mmfMmmffl. *\ <wumr9 \ y, y^ — ■- ITHIN a few days our ears will Wj be filled with the deafen j ing crash of people breaking I their New Year's resolutions. Three million sets of iron-clad non-combustible American "nev er-agains" crushed to earth will remain there until dug up again * " t * le °' December 31, 1909. t§',' What has the New Year in store for you, joy or sorrow? tfe, > W/ Few to-day realize what or where they will be before the end of 1909, and attempts to prognos ticate probably would be vain. As far as destiny Is concerned the world literally lives "from hand to mouth." We can only guess at what the next year will bring. For William Jennings Rrvan 1909 means more lectures at so much per night. For William How ard Taft, 1909 is a year of glad rejoicing, for on March 4 he assumes the presidential chair vacated by Theodore Roosevelt. Four years ago when an attempt was n> oJ ju relegate Mr. Taft to the bench of the su, 1 court of the United States he little suspected tii«* ho was material to fill the chair at tlie head of the nation. Joy is mingled with sadness in President Roose velt's ease and his cup is one of bitter-sweet, for While he lifts the cares of the presidential office from his head and applies his strenuosity tests upon the habitues of the East African jungle he has shot his bolt as far as the C. S. A. is con cerned, there being nothing left 'to conquer. But for the commonplace citizen of these United Siateo 1.909 carries only conjecture, as a rule. Lots of men and women start the yfear planning to carry out some cherished ideas, whether they will succeed being a matter (hat only Father Time himself can solve. There are approximately 8:5,000,000 souls in this country. Of that number statistics say 3,000,000 have drawn up sets of resolutions, which if carried out would cut a swath in the nation's liquor and lobacco traffic. From every state in the union the cry "never again" arises, and just a few days after the debut of the new year the phrase gives way to a mur mur of "just one more" with the eventual result that 15 days or three week:; finds conditions once more at a normal stale. There is a saying that a man is never great until he dies. Therefore it is generally not until the de mise of the righteous that we learn of the man or woman who madn and kept a Ne v Year's reso- lution. Then the press lets us know about it and as a rule the alleged New Year's resolution which was kept may be laid at the door of the bright young reporter who covered the death and who was anxious to inoculate a feature into his story. There are thousands of ways of applying the "never again." Here are a few of the more or less popular ways: I promise never again, after January 1 to— Drink Intoxicants, Smoke Tobacco, Swear, Be Mean to My Wife, Keep Late Hours, Waste Money, Eat Heavy Meals, Vote the Ticket, Grow a Mustache, Spurn the Alarm Clock's Call, Read Novels, Quit My Job, Believe Fish Tales, Play Cards, Gamble, Celebrate July 4, Dance Overtime, Ask for More Pay, Tell Lies, Wear Loud Socks, Flirt, Part My Hair in the Middle, Shirk Work, Watch Salome Dances, Marry, Be Conceited. Wear Merry Widow Hats. Etc. Other purely local faults are subjects of New Year's resolutions and usually the signed and sworn document is tucked away in a corner, neglected and its contents forgotten. Then the party to the "swearing off," who for three days has been telling liis friends or her friends how invigorating it feels to be once more spiritually pure, drops down a step or two and when resolu tions are mentioned lias a merry laugh and tells about how last New Year's he or she had sworn off this and that and had had more fun "with the folks over it." At midnight each December JM, Father Time loads up the water wagon with thousands of ex imbibers who now arj firm believers in the health giving properties of aqua pura. About 12:01 a. m., January I.the one who is less able to stand the gaff of total abstinence slides off to the • ground and proceeds to celebrate. For fear thai he may be lonesome two or three others follow him and pretty soon most of them are sliding back to Mother Earth and alleged happiness. Occa sionally a man or two is found who keeps a reso lution or two and then there is a place reserved for him in the hall of fame, but there are lota of empty niches there. New Year's parties, attended by young people, are the breeding places for resolutions. Invent ors of games who profit thereby, have gone so far as to concoct resolution games for parties of that sort and in some of the contests the loser is com pelled to keep his promise to "swear off" this or that, if he would adhere to his or her affidavit. A story is told of a young lady and a young man, engaged to each other, who attended a New Year's party. The couple were extremely fond of each other and the bride-to-be had only one objection to her intended spouse, viz.. that he drank intoxi cants. He was not aware that she knew it. Con sequently before the little social function she "fixed" the resolution contest, so he would lose. She playfully told him that ho must keep liis resolution and he, rather fearfully promised, little suspecting the plot. Well, ho lost and said lie would keep the prom ise, though he lied and said he never touched a "drop in his life." "I know you don't drink," she breathed into his oar from the depths of a cozy corner, "but I want to be sure that you never will." Thus ilie young man's habit met its Waterloo in the New Year's trick of a "stacked deck," pro moted by his fiancee, and now, five years following their marriage, his taste for spirits was declared positively extinct by the wife in a recent coroner's Inquest at. the ladies' sewing circle. That was one resolution which held and prob ably will for the rest of the young married man's life, providing lie doesn't get into politics. But that was one of a few. v' hen a man or woman makes a resolution with n string attached to it, such as awarding a watching friend a few simo lcons in CUR" the promise to abstain from some habit is broken, then the vaccination "takes," but otherwise, it seldom holds good for more than a week. A week is really a long stretch for the life of a set of promises, most of them expiring with dawn of January 1, although having been made only the previous night. This new year will see the breaking of approximately 13,000,000 well founded resolutions, but who cares? There are lots more New Years coming, say the philoso phers. A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION &QU CQ m U ill J L °* ir « lee ' <l ß «£et>o written 1 stopd in-o.roiO ona«hel£ \i Irl ooe I M rote t * ietri a * h y 11/lw And spow ■she oDaa &<a4 ll&i\4t\ : wSfr\ 11 UDh©n -»h<?y cDetm? \wad», ! V sm'jJed uOith delU?hl v Ikhoo *»U rl^ht;, Wt 4'rivvv ~* r = w tkhal goCxi cfie'd <4o U( A t '■ 3 JL pW HOery hour* of the day? , E%{ \VNk|jj V\ nn I Let * & pretend it Is. true' j cuVyuDay. Entering the New Year Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over.—Joshua, 3:6. The long journey in the wilderness is over. The endless stretches of sand will haunt the tired eyes of the pil grims no longer. Beyond the swiftly gliding river lies Canaan, the Land of Promise. Joshua is a born leader of men and as such knows what they will do, if appealed to in the right way. The River Jordan flows between the Prom ised La.nd and his followers. It must be crossed. With the same feeling that afterward animated Douglas to take from his breast the jeweled heart of the dead Bruce and fling it over the heads of the advancing foe, shouting: "Fight, my men, for the heart of Bruce!" so Joshua, with the deep re ligious consciousness of a Jew, gives the order to carry forward the Ark of the Covenant. No one of his follow ers will dream of lagging behind when he sees that sacred symbol in front. And so, following in the footsteps of the priests, the people, old and young, cross the Jordan and enter upon a new phase of their national life. The parallel between our case, as we stand on the threshold of a new year, and the Jews on the eve of their en tering Canaan is so apparent that it can be seen at once. As the tired wan derers from Egypt stood facing the Promised Land, so do you and I stand facing 1909. How are we going to commence our Journey in the new year? Joshua, New Year's in Manila To occidental eyes Xew Year's day In Manila is a strange olla podrida of Christmas, Piaster and Fourth of July, says the New York Press. The day is ushered in with early mass, celebrat ed in the cathedral, which is attended by all the women attired in old clothes, and the poorer class barefoot ed and the wealthy in somber black, with black mantillas or shawls, shrouding their heads. Out immediate ly after breakfast everybody begins to prink and preen for callers. Raven locks are plastered into elaborate coiffures with cocoanut oil and crowned with red or yellow blossoms, or In the case of a maiden* who expects her lover to pay his respects to her on the New Year with the sweet star ry flowers of the jessamine, which are called throughout the island the "flow ers of San Paquita," who is the patron saint of lovers. Stiff, trailing skirts of gay brocade and antebellum cut are donned, wide flowing sleeves of em broidered pina gauze and ample neck erchiefs of the .same filmy material are adjusted and there is a tinkling of many bangle bracelets as the fair ones seat themselves to wait the arrival of the first caller. His entrance is the signal for the jam pot to be brought in. This takes Real Purpose of Life St. James asks: "What is thy life?" and his own answer to the question is: "For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little lime, and then vanlsheth away." The brevity of life has been the subject of deep thought and of anxious solicitude in all ages of the world. The poet tells us: "Our birth is nothing but our death begun." It is likened to a dream, a shadow, a vapor, a swift flying cloud, or the au tumn leaf. Such is life! this life we are living away; this life that \VIII so soon be over; this life on whose transient breath hangs everlasting destiny. But we fail to appreciate life's meaning if we spend our time in sigh ing over its brevity. Life is not mere ly a vapor that presently vanished], it is a journey to a fixed destination. We are not only going, but we are going somewhere; not into the depths of a mystic solitude to be extinguished and forgotten. Our destiny is not an nihiiatioD and nothingness. Togo for though he lived long, long ago, and though he was but a leader of a mot of liberated slaves, can show us th« way. The captain of the Jewish host sent forward the Ark of the Covenant We, who are the children of the largej hope, can do nothing better than tc send forward into the new year the Cross of Christ. Why? Because onlj by the power of the Cross can w« hope to pass successfully through th« trials and temptations and to over come the kings of passion and selfish ness which so surely lie waiting foi us in the next 12 months. It must appeal to nearly every one; this ending of an old year and the ginning of a new one. A man must bt dull indeed if it awakens no thoughts of a larger life, a more consecrated manhood, a more devoted discipleship. The past, let us remember, is dead; the future is always alive. It holds aloft in its strong right hand the morning star of hope and whispers to each child of man:"lt is never too late to mend." Let us face the new year with brave hearts and better determinations, plac ing before us as we advance the Cross of Christ, believing that in proportion as we are loyal to this symbol shall we have strength given us to endure hard ness as good soldiers of the Master, patience to suffer without giving way to despair, sorrow and misfortune, and spiritual courage, so that we can come through every temptation tri umphant and unafraid. the place of the stealing punch bowl of other lands, and is passed from hand to hand, each one taking a spoonful, no more, and everybody using the same spoon. It wquld be considered an unpardonable breach of etiquette to refuse to partake. The jam is followed by coffee, which ia served very black and strong, and is half sugar. Strong, black cigars are next produced, and everybody lights up, including the hostess. It is a shock to the occidental mind to see young girls of 15 or 16 puffing away at long cigars, but every one smokes In the Philippines. The Spanish women usually confine themselves to cigar ettes. Many of the callers bring their gui tars or mandolins, and there is al ways a little music. Some of the con vent-bred girls are really excellent performers on the harp or piano, but pianos are always out of tune, owing to the damp climate. Impromptu con certs are organized, and occasionally there is skirt dancing, in which the- Filipino women excel, many elderljr dames who are "heavy-weights" exe cuting the difficult native dances with a grace, agility and ease which would turn a New York or London musiff hall artist green with envy. ward aimlessly is the most inexcus able folly. To have around him all the evidences of God—and never to see them—to look upon a thousand church spires that point to an eternal life, and miss all their meanings, to be in a land of Dibles that reveals God's purposes for man's eternal des tiny and be ignorant of his own end. Is indeed a negligence which It is dif ficult to comprehend. It is not death but life that is before us, not earthly life alone, but life a thread running Interminably through the warp of eter nity. Life is given us to be used l with a view to Its eternal destiny. To use it so as to give the soul room for its unfolding capacities, to use It to promote the highest good, to use it so as to make the most of it, that is to have before us a high and true ideal and the greatest hope for any event that can possibly follow. If we but work out our destiny according to the divine purpose it cannot fail to b® eternal glory.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers