The commonwealth., 1897-01-07
THE NEW YEAR.
MANY HELPFUL HINTS.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMO."
(Copyrighted.)

(Copyrighted.)
(These "Thoughts," by a <laynan,
are read in five hundred thousand
homes, scattered in every State OF the
Union. In this county they will be
found week by week In the columns OF
this paper only, as we have made ar
rangements with the author Tor their
exclusive publication.)
In every hamlet OF the country last
week there were shoutlngs and noise |
to welcome in the New Year.
cannot understand this almost univer-
sal exultation. It is hardly because OF
what we have done, for good many OF
us have accomplished nothing mort
remarkable than the making of Jour
ney of 366 days nearer to the end. And
then we howl with joy at the prospect
of 365 more to be spent in an equally
aimless fashion. Perhaps 1T is the JOY,
exaggerated, OF the child who rubs OH
one puzzllng example from the black
board and then starts again. This sup
position brings me to the question OF
New Ydar's resolves.
By an absurd misfitness this season
has come to be regarded as the favora-
bic time for making resolutions--a ten
dency that results, unfortunately, In
keeping the Recorder OF Deeds most
busy writing down the failures and
mistakes. To lump all good intentions
into one day of the year, while our
carelessness of good during all the other
days has weakened our moral fiber, Is
to invite failure, absolute and nausea
ting. The time for good resolution
Is the time that any particular tempta-
ton is strongest Then while right in
the whirl of the struggle against wrong
doing, sincere deep-felt determination
Is much more likely to be effective than
if we reserve it for the clearing g-hOuse
day of the year. For at this opening
of the year, it is not at all unlikely that
many of the temptations that have as
sailed us most strenuously in the year
gone by will be absent, and our reso-
lutions, therefore, will be worse than
| useless because of their lulling intiuen-
ces upon our moral senses. We are to
fight hour by hour and day by day, and
not once a year. The sailor cannot
temporize with storm and say: Crude
Boreas, if you will kindly come bluster-
ing here on the LIST of January, shall
then be in harbor with everything
snug" No, the poor fellow must hustle
up the whistIlng shrouds, hang on by
skin of his teeth while he clears away
the wreckage above, pull and haul
strain and struggle, till by supreme
effort he makes everything safe. Lear1
from him
Then let us not make futile resolves
regarding the whole category OF sin
and weaknesses, against which life is
constant battle. But if we must IRE
, solve" just to be like others, then le
It be "To be watchful, unrelenting wit
, ourselves to crush the lower nature
to feed the higher; to scatter seeds
kindness, unofficiously and gently, da
IN and day out" If we die rich, ou
heirs scramble for the dross we leav
behind it we die poor, we are "onl
: paupers whom nobody owns" ; If we d
;. learned, others will arise mightier tina
o we but, if either rich, poor, or learne'
we die beloved then are our lives are NJ
" in vain, and our memories shall live
l. least as long as those live who loved U
IL So YOU money-makers-as you turn
,e YOUR vain and dismal task you po
r. folks with another dreary grind OF lab
before you; you students plllng
knowledge that will surely slip fro
u YOU, glorify and transmute it all IN
n, beauty and grandeur by an honest
I'd fort to live the Golden Rule.
y,
is Be not among those who rejoice
80 tinding out evil-doing and weakness
others. There are some who seeming
take more pleasure in discovering
worm at the heart of a noble tree tn
OF in standing off to admire Its symmet
ry To such, a lion is not noble BEAST
ost merely the supporter OF some d1sgu
cd ing parasites. To such, a clump
woods is not thing of beauty, (
merely a harbor for wood-tlcks.
rs' such. great and good characters are
e's conceivable. Each one hath its wo
spt tick, its parasite, its worm, and IL
rejoice thereat. To you tender-hear
maldens TOO kind to hurt an animal
YOU brawny boys too manly to smlt
lns fellow from behind; to you moth
II and fathers, the tutors and guides
the boys and girls,-shut down relentle'
be ON agossip" in the year to come.
nat. shrug of the shoulders, question
on ,,riust sllrmiSe may sc