Arizona state miner., 1923-12-29
ItIsYour Time
to Take Stock
as the Old
Year Comes
to the Close

over the past ana FORWARD INTO the lu-
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
leaf" 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 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-
quisitiOns; 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 our
journey of life or whether they have
hindered our greatest progress therein
II am going to turn over a new
leaf" each one says to himself This
is exactly what the merchant does in
his ledger. He balances each account
Oh the old page and carries it 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 corners or the making of
dOgears thereon.
In the fall and early winter the
trees tnar nave Deen green with To-
l;age 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-
paarance on the ground. Then the leaf
Wlthers and turns into what we know
as leaf-mold. Later this serves as a
fertilizer and the same substance ap-
pears in the form of new leaves when
gentle spring induces tbs trees to put
on new dress. Thus the tree pro-
yides part of the sustenance it re-
GUires for it's 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 our 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 our, mistakes as the rounds of the
ladder whereby we mount upward. 1t
is quite possible, however, for our mis-
takes to keep us down. We may have
hundreds Of rounds of a ladder, but,
it 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 J. G.
Holland bearing upon this very mat
ter:
Heaven is not reached at a single
bound
But we build the ladder by which we
rise
! From the lowly earth to the vaulted
And we mount to it's summit round by
round.
Turn over new leaf? By all
means! But use what has gone before
in order that what comes 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-
lutions; 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 life's conduct will
result finally in the fixed purpose
toward an errorless life.
Aim hight Then aim higher!