The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-12-29
Turning Over
the New Leaf
BY REV. ALAN PRESLEY WILSON

place we nave got
ten into the habit of looking backward
over the past and forward into the fu-
ture: we seek to learn where we have
made mistakes in the months that have
gone and try to correct them in those
that are to come. We call this custom
by many names, such as making new
resolutions" turning over a new
loaf" ETC., but by whatever name we
call it the principle is the same, viz. :
what the business man knows as "tak-
ing account of stock"
In every business house the latter
part of the month of December in each
year is utilized in making an inventory
of the goods that remain on hand in
order that an annual trial balance may
be struck that the owner or proprietor
of the enterprise may know just where
he stands in a financial way. He wants
to learn what and how much he has
made in the year that has gone: what
goods have been salable and what
have been on the shelves so long they
have become shopworn. The latter,
he knows, comprise the kind he should
avoid in the year ahead of him be-
cause he recognizes that his customers
do not call for them.
In like manner we strike a trial bal
ance of our life's possessions and ac-
QUESTIONS; we seek out those habits
we have formed in order that we may
know whether they have been profit
able to US through this year of u
journey of life or whether they have
hindered u greatest progress therein.
81 am going to turn over a new
leaf" each n says to himself. This
is exactly what the merchant does in
his ledger. He balances each account
on the old page and carries II over to
a new one. In reading, when We have
mastered the contents of one page we
turn over and begin a new one. This
one Is clean and unmarked by finger
prints or the much more undesirable
habit some have of cleaning the finger
nails on the or the making of
dogears thereon.
In the fall and early winter the
trees that have been green with 70
liage begin to show the turning leaf
Red, brown and yellow with tints OF
bronze appear and, for a time, are
very beautiful to behold. Then they
fall and still present a beautiful ap
pearance on the ground. Then the Leaf
withers and turns into what we know
as leaf-mold. Later this serves as {
fertilizer and the same substance ap
pears in the form of new leaves wher
gentle spring induces ths trees to put
on a new dress. Thus the tree pro
vides a part of the sustenance it re
quires for its growth by what it dis
cards.
New and fresh green leaves spring
from old and unsightly ones. So our
good deeds may be stimulated and pro.
noted through u experiences. The
mistakes of the past may be buried
and from them may come the courage
and ability to perform worthy acts
and to order our lives Alright. This is
what the poet meant when he urged
that Men rise on stepping stones OF
their dead selves to higher things" We
use u mistakes as the rounds of the
ladder whereby we mount upward. II
is quite possible, however, for our mis-
hundreds Of rounds of a ladder, but
If they are not in their. places, they
avail US nothing in climbing. Only
those rounds that are fixed firmly In
their proper places enable US to reach
higher attitudes.
Here Is a choice thought from ]. G,
Holland bearing upon this very mat.
ter:
Heaven is not reached at a single
bound;
But we build the ladder by which we
From the lowly earth TO the vaulted
skies,
And we mount to its summit round by
round.
Turn over a new leaf? By all
meansl But use what has gone before
In order that what m afterward
may be an improvement over the old
order of things. Wherever you have
erred In the past, resolve to avoid such
errors in the future. Make your reso-
buttons; make many of them-that you
fail to keep them all should not deter
you in your ambition to make improve
ment. The discipline will be most
helpful. The habit of trying TO cor.
rect errors In our LIES conduct will
result finally in the fixed purpose
toward an errorless life.
Aim Hight Then aim higherl
%. 1923. Western Newspaper Union.)