The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-01
A Happy New Year.

In these busy modern days the pass
ing of q new milestone in the progress
of the years carries with it a sugges-
tiveness hitherto unfelt. A twelve
month of this period of the worlds de-
velopment is more than equal, in the
volume and diversification of the events
for which it stands, to Il decade at the
present century's birth. or to a century
five or six hundred years ago. There Is
no newness in the thought, yet this one
occasion gives it perhaps a. new signif-
icance, that we are children of an
electric age--of an age that glories in
fast and furious speed, in giant under
takings, in audacious speculations. Our
engineers scale attitudes and conquer
chasms that two generations ago would
have been deemed impregnable; our
mechanicians harness the forces OF the
earth and of the air to new and marvel
Gus combinations Of human ingenuity
and skill; and our inventors without
hesitation or abashment go eagerly to
their task of revolutionizing the uni
verse two and three times day
Most of this ceaseless activity is by
many people quietly taken for granted.
The majority is fallen into the rut of ex-
pecting these things and of ceasing to
take note of them. 1t requires, among
the most Of us, a pretty big achievement
to pique our dulled and sated curiosity
and to stimulate our languid interest.
A Teskla once and an Edison twice or
thrice have, in the world of electricity,
challenged our admiration; but in the
natural sciences we have ceased to feel
surprise at any discovery or any theory;
in the arts we are dimly conscious of
host of workers with no projecting sim
gle figure; and in the realm Of philoso-
ply and religion not even the cry Of
heresy suffices any longer to invest
preacher or q teacher with more than
transient interest. The fact, as Nor
dau has stated it, is that we are SO rapid
and SO mulitfarious in our industries
and our achievements that the senses
are being blurred and numbed by the
strain; and If it is not degeneracy which
gives to the activities of our day their
neither side of pain, doubt and hope
lessness it is certainly some similar her.
itage Of the pace that kills."
We are not, however, viewing the out
look with anything like despair. The
student Of history does not need to be
told that nations and civilizations have
and again one of tranquility and rest
Already from out the babel of our fin de
steele overanxiousness there is borne
the note Of a quieter philosophy. The
disposition to overdo is likely to give
way, perchance sooner than we know,
to the saner and happier disposition
\simply to do. The upbuilding, in our
les and towns, of public libraries and
Institutes; the missionary work of
pnstantly travelling University Ex
lecturer; the entry of the church
social activities of its young
but some Of the symptoms
h, thd at the coming of a period
~ sor \shall be more thought than
whl nner Nm of life and less INNER
now\ providS the immediate routine of
sion y wings a ne for this New Years
Il A Sooms fof Thought which goes
dor hoor. Nsentals, is embodied
sa. say, y. ne bswi'd} ball business and
in the queA them q nna ] .e s,ar M
the accumm hav{ exis\ s,s oe y. ~ .'n
thsx tnsel ne e1spDues an~,,ias;r suDors terss"
upbuilding Of no
Bayard is not the Sapon with WHICH
run afoul of the wSalissines.
Samson Stayed the P
4.
Recall Bayar. foro,on ~