The Newtown bee., 1901-01-04
ABOUT TOWN.
TRINITY CHURCH.
THE SPECIAL MIDNIGHT SERVICE.

very well attended, between 60 and 70 being present. The service included several appropriate hymns such as "A few more years shall roll, Days and moments quickly flying" 70 God our help in ages past,' "Go forward Christian soldiers" and "All people that on earth do dwell." Psalm 90 was read, land for the lesson Rev. Fl. The address by the rector was made just before midnight and is as follows:
 It is not my purpose to speak to you at any length tonight, much less to preach a sermon. Rather, the occasion is so impressive, the time so solemn, that it breaches it's own ser mon in eloquent language, and with peculiar emphasis. We are all of us old enough to be profoundly conscious of the swift passage of time. Time moves on in orderly course. It is ir- resistible. Nothing can stop it.. There is what is called ''The ineXora- ble flight of the hours.'' Sometimes we would fain hasten the coming of a | that time sweeps on with it's resistless flow which nothing can prevent or diminish. Time, therefore, is found | to be precious. It comes and goes, and when it goes it is never to return. Many, when young, make the great and irrevocable mistake of thinking that they can afford to tritle with | time. And so some allow precious op- portunities to be lost, they squander their time, they waste it, and all too soon they learn to regret their unwise course when too late.
 Tonight we are come to the close of another year, to the end of the 18th century, We join with many, many others this night, this hour, this moment, in looking back in retrospect over the past century of the progress of the world course of our own past lives. There must be much that rises in our memories on this occa- the sadness of neglected opportunities, of failures, of sin; there must be the memory of there is also the deep gratit ude for the mani fold blessings and the rich experiences of life under the gracious Providence of God. It has intellectual progress of the world. It has seen great things wrought for religion and for God Happy are we to xtto-night if it has done S' Sy sme e %nSn Places @ once % occupied I ed by those we we loved rare are vacant. Indeed we ourselves are occupying son who was living in this town in the year 1900 is living now. Not one of those who are openins of the neNt ceStnry M The H id are born and live and die, and yet the race lives on-the country endures the Church lived and worked and loved and suffered and died? They must be somewhere in Gods back loo years, 200 years. 300 years, and 1900 years, and farther, farther back, and we are deeply conscious of the transitorinsss an: of all all the centuries there Is One who is not sub ject to change, One who presided over the who has preserved the world through tlie cen tures, One who is the same yesterday, to-day, God He who was and is and is to come, the Alpha % and Omega the beginning Ie1 2i one day is as a thousand arsand a thousand years as one day. III time to Him is an eter- movement, a progression steady and unceas- | ing. To us the poets words are true tonight, "As solemn as the thought of one who is no | Is the remembrance of the Old Year gone When To! the new one standethiat the door" | Impressively true is this, when, as this year. o n aydn Let thst Rras to fhs "There shall be time no longer.'
 After a brief interval for silent prayer dur ing which the bell struck the hour of 12 the second address was delivered, when the rector
 The year 1901 has opened-the soth century 5ss wsh all ued through much of the new century as is allotted to you on earth and that happiness enter the higher life where we ali hope to enter before this century shall die. Now our theme is not retrospect but prospect. Now we are not concerned with the known is well to be full of hope of anticipation, of resolve. Yet there must be some feeling of
 o Ss eosse | come, the sorrows that seem inevitable, the temptations. the duties: the cares. But the 1t is fraught with possibility. We must face it in the spirit of the great apostle, Forgetting forth nnte those things M % which a are before press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" We must with hope, above all with trust and with faith We know not what may befall us, but we year year. the opening Century, with faith th and d con5 hdence. Above all, we must view time in its the next our earthly life % in relation M to the ne life to come. Time is the threshold of eternity This world is the. school to fit us for the next this life the probation for the future life Life, long or short is our great opportunity
 We look forward 100 years. 200 years, 1000 years, and how little, how small we seem in The poet tells us how
 The days will grow to weeks: the weeks to The months will add themselves and make the l The years will roll into the centuries" Where shall we be in the year 1910, 1920, 1850? where in the year 2ooo? How little does the
 
 | our great thought: The less of time on earth r the more of eternity in Gods blessed Paradise, Let us use our precious time me so that we may 1;t that we may inherit life eternal Again, my brethren. wish you Happy Now Year" ings in time which may be so used as to be- come blessings for all eternity,
 The whole service was specially well adapt ed to the occasion and was made very i'm i pressive to all who attended.
 
 Two good values for little money: Ladies' ffeece-iine shoes and mems felt boots In have the Royal Worcester corsets for the | ladies.
 Monday evening there was d very pleasant Postmaster Buncombe. % Miss Julia Duucombe. his daughter. being the hostess. Refresh mcnts were served during the evening and the occasion was in every way d success.
 you are always sure to find it at the store of D. N. Clark in Shelton. and his prices are all ways low. Go and see him.
 Mir and Mrs Louis E. Booth and daughter, Marjorie from Worcester: Mass. and Mrs Her bert Bruce and daughter. Heen from Brattle- bOro. Vt. are visiting their aunt. Mrs James M. Blackman.
 1 John F. Lynch has gone to Pass;l;c. N. J.. to | take a position in the factory of the New York Betting X Packing Co.
 S. c. Bull & Co have a few 1901 diaries left which they are closing out at very low prices.
 .Jeptha chapter o. E. s. initiated one can didate on Monday night.
 Mir and Mrs Minott Augur passed New Years day with New Haven friends
 A company of Botsford and Sandy Hook fox hunters had a jolly time one day. this week, on d fox hunting expedition D. K. COepaugf was the fortunate man, shooting one fox.
 Thomas Farrell moved his family to Bridge | mort. last week where he has secured emDlOV