Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-01-08
NEW YEAR THOJGHTS
WHY THE DAY is ALWAYS WELCOME
TO OLD AS WELL AS VOTING

Z
TO OLD AS WELL AS YOUNG.
1t is because nearly all of us live on
hope, because we are mentally sustained
by expectations, that New Years is ALWAYS
welcome. 1t is the one day of the twelve
month-Christmas is chiefly for children
that appeals most to men and women
Much of its attractvcncss depends. for the
multitude. on its nominal ncwncsS. We
are all familiar and weary with the old
We are ever signing for the new, which
seems as If it would bring u change of
mind and condition. New Years is not II
whit newer FOR its name, as every one who
thinks for moment is aware, but names
are potent, more potent often than things.
We like to deceive ourselves and to accept
any sort of prctcxt that will serve our pur-
pose. a name is as good as anything else,
though there is nothing behind it,
1t is absurd and ludicrous, philosoph-
ically to believe, unless for some specific
cause, that the coming year will be any
better, more helpful or will mako us any
more contcntcd than the last year has
done. Nevertheless it is natural to so be-
levc, for belief is but hope intensified,
full matured Few of us can reach a philo-
sophie height, and it may be well that we
cannot. Philosophy may make us strong,
but the majority of us would rather be
satisfied, would rather enjoy tho prospect
OF something desirable, even if it should
never bc reached. And this feeling can
not he had without hope, and without
hope life is not worth keeping. Could any
of us live deprived of hope? Some of us
think we can and that we do But do we?
Have we not hope that we are unconscious
of? Is not the mere fact of our living
positive proof of this? Would not entire
absence of hope result in discontinuancc
of our physical being? Is not hope essen
tial to the worlds pcrpotuity?
The bulk of us hold as much faith in
each New Year as if we had never expert
enccda New Year life, We forget that the
past year was once the new and that we
had fond anticipations of what it would
bring Not only will the New Year, as
we imagine, afford us improved circum-
stances, it will alter our mind, oven reyo-
lutionize our disposition; recrcate us
nfrcsh We are as a rule positively super
stitious about each and every New Year,
for we really think, in effect, though we
would never make the admission, that it
VIII deal with us magically, that it will
actually transform us without active CO.
operation on our part. We are Supcrsti-
tlous, too about other things, more than
we arc conscious of or could be persuaded
to believe. If we laugh at such vulgar
supcrstitons as that Friday is unlucky,
or that breaking Il mirror is sign of
death, we fancy we have free minds. At
the same time we may be abjoctly super
stitious concerning a hundred facts in
which superstition is not supposed to be
involved. While every civilized man claims
to be a reasoning animal, not one in 80 is
strictly so,
+ I,,t h,t l,,,
New Years than superstition has, for hope
and faith are so closely allied to it as . be
hardly distinguishable sometimes, one
from the other Superstition is, under all
circumstances, bancful but hope is com
monty useful, desirable, of particular ad-
vantage to him who hopes, provided it
not so excessive as to become visionary
Any virtue may degenerate into an evil,
may be carried too far, as faith, beautiful
in itself, frequently sinks into slavish, de-
basing superstition and may commit afro
CiouS Crucltcs.
1t seems sheer superstition for man
who is selfish, vicious, disspated this year
to believe that he will be generous, virtu-
Gus, self denying in the year to come I'M
less he has resolved to reform thoroughly
just as he is not likely, being poor in purse
and in health at present, to be monetarily
independent and round of body within u
few months because there will have ush-
cred in another year without rigid econ
omy or exceptional luck or the close OBJ
scrvancc of hygicnic laws.
1t is unadultcrated superstition to think
that ones fortune or nature will change
as soon as the clock strikes midnight on
Dec. 81, for changes of any kind are sci
dom sudden. But if one seriously reflects
in October, November or December that
his surroundings are not as he would have
them or that he Is not performing his du-
ties to his fellows there is fair chance of
his material and moral bcttcrmcnt in Jan"
uary, February March.
Apart from this, hope is ever stirring in
the human heart and if things go ill with
us one season we are supported by an in
ward suggestion that they will go better
at IL later season, which is generally asso-
catcd with the New Year. This inward
suggestion is the voice of hope. 1t is heard
i'll the darkest hours in the most dcprcss-
ing moods, and it is more grateful than
the music of the spheres 1t is the great
est blessing-many regard it as the solo
blcsSing-of humanity, for while it con-
stantly cheats it always comforts. Danto
was just in representing the punishment
of the inferno as the tota! surrender of
hope, 1t is at worst II delightful phantom.
New Year $ is grand, an inspiring oc-
casion, for it is always saturated with
hope We are wont to scOtf at and derde
it as day when men make good resolu-
tions only to break them; when they turn
over new leaves as it is called, merely to
turn them back again. They want, they
hope to be better, and but few of them arc
So They determine to advance, and if
they do advance they slip back Their
failures are many, are continuous, and
often excite laughter. But it is worthier
to determine and decline, to hope and be
disappointed than not to determine or hope
at all Determination and hope add to our
contest or at least diminish our discon-
tent, and they are born of New Years.
The great need of human life is content,
never attained, never attainablc. And
through New Years we are deluded into
belief of its possibility. Therefore well
come be New Years, not for what it gives,
but for what it promises to give.
JUNlUS HENRI BROWNE.
New Years In Wales.
Some years since children in the south