The Newtown bee., 1899-01-20
how many will this be the last year of

how many will this be the last year OF
life2
A new year; we have stepped from
the region of the known into the country
Of the unknown. Going, going, this
we were saying only little while ago
as we saw the stopped form OF the Old
Year passing out into the twilight that
covered him with an increasingly OBJ
securing haze; now we say he is gone.
The old year is now history. 1t has TAX
en- its place with the years when the
world was young, when Noah and ADra-
ham, ana Isaac and David walked upon
the earth, when Alexander and Ca sar
and Charlemsgne made their conquests,
when knights-errant displayed deeds OF
chivalry and bards saIg songs Of love.
THE OLD YEAR IS NOW HISTORY.
Future poets will write OF it; genera
ton hence men will smile as
they read its story. 1t has been
much like other years, for in 1t men have
known the same loves, the same hates,
the same passions and the same fears.
Men have just as ruthiessly trampled up
on the rights of others; in it Pharisees
have devoured widows houses and for &
pretence made long prayers; in it men
have wholly forgotten they were their
brothers keepers, have clean lost sight
of Gne Golden Rule, and have passed by
the fact that to bear one another's bur
u 70 ho he 10 xxyn ~ Nm ~
In 1t, too, there have been heart-love and
moLher-love and love TO God and man !;
in it the widow has been cared for, the
orphan has been fathered, the sick have
been visited, the naked have been clothed,
the weary have been soothed, the hun
CRY have been fed. o passing years that
fill up the roll of the great centuries, how
much alike ye seeml for man Ia still un-
regenerste, and in so many hearts still
for the Christ, as in the Bethlehem of
old, there ia mo ROOM" The old year
has been much like other years,
and yet it has been q conspicuous
year. How fast in it has history
been madel No year since the world be-
gan has seen in 80 short time such vast
destinies settled, such great questions
solved; well may we remember this year.
1t Is q fit year to come 80 close to the end
OF the greatest of the centuries. Let us
now leave 1t for a while. 1t has gone
from us forever; it 10 now farther from
US than the SHOWS that lie on the Him
alaya peaks or the fairest pearl that
slumbers in the Gulf of Ceylon.
The new year calls for thought.
''The corridors of Time /.
| Are full OF doors--the portals OF closed years,
But one door stands STAR
The New Years; while golden chain ofdays
Holds 1t half shut
We pause before this door.
Thy year, o God, how shall we enter in?
How shall we thence thy hidden treasures
win7'
Well it Ia that we pause before the por-
tai OF q new year. at pleasure resort
in the city people visit THE Crystal
Maze, place not large, but with many
passages and doors where mirrors ingen.
iously disposed reflect person over and
over again. 1t 10 said that no one but
the guides could safely pilos visitor to
che door once the place 10 fairly entered.
The frat one knows he is hopelessly and
inextricably confused and entangled.
Each new turn but flashes with distract
ing multiplicity the people who perhaps
begin to feel kind Of insane or desperate
desire to escape the myriad representa-
lions of themselves and the few people
around. A word to the guide, however,
will at once end the dlzzy search for es-
cape, and 10 after oaly turn or two
there stands the welcome door. This 10
not unlike life. We see our deeds reflect
ed over and over again In trying repeti-
ton. We enter by-paths we really did
not mean TO, and before we know it
ARE INExTRICABI.Y ENTANGLED
in labyrinth Of turmoil and care. We
would enter the new year with courage
IL we could be sure of coming out right;
but often when we have started with
bright hopes and noble resolutions, be-
fore we knew IL we have been entangled
La maze of mistakes and failures. Bat
Is It net comforting to know that right
dc our eide, liz we call for His aid, Ii One
who has said, Il am the door, II we
will Let Him guide Us, he Will bring uss