The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-01-05


The hope Of good beginning Is what we mean |
IN every wish for Happy New Year. In this
world Of incessant change we need TO make q
real progress Of good beginnings. There is al
ways room for fresh start and 9 new chance in
attempting the very best we know. both in pur-
pose and indeed. The very idea Of the new year
has Hope for its guiding star. For many Of us
who read this paper something will be done in
1907 which we were never quite ready to under
take before.
The world laughs at the good resolutions that
do not last the turning over new leaf'' which
ends with the old blurs and stains upon it. yet
even these may have something Of the quality
Of good beginnings. Though there Is lapse
from the first energy Of new endeavor. It may be
that rising tide has set in and that the next
wave win lift higher and go farther.
Every day begins new year In a true and good
sense. 30 largely are our lives In our own hands.
We shape our own destiny through the power to
choose our aims. A new determination Of the
will may change their whole direction.
One Of the best Of good beginnings is that
which takes the form of an important new habit.
Habit Is a kind Of good living made easy. The
line Of least resistance is doing the accustomed
thing in the usual way. This Is an immediate
encouragement to doing ones best In the regu-
the routine work that tells most in the result,
and habitual thoroughness and excellence have
a very different goal from that reached by habit
ual carelessness and indifference. Let the work
be what it will. the habit of doing 1t in the very
best manner possible is sure to be profitable in
the end.
The old and the new are always in close con-
tact and connection; the dividing line is arbi-
trarily set and has only kind ofillusory reality.
Even in the natural world of vegetable growth
spring has begun in the leaf and flower buds Of
autumn, and the continuity of life has only an,
apparent interruption. It Is our privilege to
hold fast to all that s good in the past, to lay to
heart every truth in the lessons of experience.
to submit courageously to the penalties of our
own former errors. with entire confidence that
we are working out better future for better
self.
This way of looking at life as always begin
ming afresh reconciles US to much that is hard
and painful. We must take It as a school, dis
ciplne or it is impossible to feel that 1t has any
steady, CONSTANT course and meaning for US.
Whatever suffering and disappointment we have
to endure along the way may be turned to good
If taken in this trust, and result in wider,
fuller. more helpful life; this alone gives us
confidence and courage to go on bravely. 1t is
grand thing to hold ourselves firmly to Brown
ing's philosophy of life, his working theory"
that I'VE are here in life to ft ourselves for
something better" What strength there is in
that undoubting, triumphant faith in the conn
plete final supremacy of the good In his own
words:
Therefore, to whom turn but to thee. the
ineffable Name?
Builder and maker, thou. Of houses not made
with hands
What, have fear of change from thee who art
ever the eame2
Doubt that thy power can fill the heart that thy
power expands2
There shall never be one lost good What was,
shall live as before
The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying
sound.
What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, so
much good more;
On the earth, the broken arcs in the heaven. q
perfect round"
And so, in perfect confidence in the reality Of
all that is good. let US wish each other many
Happy New Year" Of good beginnings.
D. II. R. G..