The Silver State

The old year with its record is gone, and the new year, full of promises of hope, stands smiling at the door.

It is sad to look back upon a past year; disappointment has strewn its ashes upon every day; misfortune has been busy with numbers; evils have done their work with many; the solemn reaper, Death, has gathered his harvest from many a household: and we all come to the end of the year with sorrow, with fears, and with weariness, even as we come to the end of life.

It is pleasant to look forward upon a new year, for it is full of hopes--it is looking into a new life which has been given us. Have we gone astray in the old year? We have a new year in which to go right. Have we misspent our time, misspent our talents, abuse our opportunities? Blessed be the New Year, for we can make a right use of our time, properly employ our talents, and correctly use our opportunities. We know the rocks upon which we ran; the quicksands in which we halted; the temptations to which we succumbed and the evils we did not avoid. We can live our lives over. Shall we? Do we come to the close of each year with the same repentance? Do we avoid each year that is given us the rocks we knew of in the past? Do we keep at a distance from the quicksands? Do we resist the temptations into which we have before fallen? Do we avoid the evils we have experienced?

We mourn over our mistakes in life, and say: "Could we but live our lives over, and know what we do now!" Life is made up of years, and though with every year it is given us to live life over, with a full knowledge of the past, we live it over, not after a new manner, but in the same old track, and every year is sorrow for years ago, hoping for years to come. Yet, blessed be the New Year, for it is full of hope, and it is upon the white wings of hope, we go through this life that is to be. A happy New Year, then, and may its happiness make our time truthful and peaceful and full of gladness and joy.

C. H. G.