Connecticut western news., 1905-01-05
 Sermon
 By Rev. Frank De Witt Talrnage. D. D.

pecially to those who are striving for the worlds betterment. New Years message of hope and encouragement The text is Ecclesiastes xii, I, He that observeth the wind shall not sow"
 What Il change there is in our way of keeping the holidays from that of olden times. The old fashioned New Years and the old fashioned Christmas and the old fashioned Thanksgiving day were as different from their sue cessors as the poke bonnets and hoop skirts and powdered curls of colonial days were different from the master pieces of the milliners and dressmakers and hairdressers of modern times. We talk of the triumph of the locomotive and the telegraph in annihilating dis tance, but am not sure that they have not done more to separate the members of families. The greeting that now comes by wire from a son on the other side of the world in former times was brought by the son himself, who sell dom went more than days coach ride from the old homestead. Then fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, cous- ins and grandchildren could all gather under the same roof. Then presents did not have to be done up in packages and sent days ahead across the conti- nents or seas in order to arrive at their destination in time for the annual holi- days. But each brother and sister, each child and parent, could deliver the Christmas gifts with smile and seal the holiday good wishes with loving kiss
 Some of us can remember the good old times when New Years day was a day of hospitality, dedicated to the re- newal of old acquaintanceships by a custom now almost fallen into desue- tude That was the ancient custom of the Dutch settlers of New York and the modern custom of our own fathers and mothers and older brothers and sis ters of making and receiving calls on the first day of the new year. The good spirit of the new year seemed to say to all fathers and husbands and brothers and sons: "Go forth and find out how many friends you have in the world. Go forth and renew your old acQuaintances Go forth and encour- age each home for the coming struggle of the new year, Then wives and mothers and daughters in the early eighties kept open house. Then New Years day in New York and Brooklyn brought such scenes as were witnessed 200 years ago, when the daughters of the Netherlands welcomed their friends to the ancient mansions on the Battery of New Amsterdam Every dining room was filled with tempting viands. Everywhere on every street went the men folks calling, Happy New Year!' Thus in many troubled home came courage and love and faith in God and man on account of those friendly New Near salutations.
 A New Years greeting is the sermon of this -~o.-aing. With the same kind
 jed to come l.. Al r,e,p income and wish her
 Year. and with tender re nlscences of the past and cheerful wishes for the future make the day a Joyous and hopeful one, come to you this New Year Sabbath day. But in stead of wishing you a Happy New Year in the brusque, happygo-lucky way in which friend used to salute friend upon the street I am going, as your pastor, to have heart to heart talk with you. I am going to have you first tell all your troubles and fears, and then I shall say: "Friend, for the past twelve months you have been 4l,. T, ,sl q have been indulging too much ill gloomy anticipations and anxieties. You do not seem to be willing to enter the battle of 1905 with brave heart and cheerful countenance. What is the matterY Then you will point out to me all the dark clouds that are hang ing upon the edge of your horizon, and you will tell me why this New Years day is to you "blue Sunday" Then I shall try, by the help of God, to scat ter those dark clouds and change your new year timidities of doubt into new year certainties of gospel hope.
 Hope For the Discouraged.
 "Why art thou cast down, o my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me| First" you answer, because l have been defeated so often in the struggle of life that my backbone q gone. l have been like a sea captain who has been wrecked again and again until at last he feels that every threatening storm means foundered ship. I am like a merchant who has been caught in three or four great pan les and again and again, through no fault of his own, has had his fortune swept away. He is timid about mak- Ing a new venture. am like mother who has buried four or five of her ba- Dies and has only one left. Each time the baby coughs or catches cold or has fever the mother is almost beside herself with fear lest she might lose her only remaining child. It is well enough for some people with bright eyes to anticipate the joys of a coming year. But as for me, I have had so many misfortunes that I have only half heart for my struggle which is ahead during the next twelve months" My brother, I am not surprised at your timidity. It makes a great deal of difference how a man fools around machinery if he has lost an arm or a leg or finger, as some have done by being reckless. It makes a great dea of difference how one reads the signs of the times after he has had his fortune swept away by a destroy, ing wind. Some weeks ago in one ot my pastoral calls 1 saw beautifully pathetic picture entitled After the Tornado" The scene was evidently placed in one of the wildernesses of the west. A young man in the overalls and the wooden shoes of a poor farm CT stood upon the edge of a field. with his poor young wife and a couple of children clinging to her poor dress. They were looking, yes, out of the sad, dest of eyes. Why? They were look ing at q magnificent field of wheat that a few days ago was almost ready to be harvested. But that wheat by the storm was battered down and crushed