Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-12-27

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Another little drop has sunk into the
great ocean Of infnity. Another
trembling ray from mans life-sun has
baen sent upon its mission through
measureless space. Another round has
been fashioned in the ladder Of destiny
and before US is the new year. All
ths mighty centuries, with their ag-
gregate creation Of form from chaos,
have been built from these molecules
d Nms. As the coral in the depths Of
the asa becomes the basic fragment Of
. continent only when 1t has yielded
up the body In which 1t was sensate
organism, 10 our years, precious to us,
thrilling with the emotions that mark
existence, become fragments Of the
worlds history only when we lose our
grasp Of them and they are gone. They
become imperishable only when to us
they have dropped petal by petal their
days, and their color and fragrance
have departed.
Time 10 the most profound Of al
mysteries, the most unfathomable Of
all secrets Intangible yet potent,
coming whence who can tell, going
whithsr who knows? Each year is an
spitoms Of oil that hes come and gone,
since Tie first indestructible atom Of
matter displaced the darkness Of pri-
noedial emptiness, and wandering On
the wings Of ether found an orbit, and
'bscame the nucleus Of . universe. With
IN the bosom Of the years lies the
story Of man from the cradle to the
grave, the unwritten history Of unborn
nations the rise and fall Of empires,
lystsms and ereeds; the riddle which
can never bs read by mortal eyes. We
lookAt the past and strive to grasp ita
meaning, TO garner up a few sheaves Of
wisdom. We turn our eyes to the fu-
turs, snraptured at the mirage Of wav-
Ing Aelds Of untrodden effort, ready for
The sickle Of the mind, and looking
backward and forward the precious
present slips away and tomorrow be-
oomss yesterday.
A new year! Heir Of oil the wealth
Of the old yesrs. pulsing with possibil.
ity, great with promise. tits well that
W bow tho knee and lift the heart,
~ the old passath, and the new cometh
out Of the door Of the storehouse Of
future centuries, surrounded BY Its
cycle Of days. each bearing aloft its un-
1T toscl. srsiting tn, signh Of tho
bridegroom.
Nations, like the planet upon which
they live, have their era Of subsidence
and emergence, their tidal waves
and earthquakes, their glacial epochs
and their periods Of teeming fertility
Of thought and achievement as well as
Of glory and prosperity. Now and
again they are shaken to their center
and old forms give way to newer and
better. Thus Is the miracle Of creation
made recurrent. Looking upon the
life.chart Of nations, as 1t lies spread
out before us In history, we see here
and there an illumined mountain
peak, q Mohammed, Christ, Luther or
Cromwell, and here and there burned
ont crater Of passion, Waterloo, o
Flodden Field, Gettysburg. Noun
tain-peals and crater are part Of the
great scheme Of humanity, abiding
places for the eternal sunlight guiding
men to loftier heights Of patriotism
and purity, or warnings Of the smol-
dering fires which keep the earth
throbbing with heat and vitality,
when prisoned, but unclaimed involve
II In ruin.
The year that has gone has been one
Of regret and disappointment to us as
people. Like the prophet Of old we
have looked to the heavens for a sign
and found 1t not, and bowling our
hearts we have waited with what pa
tience we might for Time the healer,
to cause us to forget our wounds. All
that was In the old year, but the dawn
Of a new future shines upon u.s. Asw
gaze upon Its first roseate ray we pic
ture to ourselves the qualification Of
hope deferred. We hear in the tones
OF the bell, still quivering with the
dirge Of the past, new strain. 1t
breathes Of hope, tells Of strife soothed
to peace, hatred quenched in forgive
ness. We follow the ray and It leads
US to the embers on the hearthstone Of
the old year. Looking closer, we find
1t was kindlsd there. Amid the ashes
uf shame and violence, fires Of patriot
ism and brotherly love still burned.
Dark indeed will be the old year that
sees them quenched in our land; darker
still the new year that gives no promise
Of liberty under law and no respect for
the ideals Of the past.
Another year, would we linger in the
portals Of the past, where we have
been garlanded with love and Joy or
where age has crowned us with frui-
tionp Behind us the crowding centu-
ries push like great army hurrying
In hot haste to the victory. Onward
they press, sweeping all before them.
Alasl we may not pause. Reluctant or
willing, we are hurried forward toward
those bsttlements, which, seen diln..y
against the horizon, may be mist
shrouded and so near at hand that the
next step will bring us to the grim
gates which open but once to every
mortal, and behind which there Is o
mystery greater than that Of Time.
Those trampling centuries. laundering
forward with tread like the music Of
the stars, $50 loud 1t deafcns mortal
ears," arc advancing to carry man to
The highest pinnacle Of hope and
achievement. Woe be to US II each day
We join not the host as valiant soldiers,
ready b storm any fortress Of wrong
md prejudice, willing to DO battle ac-
eording to the strength Of our souls
Ind the Justice Of our cause.