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Show Old New Year's and the New New Year's S rA SS AC H U SETTS made K New Year's a holiday long iffi 'l after the American cus-SiRfSs cus-SiRfSs torn of New Year's calls, which Justified Its observance, observ-ance, had gone the way of the polka and the hoop skirt. There Is nothing noth-ing American about the carnlval-llke merry-making which nowadays welcomes wel-comes rhe new year. Or can It be that even this Is a metamorphosis of the waichnight meeting of 40 years or more ago? To deacons and elders, to all anxious heads of families. fam-ilies. It used to seem fitting to spend at least three hours of the year In singing lugubrious hymns and giving giv-ing thanks that they bad been singled out for preservation when so many of kin and friends had been removed by an equally discerning discern-ing Providence. But to the young the watchnlght meeting was always a dreary service, serv-ice, only to be endured In view of the Joy of the tomorrow. And when the life and color were taken out of the observance of New Year's Itself, It-self, there seemed little sense In ushering In a day of gloom with a still gloomier New Year's eve. So they left the watchnight meeting to those who found no more pleasure in their days, nnd for themselves Introduced In-troduced the practice now generally prevalent of indulging In a last fling In preparation for the morrow's disagreeable dis-agreeable business of turning over a new leaf. They have revived the old pagan ceremony, except that no miniature skeletons are passed around at the feast to remind them that they are mortal. Nothing In this modern New Year's eve abandon, aban-don, however, commends It as a substitute sub-stitute for the old and gracious custom cus-tom of paying and receiving calls, a custom whose desuetude was hastened has-tened by the prodigious growth of the large cities of our country In the years that have followed the Civil war. As people's acquaintances Increased In-creased numerically their circle cir-cle widened geographically Horse-drawn Horse-drawn vehicles were still the Indispensable Indis-pensable ways of getting about. A gentleman who in 1860 could call upon 100 or more ladies and find room In himself for an equal number num-ber of cups of coffee or glasses of sherry, was compelled. In 1879, to reduce bis calling list by half; he could not get all the way round, even If 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 sadly. There Is nothing noth-ing they can do to make them repentant re-pentant There Is no pleasure In making good resolutions which you can't break If you try. Boston Herald. |