The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
THE WANING YEAR.
Bah Bids Farewell to 1894, and Wei
comes The New Arrival.

PORTALS - Inc GRACIOUS PRESENCE or
Miss Brightheart - Framing Noble
Resolutions While the Bell Ringers
Are Waiting to Usher in 1895.
New York, Dec. ave are waiting
quite patiently. And all Of US are con-
scious Of the necessity Of silence-it is ex-
actly as some one in the house were dead.
We are waiting quietly for a death and
birth. The Old Year is on its last legs,
and the new one is over-anxious to bow
himself in and take possession. The Old
Year, wrinkled, worn out. weary as he is.
is dear TO US, while the new one is a
stranger. We sit and think Of all that has
come to us walking hand in hand with
Ninety-four, and we wonder what Ninety
five viii bring US. As the fire brightens,
and as look in it, can see sorrow. sick
ness and death that Ninety-four gave;
and I can see loving kindness and
thoughtfulness that came even when the
trouble was at it's hight What did Nine
ty-four bring to you? can see the pass
ing away of one to whom life had grown
dear, and God in his goodness made that
so easy that it was only like going from
one sleep to another. And his children
viii rise up and call him blessed" I can
see how good death Is. How it magnihes
every virtue and blots out every fault
Then Ninety-four brought death to an
other. sudden, awful, and yet when he
said: There shall be no more years for
you, you who are young and to whom life
means so much" he was yet kind
enough to cause no suffering except to
those who were left.
Look in the fire there and see how much
Of illness Ninety-four has brought you.
To you, to me and to our neighbor, and
yet we learned something We learned to
know our friends, distinguish between the
fair weather ones and those who were
close when the skies were the darkest and
dreariest And we learned how loving
some might be, some from whom we had
never expected 1t and We appreciated many
times the tenderness and goodness that
came from those who We're closest to us.
But Ninety-four brought some pleasure.
There were many loving friends and gra-
cious deeds If illness had come hand
in hand with him to YOU he also surprised
you by introducing to your heart virtues
that you had never dreamed existed.
It seemed as if In those days people were
more than good, and there was always
somebody who thought Of you and your
dark days, and came, bringing a rose,
book, or sometimes just a gracious pres
ence TO cheer you up. What a deal that
is! That ability to come into sick room
and make all things brighter and merrier.
To be able to chatter along about the
events of the day until the invalid almost
seems to have been among the pleasures
herself l know a woman like that. l call
Z hop ut To- - se
she thought out all the pleasant things, all
/ the bright things, and then stored them
/ up in her heart so that she might have
4 them to give out where they were most
! needed. She was in a sick room the
other day, and her approach was her
aided by the odor of violets.
These We're laid when she got in the
room, on the pillow where there beauty
! could be seen and their perfume enjoyed.
/ Then she began to tell, not how badly
/ the Invalid looked, not of the ills of the
world and not Of the many sorrows, but
instead of the new books she had read,
/ of the teas she had been to; indeed, Of
all the pleasures she had had.
She said: ITO go with the Violets
have brought you a book that is in har-
nonY with them. 1t is written by
| woman who comes, as we do, from where
| the sun is warmer, and it always seems
to me as if, when she painted her ladies',
a
woman. And yet they always had a
heart. The book has for its pretty title
that gracious name which we give to an
unmarried woman nowadays, a Bache-
Tor Maid And Mrs. Burton Harrison.
| who, to my way Of thinking is one of
the most delightful writer's of to-day, is
/ the author Smell your Niolets and read
your book, and you will be surprised,
1 my dear, to find how closely they are
united. One giving out the perfume of the
Hover, the other Of a charming girlhood
And where have l been2 To one tea
where l felt sorry for the poor little
debutante, who, gowned in white silk
and holding three or four of her 200 bou-
quets, looked like lamb led to the slaugh-
| ter. Everybody else was dressed so much,
and by so much, / mean, had on SO MANY
different colors, that the room looked like
a gorgeous tulip bed, for nobody was
too old or too young to wear some bright
shade in the bonnet, gay collar, while
as for the frocks, if they weren't rags
| and jags, surely the velvet gowns were
many in color but all haring out after
the fashion of those quaint old silver
bells that used to announce the serving
of dinner.
"The tea was itself exactly what the
dear old Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
said they all were, 'Gobble, gable and
git That night l went to see the famous
play The Masqueraders. And, my dear.
in the famous scene where two men match
cards for the possession of a woman,
1 do believe my heart stood still. People
talk about its being unreal 1 don't
know whether it is or not, and I don't
care; but it is marvelously interesting
play, we'll acted apd well worth being
seen. Men in real life do all sorts of
things; are up to all sorts of wickedness,
and l do not see why as soon as some
thing a little out Of common is pictured on
the stage that the critics should get up
on their hands and legs and exclaim: This
never happened in real life How do thew
know? They are only living one life. and
there are a million others, ana into any
any one of these may come something
quite as startling as that which is shown
on the stage. Nothing is so strange as
life. l grant that if this play had been
done by poor actors that which was
intense might have been made ridiculous:
but it was done by the best stock company
in this country, it passed before my eyes
like a picture of somebody's life Posi-
bly, my neighbours, for in every life there
exists the possibility of great events;
but tn people to whom they come haven't
the fault-finding, quarrelsome nature of