Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1915 — A New year Is Born What Will It Bring Us? [ARTICLE]

A New year Is Born What Will It Bring Us?

A New Year is born! Nineteen hundred and fifteen. What will it bring us? Will it be a year of plenty—or •of want? Will it be one of happiness-—or •of misery? Will it be one of honor—or of ■obloquy? Will it be one of life—or of -death? IF WE ONLY KNEW! A New Year! To many of us it will be a year ■of plenty —if we do OUR part — if we but use our brains, and out energy, and our perseverance—if we use them in the RIGHT way. But will we do that ? Will the RIGHT way appeal to us? Many of us have madd the customary , New Year’s resolutions, with the full intention t;o live up to them. i But WILL WE so live Will the year be one in which we place RIGHT above all other considerations? K Will it be one in which we place HONOR above GOLD, and CHARITY above GREED, and GENTLENESS above ARROGANCE? ( Or will we plunge headlong into a- frantic and gasping rush for the golden end of the rainbow? Will it be a year in which our simple WORD is as good—or even better —than our BOND? Or will it be one in which we HAGGLE-, and TWIST, and SQUIRM, and EVADE, and CONCEAL, and DECEIVE? It may be the one, or the other. ' - - But which WILL it be? We mean well—but will we DO WELL? ONLY TIME GAN TELL.

A New Year! > To some it will bring sorrow, and sadness, and tears. It will bring' suffering, and agony, and despair. : : It will bring want, and hunger, and desperation. And from DESPERATION to CRIME is often but a step! And CRIME is the pathway that leads down to the depths of hell—into the arms of the devil—to everlasting torment and the eternal damnation of a soul. But the sadness of such an ending might often be avoided if WE but extended a helping hand IN TIME. Just a little help—a few kind words—a slight effort to obtain food and employment for those who are unfortunate yet worthy —who are TOTTERING UPON THE BRINK. - We MIGHT extend that help —we COULD give SOMETHING—if we WOULD! BUT WILL WE?

A New Year ! And there is a KING of KINGS, who keeps a Great Book, and each page of that book contains the life record of a human being—of US !• It will contain’OL’R records for this new year that is just born, as it contains our records for the years that are gone. And what WILL BE our record for this new year? Will the Great Book record little acts of kindness, of good cheer, of assistance to the maimed and the sightless, and the aged, and the needy, and of, compassion for the. little child that knows no home? OUR records for the new year be such as will'bring a loving simile to the kindly face of the King of Kings? Or will it bow His gentle 'heart in grief and sorrow? It will be as we choose to make it. BUT WHAT WILL WE CHOOSE? A New Year! Will it bring gladness to ALL homes? j Or will it find some who are yet weary, and, heavy laden, and in need of rest and spiritual cheer ? < Not ALL of the good people have their names inscribed /in a church register. The world is full of good people Who seldom see the inside of a house of God, to whom His teachings are but a memory, whose pleasures, on earth are so few there surely must be some

great recompense for them in the life beyond. . Some of these may be closer to us than we think, may be low in the depths of poverty, may be hungering for thefvoice of a minister, yet fearful of entering a church lest they be shamed by their rags. -—A ■ - What will the new year bring to them? Will it cast but a little sunshine into their shadowed lives? Will it send some brother or sister to invite them to a place of worship, where their soul hunger may be appeased by the gentle words.of a man of God? We MIGHT be a “good brother” or a "good sister” to these worthy unfortunates. BUT WILL WE? It MIGHT add cheer even to our OWN hearts. But do we WANT such cheer? A New Year! What will it bring to OUR COUNTRY?

Will it bring us- a continuation of that great PEACE which Providence has thus far bestowed upon us ? Will it blaze for us <a highway through the network of entanglements which have drenched the soil of half the world with the life blood of thousands upon thousands of the most intelligent and enlightened peoples of all times? Will there be a bright and shining star to lead us safely through the appalling perils that now beset the earth? Qr will the new year visit ijpon US the withering blight of WAR, and PESTILENCE, and FAMINE, and EXTERMINATION? Will the sweet -music of the humming wheels of industry and the joyful notes of gladsome voices raised in song be replaced by the roar of cannon, and the shriek of shells, and the bursting of bombs, and the groans of the maimed, and the mutilated, and the dying? Which will it be? IF WE ONLY KNEW?

A New Year is born! Nineteen hundred and fifteen! "And what of that?” you ask. Not much—just a little—and yet EO. MUCH ! Nineteen hundred and fifteen! Only four words, and yet those words signify that today we reckon our time front the year in which Christ was born— Christ was our IDEAL man—our PERFECT nian —the ONLY man who'was in ALL THINGS A MAN! And in the infancy of the new year shall we keep before us the record of the MAN whose memory and. whose deeds even time itself cannot dim? .Shall we keep before us the memory of the man in whose honor we write “1915?”

A New Year! Will it reveal to us A MANY Is there one among us whose life js so spotless—whose deed's are so glorious-—that the years and centuries of time will but add lustre to his fame? Is there? And if not, WHY NOT? Will the new year pro.duce.even one man—one REAL MAN—who will tower above his fellow men as Christ did above ALL men And will that MAN come from OCR ranks—from OUR little circle? Will it be YOU? And if not, WHY NOT?

A New Year is born! And what will WE be in, this year? We may not be a Christ, but we MAY keep before us the memory of his gentle humility, his kindly deeds, of his great sacrifice that the world might be better, and stronger, and grow in the enlightment of advancing civilization. We may take into our business lives his spirit of honesty, and of truthfulness, and of fairness to oui fellow men. We may not reach his degree of perfection, but we MAY so conduct our business dealings and our private lives that We will not be a reproach to one who gave his all for us. It would cost us NOTHING to keep his glorious memoiy before us, to follow at least slightly in his footsteps, and it would be of INESTIMABLE VALUE to us.

BUT WILL WE? | Or will we spend six days of the week in serving the devli and expect an hour in church on Sunday to boost us through the Pearly Gates? Will we be MEN—or WHAT? We may be the one or the other--AS'AVE CHOOSE. But which WILL it be? And again, ONLY TIME WILL TELL.