Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-01-01

FAREWELL OLD YEAR

whOmSoeNer they chOOSe.@HurOnlte.
FAREWELL OLD YEAR.
The old year is just drawingto CLOSE
as the STAR goes to press this Thurs
day evening. Tt has not been a year
of general prosperity throughout the
: nation, nor has this immediate locality
enjoyed the fruits of great prosperity.
Yet the mineral regions of the Black
Hills have been marvelously productive
and many new aud fabulously rich
discoveries have been made. The agri-
cultural portions of the eastern part
of the state have enjoyed splendid
crops: and therefore from a general
standpoint South Dakota has been
blessed with good fortune during tho
year 1896. Good health has always
been one of the states most blessed
Blooms. and this year has been especially
kind in this particular. Happiness and
sadness commingle in this world and
as one draws close to the threshold of
q new year We take Il farewell glance
backward at the joys and ORION that
have come upon us through the dying
year. Each has shared in the joys, and
but few have been spared of sorrow in
some degree. The STAR has chronicled
both among it's readers of this locality,
and i'll reviewing the files of the paper
of the past year the fact that we are
continually surrounded by shifting
scenes. with joy upon one hand and
sorrow upon the other, is evident
throughout the columns of the
volume of the year past. With those
who have good health aud have cX-
perienced no touch of grief. there is
sadness at the thought of the tleeting
years-the seeming rapidity with which
the years crowd themselves upon us
and bring us nearer to the end.
My heart is with IL Soi;. tonight
Filled full to Overlooking.
And. u! its burden is the flight
of wears. forever going
Departed ere the nuu has gained
A minimum of power
And while the laggard soul is claimed
y victim to the hour
OF present joys and all that is
OF idle dreams and woItonmeSs.
81 feel the force of mighty men
Within my being siirging
And rouse myself with thoughts of when
Will he its grand emerging.
With dead ambitions tecming-
The hours mock mo as they fly,
With widest. v;liieSt dreaming,
And. of my dearest fantasies
Become my darkest memories"
But as the Minneapolis Tribune OBJ
serves. one of the saddest results of
this hurried life is the sacrifice it ne
cessitates of many of the choicest
late that "the tender grace of a day
that is dead can never come back
again. \. father who misses through
press of business his baby's quaint
prattle. loses some of his sweetest joys.
and he who waits for a convenient
season to enjoy the confidential com
panionship of his children, finds before
he is aware that they have become men
and women: while the mother. who has
not time to answer the strange ques-
tions of rosy lips, and big wondering
eyes, lest she be too late at club or
reception, awal,es one day to find her
darling has outgrown fancy-her baby
is gone forever.
The Englishcustom of holding watch
night services-watching the old year
out and the new year in-is becoming
i quite the custom of this country, the
occasion being deemed particularly APP
: propriate for thoughtful reflection
upon the joys and sorrows the old year
brought. as we'll as to ask a blessing
upon the new: and when at the mid.
; night hour. with ''echoing peal and
!. merry clang'' the bells from every
church tower mingle in triumphal
chorus to the birth of a new
Z year. there is general rejoicing. and
Q every heart takes up the refrain of the
departed laureate:
Ring ont. wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud. the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night:
Ring ont wild bells and let him die.
Ring out the old. ring in the new,
Ring. happy, bells: across the SNOW:
S The year. is going. let him go:
Ring ont the false. ring in the true.
y ring ont tile GRIEF. that SupS tile mind,
For those that here we see no more;
RING ont the feud of ricl and poor.
Ring in redress to all mankind"
With new and better resolves for the
new year, may it bring pleasure, con
tentment and prosperity to the numer-
our readers of the STAR, and in vel
coming 1897 it is with the sincere hope
that it indeed may be to all