Milford chronicle., 1926-12-31

US ne luluulL anu the SuOullnS
dies, and the pale dawn speaks to us
of sober things; life is a grave mat
ter, and the miracle of daily resur-
rectiOn is ours once more.
The charm and the secret of life
are one. 1t is the adventure each
minute of time promises. All the
years that have passed can be sum-
med up and surpassed in an hour of
the future. All that we have hoped
may be fulfilled. All that we have
done amiss may be atoned for, and
recreated into worth and value. Time
may be money, but it is always op-
portunity, and the striking of the
midnight clock is at once a solemn
reminder that the night is far spent
and a significant promise that day is
at hand
The spent year has been crowded
with evidences of this great fulfil
ment. Prosperity has increased and
gives us opportunity for well-doing
and for good living; it removes the
bitterness of struggle and offers
leisure for reflection. The world has
advanced, revealing amazing mys-
teries and tantalizing us with the
promise of more. Civilization has
translated discovery into usefulness
and our homes reflect in comfort
and convenience mans growing con-
quest over his environment.
What, then, of the year to come?
Whittier tends the mighty momen-
tum of this humming day of great
experiment and marvellous indus
try?
And what does it make of us, the
individuals, sharing all things and
contributing again our own charac-
ter and conduct to the age around
us?
These are the thoughts the clock
ticks off as we sit this day and re-
fleet. That is our annual privilege
and duty, to dedicate few hours to
a moral stocktaking, to cast up the
balance between opportunity and en-
deavor, between success and the use
made of it, between promise and
conduct, and from the frank state
ment which results draw up our re-
solve.
1t is a long road backward to those
simple hours when the child's pray
er made it's innocent petition for
guidance toward a good life. At New
Years, time turns backward in it's
flight, if we are willing, and the new
day returns to us the faith, the con- |
fidence, the sweet trustfulness of
childhood. The year has turned and
leads on to spring and summer and !
the sunshine symbolic of happy days
and peaceful nights. So leads our |
life, once more, towards new sowing |
and rich fruits.
@e@
THE UNIVERSAL HOLIDAY - It !
was Charles Dickens who (accord- |
ing to a well-known practitioner of |
the amenities of book collecting) |
made Christmas Day a universal
holiday. And he did it by little |
book, the greatest little book in the
world" it has been called, "A Christ
mas Carol" published just eighty
years ago. It's cheer has penetrated |
into nearly every land under the
sun, as the cheer of the last stanza
of the carol drove away the fog and !
frost that hung about the black gate |
way of old Scrooge, the misanthrope,
the night before Christmas. And
there is still enough cheer left in
that story to warm every heart in
this vast country, whatever its de-
gree of hardness, cynicism or disap-
pointment may be.
The church took over the day into
its sacred almanac from other calen-
dars in which the day or season was
celebrated as the birthday of the un-
conquered sun in the skies, and made
it the birthday of the "Son of God"
But without losing it's sacred char
acter it has spread the tidings- of
that goodwill which is and will Cv-
er be associated with the birthnight
in Bethlehem into every household,
whether Jew or Gentle, Protestant
or Catholic, whether with or without
one of the faiths that found their
cradle in what is, to many of differ
ing creeds, a Christian, Jewish, Mos
lem holy land.
The pervasion of this community
and of every community in this
country, and every community in
many countries, by the Christmas
spirit at this season makes it the
nearest to a universal holiday that
the world knows; and, the fact that
a day of this import is more widely
observed than any other, is perhaps
the best ground for hope that the
world will be a better world as the /
multiply.