Show i r 4 MAY w iwYHE 6 HE custom of celebrating tho New Year by leaving behind In theory at least ones pet pernicious habit or besetting sin may bo hackneyed hack-neyed but It certainly Is not entirely en-tirely relegated to the limbo of j things forgotten or outworn Sometime Some-time Now Years day when a quiet moment In the days swirl offers tlmo for thought there will bo a hasty taking stock of tho year that Is gone a recounting of errors and failures a silent promise 4r prom-ise that this or that will not occur again And what does It all amount to after all this old custom of revamping threadbare resolutions or selecting now ones Ibo cynic will smile and say that it is all a waste of effort a flash In tho pan a halfhearted glossing over of mistakes by wordy and none too sincere promises of reform y The humorist will have his little fling In cartoon and witty quip and Jest Ho will gurglo with tho sardonic glee of Robin Goodfellow over tho folly of mortals and find in every resolvo new subject for laughter From tho pulpit on Sunday will sound tho admonition of tho minister and tho 1 moralist They will take good resolutions seriously seri-ously and set upon them tho stump of divine approval And whether tho wry sneer of tho cynic the mocking grin of tho humorist or the approving smllo of the moralist prophesy the fato of tho resolutions and their maker it will be true that even tho most momentary impulses toward better things will not be entirely wasted There was a time when In the simple faith of childhood you set down In black and white your promises to do better On tho first page of your new diary a yearly Christmas present you wrote In your best Spencerian hand wo knew none better In those dayssomething llko this During Dur-ing this year I resole not to lose my temper not to bo saucy at home not to put off doing the things I dislike to read my Bible every day Direct sounding blows were these on tho chain mall of your besetting sins of a quick temper a b wickedly sharp little tongue procrastination and v childish Irrellglon Behind closed doors lost 4 l t any sno BOO him in so meek a moment Brother Dick was scribbling earnestly I promise myself not to be lato for dinner not to forget to wash my neck and cars not to get In debt to father for my allowance and not to play hookey a single day Of course you failed l both you and Dick c before the little diary i nad Its now gilt dimmed + J or the soft penciling oT 1 the latter had blurred Itself Into unreproachful i Illegibility But the effort j ef-fort wasnt altogether I ry wasted and there were fewer fits of temper and cleaner neck and ears than would otherwise have been t We grownups miss 4 as we get older some of H3 the past and gone aids 81 to New Years resolves C The day was once upon a time more marked by pleasant social customs Only In officialdom Is New Years now a stately state-ly day of ceremonials But It Is not hard to recall re-call that a decade or two ago there still survived sur-vived some of the dignity dig-nity and good cheer that had attached Itself to tho day Before the Christmas fruit cake had all been devoured or the stone Jars of small cakes suffered too severely from the Inroads I In-roads of rapacious children I chil-dren preparations for New Years day were well under way Children were not In J t eluded In this celebra tlon This was essential elders Orders to keep rigidly enforced and dim 1 fun no placo remained landing which gave son upon the hall below wi the big parlors and no beyond That It was tl E lag order was evidence i I smell 1 It was always great f down the principal rest drew near to find out homo and who were not door knob with gay re the world to hear Wi day If you were a hi i the afternoon you stole In and discover by tho rci In the respective pope and matrons Wherevc basket you knew tin shades there was the s I 1a I the yellow glare of gi 1 sunlight on snow butt but-t complexions and gowns i And you knew that li I only 1 to trifling varlatloi I would bo enacted the E Into tho front door t 1 touch of the bell passe t I of nun in holiday attlr beaux aplenty In broad y to tho point of perfect r dies sporting the ne beginners n t awkward i length of their frock Prince Alberts In the calls wero In VoguQa etantial looking buslnei t established cus to the k body who was anybody I devoirs to the tncomlr l rounds of his friends li I r Once Inside there solemn butler to rccel f help him with overcoat I a dash for his hostess j f I 1 friends under Ute cha ax I A F Arm ly the festival of their from under foot were I 1 you wish to see the but the secondstory lewhat Inconspicuously th a strained view of no of the dining room here and In full work d 1 by a keen sense of fun to wander up and lence streets as noon who wero to bo at A basket tied to tho I I ribbons said for all i are not receiving toy I to-y and daring later in up on the step to peep number of cards with arity of village maids r tho door lacked tho t t behind tho drawn oft glow of candles ors or-s poor substitute for presumably kinder to Just a trifle passe t i each house subjects there IS of background nsame same scenes hat opened at tho first ed a fluctuating stream 3 There were elderly cloUt that was brushed Ion smart young dan vest fashion In ties it quite used to the coatswe called them days when New Years id a sprinkling of sub homago es men paying om of society Every In our town paid his by making the fig year omes was tho neat inld or te tho callers card and hat and cane and then and her daughters and idellers with tho prism dIPI h c N r1 yC 4 Mq1 f o 1 1 r of those who had filled tho pews especially that of ono man time governor of the state whoso aqulllno profile flashing eyes and straight glossy black hair formed a noverto bo forgotten forgot-ten personality Watchnight hymns have ft personality of their own ni those of Christmas or Raster Knot K-not so widely known They are naturally serious and a bit foreboding fore-boding with a touch of tho melancholy mel-ancholy that Is associated with the rapid flight of time Tho year li I KOIIC upvnml recall With nil Its hopes and fears With nil Its bright and gladdening smile With all Its mourners tears Is an old Lath hymn to a common com-mon meter tune that Illustrates the tendency of this branch of hjmnology Charles Wesley has been most prolific In voicing this thought Wisdom ascribe and might nnd praise To Clod who lonthens out our days Who spares us yet another year And makes us BOO his goodness here is an old favorite Often Just on the stroke of midnight another anoth-er of his olced the feelings ot tho congregation that beginning begin-ning Join nil ve ransomed ports of grace The holy Joy prolong And shout to tho UedocmcrF praise A solemn midnight song 1 k p L ° I t ij PI1 JjJ i 75 V M t + t t r t F t i m ii r < < 4 t < k e x r > V i < y f J > Jftt 1 < i > < R t I J5V 1 I o < I r < < < < J l a r M fx f G CR ATFVNTO WAltPER 11 t 1p AND DOW THE 1 I IiiYCMI IEJIOEHE JTIiE TJ Rr47 r STREAM or I1fH lit HOIIOlY drops Happy New Year resounded on all sides In the courso of the afternoon the Indefatigable In-defatigable had seen all their friends had sampled tho choicest types of Christmas baking bak-ing had toasted again and again tho Now Year in punch of varying strength and pungency or substituted coffee In homes where temperance principles were popular They had said pretty pret-ty things to popular dames In the stimulating atmosphere of holly nnd green wreaths and had matched wits with fascinating damsels In the dangerous vicinity of mistletoe that still boasted some berries It was all Very gay very Informal and very homoy At no other time or on no other occasion did tho holiday hilarity reach so high a pitch Id like to do It all over again Is tho testimony tes-timony of one stately lady whose home twenty years ago was the scene of yearly New Years receptions No other social function on my calendar wa f such fun for the guests and so little trouble for the hostess Tho decorating had been done a week before and a few fresh flowers wero all that wero needed Given bright lights a dozen pretty girls to help entertain en-tertain the simplest cakes and plenty of mildly mild-ly 1 exhilarating punch made from It recipe that my Kentucky grandfather declared harmless and success was assured When six oclock came you had seen all the nlco men of your acquaintance undisturbed by tho usual Influx of other women and had sent them away at peace with tho world In general and full of tho spirit of neighborliness Meanwhile upstairs In tho library window seats curled the family small fry watching the procession as It passed commenting with Juvenile Ju-venile frankness on the toilets of tho callers counting tho visitors as they came listening to tho hum of voices downstairs the girls hugging hug-ging close to the sash tho boys making daring detours to peek through the balustrade returning re-turning to report what young ladles were sitting sit-ting on the steps with what young men and een in some cases what they wero saying Longer tiptoeing prowls down tho back stairs to the lair of a friendly cook ledto quick and Jubilant returns with offerings of cake and claret cup wherewith the hcurs might be be guiled until six when twinkling streetlights street-lights warned tho callers to retreat Not a serious way to start tho New Year No but a friendly one that left hostesses and callers with a glow of human friendliness to last as warmth for many a day And If seriousness were lacking tho same decade that enjoyed New Years calling call-ing found Itself alto at one with the custom cus-tom of watch nigbt service For In our town as In yours mayhap It was tho thing to spend the closing hours of tho old year In the quiet seriousness of prayer and sacred song Children had their share In this for fnthera and mothers had not In that simpler time learned to fear the giving of definite religious instruction to their sons and daughters It was clear and plain that a child must ho trained In the way he should go amid watch night was a part of that training train-ing And Indeed no youngster ever tried to bet off There was first of all the joy of doing the unusual and tho fun of sitting up past his bedtime So you hied yourself to tho nursery couch or the blttlngroom lounge after a hot supper an oldfashioned winter supper of sausage sau-sage and fried potatoes or scalloped oysters and muffins nnd took a long long nap At halfpast ten father waked yell tucked you Into cap and overcoat and tho family party started out under the cold stars snow crunchIng crunch-Ing under foot to the nearby church Not so very long ago the writer came across an old chromo of tho sort that looks In a dim and favorable light like a fairly docent do-cent oil painting In Its day It had doubtless been the chief ornament of a wellfurnished comfortable parlor Now It cluttered tho window win-dow of a secondhand shop dingy and out of sorts with fato But even in tho unflattering light of a dusty show window It had a certain charm for the ono who found It It was tho picture of a watchnight service such as she had once known so woll Bright moonlight flooded thu scene bringing out In sharpened detail tho snow laden boughs of drooping elms and the Gothic spire of a small stone church From stainedglass windows and opened door came streaming the warm glow of shaded gas Jets From village streets locked men and women and children stopping to nay a word of greeting as they passed Into the vestibule The spell of the picture took her with the speed of the magic carpet or of the sevenleagued boots back to the Now Years eves of her girlhood girl-hood So she had walked with father and mother and a sleepy small brother Just so tho tree had looked In the frosty moonlight And just as warm and softly glowing had been tho stono church through whoso open doors came the resonant strains of the great organ She remembered with aching vividness the faces A bit more Joyful Is the splendid quaintly Irregular Cotnc let us anew our Journey pursue Roll round with tho year And never stand still till the Master appear It was easy after this to go homo filled with loftiest aspirations ready to begin tho new diary with ambitious resolves that wore bound to oerleap themselves because of their very loftiness There was ono watch night when there drifted Into tho ken of tho child tho poem that has since meant to her as It does to many the very spirit of this day From the choir gallery Just before tho midnight hour came the softened chorus of a strange melody Then Into tho silence of the vaulted church rose a wonderful message In a voice that bore conviction con-viction to the listeners It sang to the organ and the hushed accompaniment of the choir nine out wild bells to the wild skies The flying cloud tho frosty light The year Is dying In the night RinK out wild bells and let him die Through the whole of tho splendid poem It swept on to the triumphant conclusion nine In the Christ that Is to be To the child the most dramatic moment ol the evening came Just on the stroke of tho incoming in-coming year While outside whistles blow and giant crackers exploded bells clashed and clanged Inside hands clasped hands while together to-gether they sang the good old standby Blest be the tie that binds before tho hush of the benediction and the glad chorus of Happy Now Years that concluded the service hero is another sort of quiet ushering In of tho baby year that Is conducive to tho good resolve that counts so easily under favorable condjtlons There were those In tho old days ns there are in these who felt that after the gala afternoon tho happiest way of all was to sit quietly about the fire chatting with half a dozen congenial spirits singing a bit if the spirit moved reminiscing as old times came back In tho hush and ending with the silent toast and tho dash of sentiment that makes Auld Lang Sync tho fitting song for such a moment That some such happy hour may begin little 1911s first appearance Is tho best wish ono can offer to friends I Let the auspicious morning bo expressed With a white stone distinguished from the I rest So tho stately Dryden ha put tlft aino thought May It be true of us ill I r |