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Show mmi wmhmwm aid m in gfimSk A ' about joys and sor- rows, failures and &' l tfJ ff achievements of the old d ( year, and hopes and If A little editorial talk about joys and sorrows, sor-rows, failures and achievements of the old year, and hopes and promises for the new : : Suggestions for a New Year's Eve party : : Also a few words by a doctor about " swearing off " 4 wwStea??, TANDING, as we are, upon the threshold of another year, many of MpQ us will, in fancy, go back over the twelve months that have passed nn( smi'e wnen we recall the "New Year resolutions" we made a year - :KS "Yes," a woman will say, "I made good resolutions last New Year's my intentions in-tentions were of the very best, but I did not have the will power to live up to them. Pray, what is the sense of making new ones?" Well, forget last year's good resolutions and forget the past year entirely. Turn with hope and confidence to the great new year about to dawn, and yes, make new good resolutions, as many of them as your brain can conjure up. Perhaps Per-haps you did fail to keep the good intentions that made you so happy when you thought them out, but remember you are very human. Indeed, if we all were not so very human there would be absolutely no need of our ever making any kind of good resolutions. Many of us will see the old year go with few regrets. It brought us, perhaps, an extra share of cares and disappointments, but are we not all the better and stronger for them, and will not the lessons they taught us stand us in good stead during the coming days? Dear friend, let me assure as-sure you that the difficulties and discouragements you surmounted during this still present year will without question make you a better and braver woman. Welcome the new year; and by all means make new good resolutions. Every one of us needs to make them, because as I have said, we are all man or woman. In the hearts of most of us is a wonder, a curiosity, curi-osity, as to what the coming year may bring to us, whether good fortune or bad, sorrow or joy. How many of us realize that the shaping of our fortunes during the year to come Is in our hands? We do not need to depend on some imaginary fate to deal us out good luck or bad, as she will, If we have the earnestness and the desire to succeed. suc-ceed. All Desire Happiness. But, after all, we want something more out of the year to come than just material success, welcome wel-come though that may be. Success is not always attended by happiness, and what we all desire In reality In 1917 is happiness, no matter what its source. To be contented and happy, that Is the most we can wish for anyone, including ourselves. We can find true happiness by making and keeping keep-ing the proper kind of New Year's resolutions. The annual period for taking stock of our mental, spiritual and material resources finds most of us about where we were a year ago. We are living about the same. We are thinking about the same thoughts. We are animated by about the same expectations. expecta-tions. When we are depressed It is because of the same old fears. Some have learned something in the dying year. Some have not. Some hope to learn during the coming year. Most of us spend the main portions of our lives In disappointment over the failure of that which we hoped might come to pass, balancing that with our washed-out plensure that the worst of the things we feared did not happen. Some of us lack grip upon ourselves. This annual stock-taking of our mentality should light the future of the coming year with the experience of the year just passed. If it doesn't do that we are not doing the job right. The extent to which we have learned our lessons les-sons in the old year will be the measure In which we may gauge our expectations for the new year. Turning the New Leaf. From time immemorial it has been the custom of the forehanded good old-fashioned neighbor to square up his accounts, make new resolves, start cutting off certain bad habits, and "turn over a new leaf." ' This Is perfectly reasonable and nalaral. As the calendar marks a new cycle of time, so we in- stinctively pause and make ready for a fair new start in life, even though we know that neither life nor time has any pause in its onward sweep. It Is probable that there are many more New Year's resolutions broken than are kept strictly through the year. Even so, there is good value in the making of them, in spite of what somebody has said about the downward road being paved with good intentions. Gtod new resolves are good for us any time, and a backward glance will not hinder our forward for-ward march. We cannot make too many efforts to prune off bad habits and such other dead wood as we find in our lives each year. All who have no faults, please stand ! However, it may be that the best New Year's resolve we can make this first holiday of 1917 will be to start the good habit of beginning new every monung. After all the mistakes and disappointments and business battles that leave us tired and sour and sick, there comes a new day, so that we can begin over again and do better. If we start such a plan, the coming year and those following it will be happier new years. New Year's Entertaining. New Year's eve is an occasion of big celebration celebra-tion all over the country, every man and woman having a desire to speed the old year and welcome wel-come the new with some form of festivity. In the cities the hotels and restaurants make a big feature of this holiday, and each and every one advertises a special supper, with dancing, etc. Thfe Is all very well for those who do not have to count the pennies when seeking pleasure, for entertainment on New Year's eve comes high. Everyone wants to be amused, to greet the incoming incom-ing twelve months with jollity and song, and the consequence is that the restaurants demand de-mand and get high prices for entertainment on that occasion. There are no end of enjoyable ways of entertaining enter-taining In one's own home on New Year's eve, and the woman who wishes to give pleasure to the family and friends on this occasion can do so at very little expense. All she needs is to ask a jolly crowd, to think out a clever scheme of table decoration, to arrange some forms of amusement and all will be well. The woman who has fairly large rooms in her house will do well to select dancing as the chief form of entertainment for the evening. Dancing has lost none of its fascination for the majority of folks, and If it is made the big feature of the party it is safe to say that most of the guests will be well pleased. A small dance need not be an expensive affair. If you have a phonograph all is well ; if not surely you have some friend from whom you can borrow an instrument for the evening. Dancing to a phonograph is just as good fun as dancing to an orchestra, provided one's partner is skillful at treading the "light fantastic." When giving a New Year's eve party where dancing is to be the chief attraction of the evening eve-ning it is a good idea to ask one's guests to come to the affair masked. This will lend mystery and excitement to the party and there will be great fun when the guests unmask as the hour strikes twelve and the new year is ushered in to the tune of many happy voices wishing each other "Happy New Year." After the usual felicitations are over, supper shouid be served. This may be simple or elaborate, elab-orate, just as the hostess desires. As for table decorations, a pretty centerpiece is to have a star made from a brilliant red poin-settia. poin-settia. In the middle of the star place a tall candlestick with a long white candle for the new year. Each point of the star should be marked by a low candlestick holding a shorter white candle. At the left of each plate have n spray of poinsettia. A pretty way to serve ice cream on this occasion would be to have It molded in the form of a candle and candlestick, the candle to be the vanilla cream and the candlestick to te of pistachio green. A tiny wax taper may be inserted in-serted at the top of each "candle" and lighted Just as all are brought In. A simple supper menu for New Year's eve m'ght consist of hot bouillon (a thin soup) served in cups so that it Is easy to hand around, chicken salad, sandwiches, ice cream, cake and coffee. The supper should be of the buffet order, the men guests helping the girls to the food they require. re-quire. On this way the need of extra help is dispensed with and no additional expense is Incurred In-curred on this score. For those who do not care for dancing, cards, either bridge, "rum," fantan or some other popular popu-lar game, will do to pass the hours before twelve. Doctor Smith Talks. Drinks, smokes and candy are not the only things to swear off on New Year's day. There are plenty of others, and for most of us the others are much more important, as fortunately the readers of this department are not victims of rum and tobacco. New Year resolutions, however, should not consist con-sist entirely of "swear offs." Too many "don'ts" are not advisable. "Do" Is much better tlian "don't." Positive resolves are better than negative nega-tive ones. If you "swear on" enough good habits it will not be necessary to "swear off" any bad ones. In other words, positive or constructive policies are better than negative or destructive ones. This applies to health just as much as to anything else in life. So, don't think you can "get by" simply by swearing off on one or two of your pet vices. Not at all. Your New Year resolutions, resolu-tions, to be of any real value, must be constructive. construc-tive. You must decide not only to quit some things, but to begin some things, also. Good resolves and swear offs may be grouped in pairs, and to advantage, it seems to me. Let's try it that way for a change. I will take good care of my body. I will not abuse it. Hold Up Your Right Hand. This first pair of resolves looks pretty simple, but if you think a minute you will see that It includes in-cludes a multitude of things. It actually is the whole thing in a nutshell. If you swear this particular par-ticular pair of swears, and keep your oath, you will have health and happiness all the year, and your bill at the doctor's and the drug store will be so small that you can have an extra new dress instead. Let's see what it does include. I will have "house cleaning" in the house I live in. I will not procrastinate in instituting preparedness prepar-edness against disease. This means that you will have the dentist go over your teeth with absolute regularity once or twice a year, but it also means that you have sense enough to know that the rest of your body is at least as Important as your teeth and that you will have your doctor examine you from head to foot and fix up anything that needs It before any symptoms appear, which would simply mean that the process had gone on so far that correction correc-tion would he much more difficult if not Impossible. Impos-sible. This would include an examination of the urine and the blood pressure, both of which should be investigated once every year In the case of every person over forty years of age. I will keep clean inside and out. I will avoid dirt. This means not only the dally bath, but it means the flushing of the inside of the body so as to keep the sewers working. It means the drinking drink-ing of about a gallon of fluid per day. It also means keeping the teeth scrupulously neat, cleansing them morning, noon and night, so that they will not Infect every single mouthful of food you swallow. What is the use of pure-food laws If you save a choice selection of germs between your teeth so as to spread them on the food which Uncle Sam certifies is "pure." It r.lso means sufficient exercise to maintain bodily activity, so that circulation will keep things clean Inside and prevent stagnation. It also means plenty of fresh air, so that the oxygen will oxidate, oxi-date, or burn up, all the debris and the poisons and the toxins which are being formed In every body all the time as the result of eating and of living. Keep Smiling. I will cultivate good cheer. I will avoid anger, hate and moroseness. It doesn't hurt to smile. Remember that. It Isn't hard work. It doesn't cost anything. It Isn't simply for others that one should smile. It helps one's self even more than others. Sing! Whistle! Laugh! These things do not cost anything, any-thing, either, and they help a great deal. We doctors know that if we can get a patient tG laugh and sing it is pretty sure that he is on the mend and on it good and strong. We also know that anger, hate, sulks, pessimism and all such horrid things are actually destructive. This Is not Christian Science or any other sectarianism, ..but just plain common sense backed up by the latest laboratory experiments. All these mental conditions cause the formation of actually poisonous poison-ous chemicals in the body and at the same time hinder the activities of normal health processes. |