Gilpin observer., 1909-12-30
NEW YEAR THOUGHTS
(Armord T. Thompson.)

(Armord T. Thompson.)
Build thee more stately mansions,
| o my soul,
AS the swift seasons roll
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the
] last,
Shut thee from heaven with
dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by
life's unresting sea-"
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Another year has gone, its acts can
never be recalled. If the years work
was weighed in the balance, would
1t be found wanting?" / heard man
making excuses for those who fail
US, after they have promised to per-
form. The unreliable; those who do
not do what is expected of them.
would transpose slightly the
words of the immortal Nelson at the
battle of Trafalgar, and say, "The
world expects every man to do his
duty"
The price of the necessities of life,
would have been materially cheapen-
ed, if every one had been doing their
duty. One of the curses of our coun-
try are the non-producers.
Parasites; those who are living off
of the efforts Of others. We hope we
hear some say: Many one will
point the finger of scorn at broken
resolutions; but ""tis better to have
loved and lost, than never to have
loved at all 1t is an evidence of
the determination of the human race
to occupy higher ground.
1t is that characteristic in man
kind which empowers him to over
come conditions and environment,
and make make him a personality
rather than a machine. With apollo
gies to Holy Willie:
1--WE do not deserve damnation
For broken laws.
Five thousand years fore our crea-
tion
Through Adams cause"
But though we make a feeble eff
fort we do not do our best
Henry D. Thoreau says: We do
not consciously live our life out and
full, We do not inspire and expire
fully and entirely enough, so that the
break upon our EXTREMIST shores,
rolling till it meets the sand that
bounds US, and the sound of the serf
comes back to u.s." Which is a brief
sermon on the text: Il came that ye
might have life, and that we might
have 1t more abundantly"
The men who are best fitted to
uplift mankind in our nation, are so
absorbed by material interests that
they are not doing their part in the
mental and educational phase of life.
In the past year the English chan
mel has been crossed as by an eagle,
in a machine CT mans own creation,
and that hitherto inaccessible part
of the earth has been trodden by
the foot of man. showing the deter
mination of performing the impos-
sible, and to do what man has never
yet done.
This is a healthful condition in the
national life of a nation, but does not
inchance the higher instincts of man.
kind. Geographically speaking we
have land where every prospect
pleases." Let us help to end the quo
tation in a more becoming phrase.
| The inhabitants of the earth this
year. will be given a view Of an awe
inspiring spectacle in the heavens
in the return of Halley's comet.
Few will remember its last appear
ance, and few will ever see it again.
Those who have given any thought
or study to the subject of astronomy,
will appreciate the mathematical abb
| lity Of Haley. in determining its
orbit and forcasting its return.
| In calculating its return he had to
figure its increasing speed from the
time it makes the turn on the other
end OF its orbit till it swings around
the sun on this end, at which time
1t is moving at the rate of 1.7s7 miles
per minute. If it increased its speed
only seventeen miles more a minute
its velocity would carry 1t outside
the influence of this system, and II
would be lest to us forever. Its ap
pearance may be beneficial to some
in that 1t may cause us to lift our
eyes from the earth occasionally. Its
anticipated return at this time is ar
evidence Of the universal progress
that has been attained in astronomy
as we no longer look with awe and