The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-01-03
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.
trembling ray from mans life-sun has
been 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.
the mighty centuries, with their ag-l
gregate creation of form from chaos,
have been built from these molecules
OF time. AS the coral IT, the depths Of
the sea becomes the basic fragment Of
continent only when it has yielded
up the body in which it was sensate
organism, SO 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 is the most profound Of all,
mysteries, the most unfathomable Of
oil secrets. Intangible yet potent,
coming whence who can tell, going
whittier who knows? Each year is an
epitome Of all that has come and gone,
since the first indestructible atom Of
matter displaced the darkness of pri-
mordial emptiness, and wandering on
the wings Of ether found an orbit, and
became the nucleus OF a 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,
systems and creeds; the riddle which
can never be read by mortal eyes. We
look at the past and strive to grasp its
meaning, to garner up few sheaves Of
wisdom. We turn our eyes to the fu-
ture, enraptured at the mirage of wav-
Ing fields Of untrodden effort. ready for
the sickle Of the mind, and looking
backward and forward the precious
present slips away and tomorrow be-
comes yesterday.
A new year! Heir Of all the wealth
Of the old years, pulsing with possibil-
ity, great with promise. 1t is we'll that
We bow the knee and lift tho heart,
rs the old passeth, 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-
lit torch awaiting the signal Of the
bridegrc n.
Natio:,-, Ike the planet upon which
they live, Lave their era of subsistence
md emergence, their tidal waves
ind earthquakes, their glacial epochs
end 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 it lies spread
out before US in history, we see here
and there an illumined mountain
peak, Mohammed, Christ, Luther or
Cromwell, and here and there burned
out crater Of passion, Waterloo. q
Flodden Field, @ Gettysburg. Noun
tain-peak 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
1t In ruin.
The year that has gone has been one
OF regret and disappointment to US as a
people. Like the prophet of old we
have looked to the heavens for 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 woupds. All
that was In the old year, but the dawn
of a new future shines upon US. Aswe
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, a new strain. It
breathes of hope, tells Of strife soothed
to peace, hatred quenchcd 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
it was kindled there. Amid the ashes
of 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
oeiAA thS AC ;" Col eAdt ihSS liz PioihIf,o
Of liberty under law and no respect for
the ideals Of the past.
Another year, would we 1inger in the
portals OF the past, where we have
been garlanded with love and Joy or
where age has crowned US with frui-
ton? Behind US the crowding centu-
ries push like a great army hurrying
In hot haste to the victory. Onward
they press, sweeping all before them.
Alas! we may not pause. Reluctant or
willing, we are hurried forward toward
those battlements, which. seen diInly
against the horizon, may be mist
shrouded and so near ut hand that the
next step will bring US TO the grim
gates which open but once to every
mortal, and behind which there IL q
mystery greater than that OF Time
Those trampling centuries, laundering
forward with q tread like the music Of
the stars, 80 loud ii dea!ens mortal
ears" are advancing TO carry man 70
the highest pinnacle of hope and
achievement Woe be to US il each day
we Join not the host as valiant soldiers,
ready 70 storm any fortress Of wrong
and prejudice, willing to do battle ac-
cording to the strength Of our souls
and the justice Of our cause
Logical