes in the time
pieces, but it will be q serious occasion
when next Saturday night about the
Same heur the family clocks, and the
city clocks, and the national clocks
strike onel two! three! four! fivsl ski
sevenl eight! niSel ten! eleven! twelvel
Sorry am to have 1892 depart this
life. 1t has been good year. What
bright davsl What starry nights!
What harvests! What religious con-
vocations! What triumphs OF art and
science and invention and enterprise
and religionl But, alas, how sacred 1t
has been with sorrowsl What pillows
hot with fever that could not be cooled
What graves opening wide enough 70
take down beauty and strength and use
fitness! What octogenarians putting
down the staff Of earthly pilgrimage
and taking the crown Of heavenly 70
ward! What children, as in Bible time,
crying: my head, my headi 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 Eng
land and the chief poet of America.
Our John G.. Whittier-great in litera-
ture and simple as q child-for did
not spend an afternoon with him in q
barn in the Adirondaclxs, and in the
evening we played blind mans buff, he
tying over my eyes tho handkerchief,
while the hotel parlors rang with the
merrymaking? And Tennyson, this
year gone-he who for this particular
season of the year wrote:
Ring out Wild bells, to the wild sky,
The Tying 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 year! What orange blossoms for
the marriage altar, and what myrtle
for the tombs of dead! Hosannas and
lamentations 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 archangers voice could not recall
them. Can it be that this year is clos
ing and our sins are unforgiven, and
we have no certainty that when our last
December 81 has sped away we shall
enter a blissful eternity? The most
Overwhelmingly solemn week of all the
year is tho last week of December.
But on opening this subject, SIN re-
spect of holy day." rs my text put It.
or a holiday, as we moderns write and
pronounce 1t, advised that you divide
this season into three chapters-the first
a chapter of illustrious birthday, the
second chapter of annual decadence.
and the third chapter of Chronological
introduction. and this last chapter we
have reached. In olden times there was
style of closing an old year and OPEN
ing 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 arc 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? 1 have already indi-
Gated that it is to be one Of the greatest
of all chronology.
"Why?" you ask. Have you any
forebodings or premonitions?' mol
"Are you expecting the millennium
this year?" Mol why, then, say this
about the coming year?" For the sim
pie reason that / find rs the years &c
By they become more and more event
full Compare the nineteenth century
with the eighteenth century. 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 rap
idly multiplying, and their struggles
must be intensified.
It is a chronological fact that we are
all the time coming nearer to the
worlds edenization first and then to it
incineration, to its redemption and it,
demolition. And SO expect that 1895