Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-12-27
THE NEW YEARS GREETING.
We Look at the Future Through q
Reelection of Our Own
Souls.

sHappy New Year, Happy New
Year!''. rings from merry voices and
Ginning bells everywhere, startling
the echoes in response, Happy New
Year!" Whoever knew of note of
gladness, says the Union Signal, that
did not go reverberating through all
space, and repeating itself on the
harp strings of every human life it
touched?
''But who knows it will be happy
new year," asks the would-be-wise,
! quizzically. "Who expects it?' growls
the cynic. "Who hopes for it ?'' sneers3
the man whom life has defeated. cit
cannot be happy say the sorrow
ful, and the world is full of the sor-
rowful. cit will not be happy" say
I5the soured and embittered, and the
world is full of the disappointed. ut
could not be happy, with all the mis-
cry and poverty in it, says the pes
sinist. cit shall not be happy" says
the enthusiast, until it is rid of its
sin and selfshness::' Happiness"
says the philosopher, "is not the OBJ
ject of life, but usefulness.''
"Such happy new year!" says the
young mother, clasping her winsome,
dimpled darling to her heart; and
''It shall be happy new year." says
the Christian optimist, standing with
barred head in the halo Of light that
comes streaming down the vistas of
the future, seeing far into the circles,
'sWhen light shall spread and man be liker
man,
Thr0y ygar. al the seasons of the golden
F Would you be a cynic or a philos-
opher? The sorrowing and disap-
pointed who are without hope, or the
sorrowing who feels that "tears are
for the night, and joy cameth in the
morning?" Would you be a pessimist,
seeing only the mists, or an optimist,
Hooking beyond the narrowed horizon
of to-day? Would you see fate in the
world, blind, memorable and hard, or
God in the world working out the
destiny of human souls? The new
year is new outlook. You look at it
through the reflection of your own
soul. If you have made it broad, and
deep, and shining in the light of Gods
face, it will shine on. If it is troubled
and turbid it will only give flash
here and there on its surface.
*oox
We know that sorrow and disap-
pointment must come. The travail of
pain is the birth of righteousness al
ways. We know that temptation will
assail virtue, that we must struggle
with intemperance to the bitter end;
we know that the strong will Cypress
the weak as long as they can and
dare, but we know also that the
process of education is, if slow, abso-
lutely sure, and that in great crises,
public opinion sometimes turns with
the force of whirlwind and sweeps
away every barrier. The most potent
forces of the universe are the silent
ones; the voice of God is the still
small voice; truth is universal, and we
are teaching men and women, and
better yet, children to see it.
We know not how the better time
is coming, nor when, but we know
why, and so we echo e"Happy New
Yeari" and look forward joyously to
the day when
All mems good
Be each man'serule, and universal peace
Lie like shaft of light across the land
And like a lane of beams athwart the sea,
Through all the circle of the golden year,
And feeling sure
That unto him who works and feels he
works
The same grand year Is ever at the doors. -
HE MADE ONLY ONE