Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-12-31
new YEARS DAY NOT
LIKE YE 0LDEN time
Dry Amendment Makes Big
Change In Plans For Cele-
brating Its Arrival
,rv nssoelated rrcss)

be. This is in Il small way attr1b-
utable to the addition to the con-
stitution OF some dry reading
matter, In still greater part 1t IS
because The International obses-
sion for celebrating whenever Fa-
thcr Time takes fresh start III
plotting the earth around the sun
is thousands OF years old. The
manner of observing the day has
changed greatly through the cen
turics.
The urge to give presents at
least once Il year was felt even be-
fore Christmas and Santa Claus
came into the scheme OF things,
and the ancient Greeks, Chinese,
Egyptians and Romans rendered
their gifts to one another on the
first day OF the year. Kings got
into the habit of receiving extra
gifts from their subjects on these
days and liked it so well they be-
gan cxtorting larger and larger
sums. This practice got So bad IN
Rome under the Caesars that
Claudius called halt.
1t spread to other countries,
however, and the English had
their New Years celebration
spoiled annually by rapacious SOW
crcigns until Queen l[lizabcth'S
modest demands Of her subjects
cut gifts down to a minimum. In
those days the celebration OF New
Years Day had become world
wide. With variations to suit all
ualionalitics. it consisted every
where OF eating, drinking and
motley mcrrimcnt.
Christopher Columbus. so far as
il known. was the first white man
tu iuhilatc on New Years Day III
thc Western Hemisphere. While
his ships were undergoing repairs
on january /, 1903, nc enjoyed Il !
sumptupue dinner with two say
age monarchs ON the island of i
IaiG. Altcr the meal, history !
says, the discovercr of America
had his first smoke Of tobacco.
Whether nc enjoyed it is not re
corded, but hc left it to later
generation Sir Walter Raleigh !
Is generally credited with the
function to introduce tobacco i'll
Europe.
The Pilgrim Fathers and the !
first families of the older states
OF the union enjoyed quiet holi- I
day as each year came around. |
They icastcd, but not until they |
had attended religious services. In
the 10Th century people with big !
houses and flowing sidcboards
held open house on New Years !
Day and from all over friends |
came afoot, on bicycles and III
surrcys and stanhopes to pay !
short visits and sample the CON
tents of wine cellars Then they
went off 20 call on other friends. /
Popular maidcns in those days /
witnessed traffic jams i'll front OF
their homes, SO prevalent was the !
pcnchant for short calls on young
women during the afternoon OF
the years first day. This custom !
began To pass out quietly with the !
dawn OF the 10th century. auto
mobiles aud cabarcts. 1t was suc-
ceedcd by nothing but wine hab-
its amid the thousands who frc-
qucntcd cafes and grill rooms in
the cities on New Years Day.
For Is years up to the dawn of
1920 and the era of wartime pro-
hibition. the celebration in New
York became noiscr and more ex-
pensivc each year. Thousands !
used To crowd into places of mcr-
riment while Broadway was
packed with a surging throng Of
mcrrymakers with squawkers.
clappers, bells, ticklers and con-
fctti.
Every hotel and most of the
restaurants were jammcd with
gay diners. I'm 1908 it was esti-
mated that. $l,0O0,O0O was spent,
in the white-light district on New
Years Eve. After that statistici-
ans gave up trying to figure out
the sum.
The din and probably the cost
OF the celebration was greatly
diminished under wartime pro-
hibitin in the New Years demon
stration of.1920. Old timers said
all the 'ginger" had departed with
John Barleycorn.
The cupid of 1921 will be the
hrst to make his bow under con-
stitutional prohibition. In New
York he will find that times
have changed.