Show nw yeasts aej te new new yearns made new years a holiday long after american custom of i rf je 1 new years calls which ry i allf justified its observance had bif way of the polka and the skirt there Is nothing american about the merrymaking which now welcomes the new or can it be that even this la a of the ild meeting of 40 years or more ago to and eldera to all heads of families it used to seem fitting to spend the last three hours oyt the year in singing lugubrious and giving thanks that they livial liv iad been singled out for preserve pre serva netlon when so many had been removed aby an equally discerning providence j but to the young the was always a dreary service re only to be endured in view of the Iti loya of the morrow and when the and color were taken out of the observance of new year a itself there little sense in ushering in a of gloom with a still gloomier cw ase fear s eve so they left the watch meeting to those who found no more pleasure in their days and for e themselves introduced the practice ns now generally prevalent of indulging a lo 10 a last hang in preparation tor the borrow s disagreeable business of e turning over a new leaf they have revived the old pagan ceremony ex capt that no miniature skeletons are passed round at the feast to remind them that they are mortal nothing in this modern ew years eve aban don however commends it as a sub statute for the old and gracious cus torn of pacing and receiving calls a custom whose desuetude was hastened by the prodigious growth of the large cities in the 23 years following the civil war As people a acquaintances increased numerically their circle widened geographically horse drawn vehicles were still the indispensable ways of getting about A gentleman who in 1809 could call upon or more ladles and find room in himself for an equal number of cups ot coffee or gasses of sherry was compelled in 1879 to reduce his calling list by half he could not get all the way round even it his brains and his legs held out As it became apparent that either the custom or its observers must shortly perish from the earth the custom languished and died such of the old observers as survive spend the day there Is nothing they can do to mile them repentant there Is no pleasure in making good arcsola which you cant break it you try boston herald |