Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-12-29
When the Year Begins
There Is No Reason Why 1t Should Be
on January First.

TT is a common saying that there is
a reason for everything, and usually
L a good one;" yet no n a yet
found any sensible ground 1or Deglh-
ming the New Year with the first day Oh
January. If it were made to occur III
March. as the old Romans placed IT,
there might be sense in it. 1t would De
the more reasonable if it began March
%. he vernal equinox, or at the autumn
no-vernal equinox september 22); or
lime %. or December %. Excellent astro-
nomical reasons could be assigned 1or
such a reckoning.
Higher civilization is in the northern
hemisphere; yet January in his part
of the world is a season of cold and snow
or chill and rain. 1t is a season Wheh
moving is not only i~nconvenlent, but
next to impossible. 1t is a time OF the
beginning of nothing, coming ten days
after the winter solstice and 70 days be-
fore the spring equinox.
The day was chosen, probably, upon
= the assumption that any time is goou
enough for a general starting point, pro-
yided everybody agrees to it, n it Will
probably have to go at that. 1t is queer
though, that in setting back the begin
ming of the year two months, the names
september, October, November and De-
cember should have been suffered to re-
main. These were, as their origin i'm
plies. the seventh, eighth, ninth and
tenth months when the year began with
March, but now that January is first.
they are the ninth, tenth, eleventh and
twelfth months, respectively. Conse-
quently they are decided misnocaers.
Yet there is no use of finding fault,
where no amount of it will correct the
blunder complained Of. Ithas been made
and stuck down a mile-post Of time by
all the civilized nations, and no profane
hand will be suffered to pull it up and set
1t forward. 1t has been hallowed by
usage. and must be and abide until the
coming Of another civilization.
Whatever it's origin or causes, the day
brings in with it thoughts and associa-
tions that should prove serious to the
reflective mind. Unerringly as the clock
records the passing minutes and hours
the New Year writes down the passage
of the. years as they come and 60. The
birth Of the new is the death Of the ole
year. 1t proclaims that the past is gone
and cannot be resurrected. That time
which was lost In it car never be re-
gained; that follies committed, that sins
indulged, that vices practiced, while
past. have left their impress upon mine
and character. 1t tells of good deed!
that will never die, of manly actions, O
heroic suffering for the right. All 0
these are in the dead past, i~rrevocable
and useful only as the good done ha
made better and stronger the character
and evil done has made n less fitted U
meet the duties and responsibilities 0
the hour.
The New Year suggests the beginnin'
of things. 1t is a time Of good remors
or sorrow for the past, and Of good reso
lutions for the future. The trouble
that too many good resolutions are mad
in this first day Of the year and too man
of them are broken. 1t may be well t
purpose to do; but 1t is far better to d
andt hold fast. Broken promises, whett
err made to self or to Others, tend t
lover character and render n NOR