Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-01-03

Portais-The Gracious Presence of Miss
Observation-Disclosures Noble Resolu-
tions While the Bell Ringers Are
Waiting to Usher in 1905.
neutrality-suspicious. Of Gazette and journal
NEW YORK, Dec. 3l.-We are waiting
quite patiently. And ell Of us are con.
Scious Of the necessity of silence-it is
exactly as if some one in the house
were dead. We are waiting quietly
for death and birth. The Old Year
is on its last legs and the new one is
oyer-anxious to bow himsGlfin and take
possession. The Old Year, wrinkled,
worn out, weary AS he is, is dear to us,
while the new one is stranger. We sit
and think of all that has come to us as
we walked hand in hand with Ninety
Four, and we wonder what Ninety Five
will bring us. As the fire brightens, and
as look in it, | can see sorrow, sick
ness and death that Ninety-Four gave;
and ! can see loving kindness and
| thoughtfulness that came even when the
trouble was at its height. What did
Ninety-Four bring to your lean sec the
| passing 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 will rise up and call him
| Blessed" | can see how good death is.
How it magnitles every virtue and blots
ont every fault. Then, Ninety-Four
| brought death to another, sudden, awful,
and yet when he said, "Ihere shall be
no more years for you, you who are
young aud to whom life means so
| much, he was yet kind enough to cause
no suffering except to those who were
left
GLADNEss AND SORROW.
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 learn something. We learn to
know cur friends, distinguish between
the fair-weather ones and those who
were close when the skies were darkest
and dreariest. And We learn how low
ing some might be, some from whom we
had never expected it, and we appre-
ciated many times the tenderness and
goodness that came from those who
were closest to us. But Ninety-Four
brought some pleasures. There were
many loving friends and gracious 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. 1t
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, a
book, or sometimes just a gracious
presence to cheer you up. What a deal
that is That ability to come into a
sick room and make everything brighter
and mcrrier. To be able to chatter
along about the events OF the day until
the invalid almost seems to have been
among the pleasures herself. / know a
woman like that. call her Miss Bright.
heart, for it seems as if she thought out
all the pleasant things, all the bright
things, and then stored them up in heI
heart so that she might have them TIC
give out where they We're most needed
She was IN Il sick room the other, day
.. and her approach was heralded by
THE DOOR OF yIoLETs.
These were laid, when she got in the
room, on the pillow where their beauty
could be seen and their perfume en-
joyed. Then she began to tell, not how
badly the invalid looked, not of the ills
of the world, and not of the many sor
rows, but instead OF the new books She
i had read, of the tea. she had been to
indeed, of all the pleasures she had had
She said TO go with the violets,
have brought you book that is in har
mony with them. 1t is written by
/ women who comes, as we do, from
where the sun is warmer and it Away
I, seems to me as if, when she painted he
T ladies, she did it with the touch Of
! gentlewoman. And yet, they Away
had heart. The book has for its prett-
> title that gracious name which we Civ
: to an unmarried woman nowadays, =
Bachelor Maid. Aad Mrs. Burton Har
! rison, who, to my way of thinking, i
g one of the most delightful writers of tC
= day, is the author, Smell your violet
and read your book, and you will b
/ surprised, my dear, to find how closel
r they arc united. One giving out tn
/ perfume of the flower, the other of
Z charming girlhood. And where have
T been! To one tea where felt sorry fc
= the poor little debutante, who, gowne
y in white silk and holding three or fou
Il Of her 200 bouquets, looked like lam
led TO the slaughter. Everybody els
!. was dressed SO much, and by SO muc
Z | mean had on so many different color
9 that the room looked like a gnrgeor
tulip bed, for nobody was too old or to
: young not to wear some bright shade
IL the bonnet, gay collar, while us fC
i. the frncks. if they weren'trags and jug
surely the velvet gowns were many
/, color, but all ilarng out after the fasl
Al ion OF those quaint old silver bells Thu
~ used 10 announce the serving Of Dime
n IN REAL LIFE.
b. "The tea was itself exactly what II
N dear old Autocrat of the Breakfast Tab
70 said they all were, 'Gobble, gable az
Y git That night | went to see IL
- famous play, The Masqueraders An
my dear, in the famous scene where tw
men match cards for the possession of
woman, | do believe my heart stood sti
es People talk about its being unreal.
don't know whether it is, or not, and
r, don't care; but it is maryelOusly int
'e esting play, we'll acted and we'll wor
ST being seen. Men in real life do ell sor
lie of things; are up to all sorts of woke
n ness, and | do not see why as soon
k. something little out of common
or pictured on the stage that the crit
I'd should get up on their hind legs and e
OF claim: 'rhis never happened in real lif
iy How do they know? They are only lvil
I'd one life, and there are a million othel
at and into any one of these may cor
$ something quite as startling as til
IT. which is shown on the stage. Nothil
St is SO strange as life. grant that ii tt
lie play had been done by poor actors, Il.
&c which was intense might have be
made ridiculous; but as it was done