Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-12-31

! s1r Alone in my ronra cne night. 4
and Thought: l might liave said j Sal
alone and wrote, hnt u would nsst N.
the same thing. fGr writing : nnt ns.
c~sssar!ly thinking ~nsswaaavs. whstevr-
II may have been in chr olien rinlu. i've,
sides my writing WIS al an end hr
fore flse fisnelHs heran The ignHr
was one tlaf lnd hong impressed me
profoundly Tte anBr WAS Tlse enc
Whicn snlaars'cs night from mnrnns-, /
the munrh the s'ne which separates the
old year fTaln the new yesz. The Tsae<. /,
tAanIoens. who wrote Portuguese and
SPANISH with equal f~nciliTy and frisrs-
u. sras went 40 say. the b~iagraFsilcrs
Fell us, when no employed both lar
! eGA.ss Ia writing tlsa same s.s4.ss - 81
he had one fcot In Portugal and tine
other in Spain. j am like Gausgsfis, I
thought. mot because I am ~bi-IlRgual
tts he was for my po0r masher1aasue
is the snfy one 4 know. and Ehag i'm
perfectly huf because my feet gc-usgaT
arc ia two Kingdoms. ] sa1 and unused
awhile in rire ~sil..Es4 and then carriyA
Red. thinking aiBud as / Sometimes <io.
] am told No. 4 am not hike rhat great
4hF1A AftH-tAtf ~ AZ ~ sts4 IVA Nftt& tAAs &f$ht
rather lise rhe odd Roman GOO who
Was potent at this saason, hrfrputnd
Janus. I had never quite understood
the si@nEicanre OF rhe Thought 0f
which ne was the symbol: but, sitting
there. on the threslold OF night and
morning, It slowly dawnad on me and
rnlqrtd my -nfsaifariors.
Hall 10 thee. great .Jsmgfs. hail Thou
aiene OF all the gods ltsdsi the power
af looking forward and backward aS
the same time. ef seeing al a single
glance the futHre and the fasSs They
were alike 10 thee. Janus, for 1hDu
wer1 n rcd. bur they ARE poT alike "a
ire. for I am q mHfFal. AMI ] am ahd.
I cannGt ptrcstve wiIaI Is before Eme-
for my sight * growing more and
more dim. Nor. III ] now myself. dc I
care u: Fer. whatever 81 mas he, u can
not re what it WAS aTsce. When Z was
y0ung. Siie c0ninc of a New Year al
ways found me JuhGlani. now i am ola.
the coming OF the New Year always
nn&s ne silent. My fax0rire hook
then NeaS tAThe Pleasure ct Hope.
when / long since ceased 60 read, my
favosSte fspek new j. -srhesPleaSGre 90
Memory" al wlich I moan 80 read 3
pare tonight Ii will net take me
bong, and 1t Will suit me hSnT ana the
tiTue. Ii Is ah0st the New Year. Not
the New Year that is 70 he, huf h
New Nsais that wcre. The old, old
New Years.
My arfy r~ecoIlcctfans or New Years
were Fs0t eennecfed with the litgle odd
town tn which l was a0rn. r0r wiz
any of flie littlr cid Towns in which
mg boyhoed WAS passed Tor II my
Family and the Tasople asoHt them
cared more for New Years day than
for any other in n wear, I dad NOT dis
cover that fact. But ] suspect they
did not. fer the Massachusetts, 0f sixty
or seventy wears = had no holidays
Ia speak uf-enly tho Fourth OF Jnly.
when rustic patriots assembled In halls
and churches SO hear the Declaration
ef Independence read and Ihc times
that tried mems souls ~eulagizea ia
anng e~ratianS. and Thanksgiving. when
the separated megafNrs o. families ~
united themselves In tAc old meme
SteadS. where, around the crowded ia
tie, they sat down L. the mp3-a@y din
y.er and aeFeared the annual turkey
SSd the occasional mincc-pie Not in
old. Puritan Massachusetts, but ia aia.
Dufch Ne~~ York. did my iirst actnal
arqraintaace with tlsc New Year be-
gar. liz was hate in the Sns Or sare In
the 4nk-precssely when 1t matters not
and Was a had of fifteen or therea-
bouts. We were poor people. N on
s~euuenfiy Ray kIowledce OF what WIS
going on I'm f.ae weird WAS OF the slight
est. 4 don't think ] read the daily
papers. and l know l didn't read the
manthly magazines. for I believe there
we're two or three then MY literatssre
was confined 10 my Srhcol books tn
: Na,re-Rr7n's geography, 10 Ce&borists
arithmetic think il Was Calborns
and 70 the grammar of tsooia Brown.
/ that grammatical Columbus who dr.
covered the common gender. Still,
there are things that we learn without
: reading. things thar are iR4sAe air. a>
. one may say. NM uTK- % them -ss the
|, knowledge that New Years was a zen
rrai and generous holiday | know IL
WAS q general ono. for I did go 10
: school that day, nc did my stcpfa~aer
go 10 work. and ] knew IL WIS a gen
errors one when my mother sent me 70
the little corner store where b Dur-
chased our g-vccrteS. al the grocer
gave me two or three cakes, oblonc
cakes. stamped with ernanaeatai Pat
/; terms sprinkled with sugar and fsaNorel
with caraway seeds. WAS 80 aston.
ishea AZ his hberaliy that | almcs'
s forgot 10 thank him. While ] Was re-
: mamt,erinc my manners a sevy Of lsoy>