The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-28

Pastor of the Unitarian Church of the
Messiah.
ceptable Year of the Lord" Doctor Day
said. in part:
ION this last Sunday of the year good
1t seldom gets its due a happy new year
is the salutation of the time. We ought
to be able to speak also of the happy old
year.
why should it be associated only with
the regrets and disappointnents, with UNI
fulfilled expectations. with troubles and
sorrows? Why think OF the past only
as dead. as a finished time to be dis
missed and forgotten? Why not reckon
been year of experience, the best teach
er in life. He must be a stolid creature
of fate who has not learned something
and gained something in this gift OF time.
1t began with hope and many plans Per-
haDs the hopes have not all come true
and many plans have failed. But some
thing has come out of them.
Some harvest has been gathered, some
strength disciplined. some wisdom ac-
CURED. The old world has not gone
through these months in vain. Men have
failed, enterprises have prOspereG, discov-
cry has opened new yistas of possibility,
civilization has taken here and there
new step, youths have passed into man
hood, with their xigor and zeal, and
wisdom. is now come into the field.
Sometimes the closing months of the
year are typified by the. falling leaf, the
bare bones of trees without foliage, the
cold and sullen earth. They suggest sad
ness and gloom, and many are the NOR
bid thoughts that have clustered round
these signs of death.
1t is all a mistake. The well-stored
barns are the proper sign of the years
completion. and grateful hearts and lus-
ty limbs are what belong to autumn days
and 0ld-year memories If we have much
to regret, and at first think of little to
rejoice in.s SO much the more should we
strengthen the things that remain. The
year year. has brought some bonds of friend
bubbles of Illusion have burst. But be
thankful for that and cherish the old
strong truths which last from age to age
and never fail. Some efforts have failed,
but some have succeeded and the failures
have had their wholesome teaching Sor
rows have come to darken the year and
embitter Its memories.
But that means that such burdens have
come to Others too. and IL your experience
has taught you comprehension and given
powers of true sympathy, and If you
have helped others bear their burdens,
even here. the year has its goodly offices
and has brought courage and thankful
ness It has welded humanity together
by the blows of pain and sent the pulses
of the heart out into mider round of
need. The sadness of the old year has
not been without its good, and has been
50 woven into the fabric of life. that per.
trfbulations and hardships, 'Perchance
even these things also we shall be glad to
remember
made by merging together the iikenesses of
large number of persons. which give
US the average look of all the persons in
some chosen profession or employment.
Thus great many college girls have
been photographed, giving character
istic and recognizable type of the college
girl. and the same thing could be done
with lawyers and teachers and physicians
and clerks and commercial travellers. and
SO on. SO that We should recognize the
calling of each one What would h the
look of the year if we could in thi} way
get composite photograph of all its ex-
periences? What would be its dominating
appearance? Anxiety, wrinkled care,
amusement, placidity. WEAKNESS, conf
dence. pride, contentedness or eager
Il am sure 1t would not be the rale
gray tottering shape of infirrnity carrying
a scytfe which is the conventional picture.
! am sure this Is the picture of morbid
fancy and no photograph of reality. A
picture that seems to come nearer the
average would be the likeness Of vigorous
manhood, with serious mien, but uncloud-
ed brow, not having lost the look of hope,
but having gained self-possession, the look
that is readiness for stress as well as
expectancy of joy:
II would have the Old year represented
not as inf1rm, but as mature. / would
not have it stand as If disappearing from
the scene, displaced by little child, in
nocent and unframed, who bears the title
of the new year would have happiness
represented as associated with experience,
not wholly ignorant So the new year
should appear to US in the form of youth
guided by thu old years manhood. An
ticipation and realization are not opposed
but mutual. They should come together,
not separately. The one should look not
only forward to the unknown, but back
ward to the known. The other should look
not only backward to the clos I'd past, but
forward to the future that grows out of
the past. The new year should look up to
the old year and take counsel from its
ways. The old year should be glad for
the new.
sAnd before we look into the future we
should consult the face of the past. We
should scan the meaning of Its sober look.
We should read its lines of tempered
strength, gather courage from its un-
daunted gaze, listen to its voices of wis
dom and learn the sweet Uses of adver-
sity The composite photograph of the
past has no sour visage of complaint, no
look of despair. 1t is not even old, but
ever full OF life and power. Its latest
year has been. with all It's imperfections,
an acceptable year of the Lord. The new
year viii be still more such a year if we
profit by the spirit and teaching of the
happy old year.