The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-12-26
ALMOST GONE.

ALMOST GONE.
The dying year draws on to its last day.
Its joys and griefs, its successes and fail
ures, its hopes and fears will soon be citi-
zens of that greatest of all buried cities
the Past.
AS Time moves on by days, months and
years each of us is carried nearer to the
last day of life. None knows when it may
come. All know it will come, for it is one
of the few of earth's certainties.
AS the year dies we gather to ''see it
out" With some feeling of solemnity al
ways, even though our mood be apparently
merry and careless, we watch the long
hand of the clock trace its final round in
the division of time thus made by men. 1t
nears the hour of IL. There is silence. 1t
touches the hour of II.
''The king is dead! Long live the
king!' we cry out.
ga Happy New Year!" resounds in one
succeeding shout around the world. We
are merry, indeed, and full of hope. We
have started in on a new stretch. At least,
for the moment, we forget the Past and see
only the limitless possibilities of the future,
which is ours to do and dare in.
1t cannot be the same, you say. 1t takes
something that cannot be replaced. 1t
robs of love and companionship and steals
away the very props of living.
In these particulars it is the same, just
the same, as the passing of time. 1t is
only because we do not appreciate the
worth of time that we letits passing touch
us so lightly. Did we but realize that time
is the greatest thing we without
which there could be nothing of US or any
thing-we might take different view of it.
But this is not the question at hand. AS
the centuries roll along men will doubtless
rise to truer appreciation of the value Of
time. But now death is, as death has ever
been, and now we must seek in this most
general of natural laws something that will
lead US to little more light when it comes !;
something that will lend US little more
courage when the ebbing tide bears away
to other shores those we love and long to
keep with us.
From the dying year we may gain part
of this needed lesson. 1t is gone, but it as.
We call it by another name, but it is the
same succession of time. We look back
with regret or pleasure on its achievements,
but we find there is still opportunity for
doing more and doing it quite as we'll or
better.
When death comes, life is gone, but
something within tells US that life still IS.
The presence is departed, but the spirit OF
that presence still walks with US, and it is
higher presence, refined of its earthly
dross and made inspirational by reason OF
its purity.
We do not know what life might have
held for those we have loved and lost. We
cannot know what it holds for them now
or for US when We pass on to join the ranks
of those who live again.
But this we do know-that wherever
they are, we going to them, and this knowl.
edge should give us fresh courage and
comfort US in our moments of grief, wher
the load seems too heavy to bear and the
skies are dark with clouds.
1t is always we'll at this time to pause ano
reflect upon our course in life, weaving the
best from the past to be used as a beacon
light to guide our footsteps along the path
of the future. There are in the lives oil
all men errors to be found which should be
corrected, and it is only by careful anc
painstaking investigation into our acts
principally the little things in life which
have been neglected, that we may prepare
for improvements.
during lno WOnCn OF January, WDlle the
days are short and the nights long, wher
the most of our time is spent within door.
and by fireside, no better time could b,
selected for looking into the acts and do
ings of the past and making determined
effort to weed out of the future all OBJ
stacles which have stood in the way O
reaping that success which all men striv'
80 hard to achieve in this life. The mai
who studies the nearest, quickest and safes
route to success, who overcomes stumbling
blocks with determination to do or die, i
the man who receives the reward to which
he is entitled.
The year 1912 has been filled with rec
ords of hopes blighted and disappoint
ments which have carried sorrow and pai
to thousands of hearts. On the othe
hand, thousands have received their re
wards for duties we'll performed, Will
many occupy the middle ground of failur