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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 1904)
't I VPTOiar V x MefW!&yiMfm'A. xtitxWsK n J GLOBE TROTTERS' NEW Love of A grizzled, nun-tanned, hard-foiitiired man, wlioao faco boro tho atump of hardship nnd adventuro, was HlttlnK In the amokiug room of a Now York hotel. Ho happened to glaneo nt a calendnr and suw that tho day was Dec. 81. "By Jove!" ho exclaimed. "So to morrow Ib Now Ycnr'a day. Unions something happens bcforo-'.hen, It will be tho quietest Now Year I've spent In twonty-throo years. "In all that tlmo I have- never been ro near my old homo In Scotland as I am now. Ofton I'vo tried to get home, but somehow or other Now Year has always found mo In a tight corner In bornoout-ottho-wny part of the world.- This man's exporlenco Is typical of that of many of tho globetrotters in this ago, when people are so fond of "going to and fro In tho earth and walking up and down In It," llko a cer tain pcrsonngo In tho Hook of Job. Now Year's day, 18!t7, found one Englishman facing doath from hunger and UilrBt on board a llfo raft 300 julloa soutlicast of Madagascar. Mb shin foundered seven days be fore In a hurrlcnne. Tho boats woro smashed -by tho fury of tho waves and noino or tho crow washed overboard. Tho rest mndo a rnft out of planks and flpars, but during tho night high seas nwcpt over tho f mil structure and car ried away most of tho water and food. "All wo had left," said the man who went through this terrlblo experience, "wera a few tins of potted meat, a email barrel of biscuit anrd tho small est of the water casks. That was all wo had to keep llfo In twcnty-flvo hun gry jnw "Wo 'made It last as long as we could, but In four days everything was cono. Somo of tho men fell Into de spair and talked about throwing them selves overboard. Pcrhnps thoy would liavo dono so, but during tho night of ttio fourth day half a dozen big shnrks swnm around tho raft In circles. Tho sea was phosphorescont and wo could seo thom plainly In tho waves of llid llro which they stlrrod up as thev nwam around. Even tho half-crazed rincn who had talked about drowning themselves shrank from death In a shark's maw and stayed-upon the raft. "Next morning I saw by a pocket diary which I carried that tho day was Dec 30. To kcop up the mon's spirits I told them I had dreamed wo were going to bo rescued on Now Year's day. That appealed to tho euperstl tlon inherent more or leBs in nil bail ors,' so I kept on tolling them n ship would come along and pick us up on that day sure, until I began to bcllovo !t inysolf. Wo oven discussed grave ly whether the sail would heavo In sight In the morning or tho afternoon, and one man who said ho guessed it would bo toward evening became quite unpopular. "Now Year's morning broke with n dead calm on tho oily, blistering sea and a biasing sky that aggravated our thirst tenfold. Thero was not a ship 'fa sight all morning nothing except (that glassy sheet of wator and that cruel, cloudless sky above us. It was tho sarno In tho afternoon, and our juopes fell ns tho sun sank slowly to fward tho western horizon. "Juat as wo wero beginning to de spair, one of the men screamed hyster ically and pointed to a thin trail of THE DAWNING YEAR. WNj!tMfWlM Adventure Has Landed Many Men in Positions of Discomfort and Danger. smoke on tho sky lino. It was a New Zealand liner headed straight for our raft. In a couple of hours her doctor was giving us n hearty dinner and slops and weak brandy and water." This same mnn spent another New Year's day off Capo Horn. Ho sailed from Valparaiso In n British "wind jammer," expecting to rfnch his Scot tish homo In tlmo to spend his first Christmas thoro for many years. But calms delayed her for weeks in tho South Pacific ocean, and when sho got oft Capo Horn she ran into a tearing galo, which brought her mlzzen top mast down on deck and ripped out all her sails. For days sho drifted help lessly, exposed to tho full fury of tho western gale. Tho crow labored Industriously at rigging up spare and bonding now sails. It was a task of tremendous difficulty, for glnnt combers rolled over tho forecastle head continually, filling the vessel nmldshlps with green seas. Suddenly in tho midst of this toll nn apprentice piped out: "I say, fcllors, this Is New Year's dny. Havo you all forgotten It?" "nolay your tonguo," retorted tho gruff old mate. "There won't bo any New Year dinner today, except your usual whack of lobseouso." Tho skipper was superintending tho work from tho poop rail and heard tho conversation. "Cook!" ho bawled out. "Lay aft hero!" Tho cook came out of his galley and tho captain asked what he could give them for a fancy dinner. "Ncthln but split poas, sir, an salt horse and marmalade. Thero ain't no turkeys In my storeroom, sir," ho said "Let's catch ono o' them birds," suggested nn old tar, pointing to sov eral nbatrosses which .woro circling nbout tho wako of tho ship. "Wo'll stretch a point this day and bo for given for it, I guess." After soveral nttompts nn albatross was captured with a big fishhook bait ed with salt pork and dracgod aboard triumphantly. Served up nico and brown and swimming in gravy, it looked so much llko a real turkey that It warmed up tho men's hearts and mndo them think of tho holidays they had spent at homo. But when thoy tasted It tho resomblanco ceased. It was flsby and tough. Tho meat was llko knotted ropo yarn and tho grnvy suggested tar. Howover, It was a New Year dinner all tho same, and It was enjoyed as keeuly as tho finest feast ashore that day. An American traveler, who Is well known commercially in the West In dies, was mixed up In ono of tho poren- nlal revolutions of Haytt In his hot and foolish youth. Unhappily, ho al lied himself with tho weaker side, and ono New Year's evo found himself ono of a small band of desporadoos do fending tho stockaded town of Mlrn goane against a government array, which outnumbered them by moro ,than 100 to 1. During tho night tho government soldiers forced their way into tho town. Only about thirty of tho defenders wero left alive. "Stand them up in a line and shoot them," commanded Gen. Manlgat. YEAR'S But they wero too weak to stand. AH of them woro wounded, half-starved and fovor-strlcken. So the govern ment troops propped them up in chairs and shot them as they lolled there. Only tho whlto man was spared, In order that his case might bo Inquired Into. When ho protested to Gen. Manlgat against tho cruelty of shooting help less cnptlves that triumphant warrior morely blew a cloud of cigarette smoke and remarked calmly: "Cost la guerre." "Lato on Now Year's eve," said tho American, "thoy tried mo by court martial. When I woko up on New Year's morning I wbb in tho calaboose, sentenced to bo shot at sundown. It wasn't Very pleasant waiting. I was qulto glad when a gold-laced officer entered tho cell townrd evening, with a paper informing mo that 'his excel lency, tho citlzon president, had been pleased to pardon me, in consideration of tho request of tho American minis ter and of tho fact that it was Now Year's day. "I believo they had never Intended to shoot me, but only to frighten me, for they hardly dared to touch a whlto man whoso country owned a navy that might bombard their ports. Anyhow, I got out of Jail In time to oat my dinner with somo. American and Eng lish friends on a coffee plantation near MIragoane." An American globe trotter tells how ho once spent a Now Year's day hunt ing a crocodilo in Jamaica, West In dies. After a long hunt tho crocodile was found burled beneath the mud In a shallow bend of a river on tho planta tion. Tho hunters only carried small shotguns, which wero usoless against tho beast's tough hide, covered as it was soveral inches deep in mud. But tho planter was a man of re source. Ho sent hurriedly for negroes nnd sot them to work to construct two strong walls of bamboo poles across tho bed of tho stream, thus inclosing tho crocodile In n prison from which ho could find no escape. Aftor tho walls wero built every body hid quietly in tho tall grass on tho banks and waited. Hour after hour thoy laid there. Their luncheon consisted of sandwiches and a flask of rum punch. It was not until the end of tho aft ernoon that tho crocodilo, finding it could not break through tho bamboo barrlTS, crept out of tho water. Bo fore it could drag tho wholo of its huge carcass out of tho mud It was lassoed and hauled toward tho bank by twenty willing hands. Too surprised to offer resistance, the beast at first suffered Itself to bo al most dragged on tho bank; but it caught on tho edgo with its forepaws and made a desperate struggle. Twen ty yelling negroes hung on to tho oth er end of the rope, but could not drag that crocodilo up; thr could only prevent it from flopping back Into the water again. Honorn were even In that terrific tug-of-wr!r. At last a yoke o eight oxen had to bo brought. They soon dragged tho beast to the bankj where it was tied around a tree and dispatched with axes. WtyWwrftyWwWiWwrftyWJTj Looking Forward jWlWVWbfi Despite all that cynics nnd Jokers any about now resolutions and tho use IcasnosB of looking ahead, there Is a glory nbout those opening days of the year which comes not again until twelve months have llown. It Is com parablo only to tho splendor of a sum mer sunrise, to tho peace and Joy upon the faco of a puro young bride as sho goes to tho marriage altar, to tho thrilling moment when n stately ship glides for the first tlmo into the waters. All the charm and potency that go with beginnings belong to tho Initial days of Jnnunry. A man may, perhaps, be pardoned for being unwilling to look forward, but ho misses it if he is too busy or too indifferent to look forward, to stand for a moment thl3morn:ng at his chamber window and looking out upon tho world to send his gaze for ward into tho coming yenr. What will It hold for you? What do they all amount to anyway theso swiftly pass ing years? What do you seo ahead worth looking nt? A moment's pause llko this wonderfully clarifies the vi sion and sets a good many things in their proper light. Somo men looking forward seo only the lions In tho way tho noto to bo met next April, tho unpleasant chango in business or In rcsldcnco next July, tho burden that must bo shouldered in Novetnjor. It Is manly to look nt them squarely, to prcparo In season to meet them, If you aro morally sure to encounter tliom. But to worry over contlngcn clef) or mere possibilities is not legiti mate. At nil events ono should not linger long in his- forward look upon tho sombor elements of tho vision. The thing to look at longest and hardest is somo largo attractivo objective point. What do you see as the main thing to hopo for and to work for In 1905? You may ponder that question week and if you aro a sano man you will como to Just ono conclusion. To get more character that is tho un derlying motivo of a worthy man's buying and selling, coming and going Jown sitting and uprising through out any twolvo months. To see your self a year henco a finer, stronger, sweeter, purer spirit man than you are to-day that is tho real purpose of a forward look. Come to think of it, that is all llfo Is for anyway, to got a llttlo moro character day by day out of toll, out of pleasure, out of discipline out of mistakes and fail ures even. That is tho best possible thing tho rich can get out of 1905. That is within tho reach of tho poor- tst. And a comprehensive forward look Hight to embrace besides 1905 the j-ear after It, and tho year nfter that, nd so on until earthly years are swallowed up In tbo Heavenly, and man goeth to his long and his real homo. It may not bo this New Years Sunday, but somo New Year's Sunday will bo our last on earth. Why not, then, look forward confidently, calmly to tho ampler, richer llfo that stretch es away beyond the grave. It Is not a thought to depress ono at tho open ing of tho year, but to quicken and inspire. "May God forgive me," said Charles Klngsley, tho great English preacher and novelist, "for looking forward with eager curiosity to the llfo beyond this." No man, least of til Charles Klngsley, need ask to be pardoned for a vivid interest in the hereafter. It Is rather to the discredit of most of us that wo havo no lntorest at all. As one thus stands at his chamber window and looks out and forward And thinks of the rich, mysterious fu ture of all that 1905 holds of Joy and pain, of all that ono wants to do and of all that may befall one, tho llttlo prayer of tho Breton fisherman comes to mind, "Take care of mo, O God; thy ocean Is so wide and my boat Is bo Bmall." li i v. Ivl ftvV- m ml M M safe f X WwHBa W smzl V-.M W LtdT 'J gBawgggpifl " 1 e rri rT-JtJtl .1 i iii,.i Si 0&f& fJm &sr "v j . ri& Thoughts of the New Year Lot us walk softly, friend; For Ktrango paths lie before us, all un- trod; The new year, spotless from the hand of God. Is thine and mine, O frlendl Lot us wnlk strnlglitly, friend; Forsot tho crooked paths behind us now. Prcs- on with steadier purpose on our brow. To better deeds, O frlendl Let us walk gladly, friend: Pcrcliancp sotnn greater good than we lmvo known la waiting for us, or somo fair hope llown Shall yet return, O frlendl Let us walk humbly, friend; Slight not tho heartsease blooming round our feet: Tho laurel blossoms are not half so sweet. Or lightly gathered, friend. Let us walk kindly, friend: We cannot tell how long- this llfo shall last. How poon these precious yoais bo over past; Let lovo walk with us, friend. Let ns walk quickly, frlenfl; Work with our might while lasts our little stay. And help somo halting comrado on the way; And may God guide us, frlendl Lillian Gray. T t 51 A Greeting to t the Coming Year ? 4 I Wo arc on tho threshold of a new year. Wo do not know what tho year holds for us, but wo aro not afraid of It. Wo havo learned to look for kind ness and goodness in all our paths, and so we go forward with glad hopo and expectation. It is always a serious thing to live. Wo can pass through any year but once. If wo havo lived negligently, wo cannot return to amend what wo havo slurred over. Wo cannot correct mistakes, fill up blank spaces, eraso lines wo may bo ashamed of, cut out pages unworthily filled. Tho irrevo cableness of llfo ought alone to bo motive enough for incessant watchful ness and diligence. Not a word wo write can bo changed. Nothing wo do can bo canceled. Another element of seriousness in living is tho influenco of our llfo on other lives. Wo do not pass through tho year alone; we aro tied u; with others In our homes, our friendships, our companionships, our associations, our occupations. Wo aro always touching others and leaving impres sions on them. Human lives aro llko tho photographer's sensitized plates, receiving upon them tho imago of whatever passes beforo them. Our careless words drop, and wo think not where they fall; but the lightest of them lodges in somo heart and leaves Its blessing or its blight. All our acts, dispositions and moods do something in the shaping and coloring of other lives. It 13 said that every word whispered into tho air starts vibrations which will quiver on and on forever. Tho same is true also of Influences which go out from our lives in tho common est days they will go on forever. This should mako us most careful what we do, what wo say, nnd what quality of llfo wq give to tho world. It would be sad indeed if we should set going unholy or hurtful influences, if we should touch oven ono llfo un wholesomely, if we should speak oven a word which starts ooul toward death. J. II. Miller, D.D. New Year's Day. Tho celebration of tho commence ment of tho new jear dates from high antiquity. Tho Jews regarded It as the anniversary of Adams birthday, and celebrated it with wplcndld enter tainments a practice which tfc.ey havo continued down to tho present trass. The Romans also made this a holiday, and dedicated it to James with rich and numerous sacrifices; tbo ncwlv elected magistracy entered upon their duties on this day; all undertakings then commenced wero considered Buro to termlnato favorably; tho people made each other presents of gilt dates, figs and plums, and oven tho emperors received from their sub jects new years gifts, which nt a later period It became compulsory to bestow. From tho Romans tho cus tom of making presents on .ew Year's' day was borrowed by the Christians, by whom it was long re tained, until Chrlstmns day usurped Its privileges; but even In those coun tries where it lingered longest, in Franco and Scotland, for Instance, congratulatory wishes are now almost universally substituted for the moro substantial presents that were form erly conferred on this day, as marks of affection and esteem. iL - -n ,-Mm?a. ttJ&JFl&m. " NEW YEAR'S GIFTS How to Mfckc Somo Dainty Friend ship Tokens Two pieces of carloucho paper are to bo cut in tho shape of a whisk broom and sewed together at the sides. They should bo Just long enough to hold tho broom lightly at tho middle so Hint tho handlo Is al ways free. When tho paper Is sewed, arepey-whiilt- rp&perH teo&m noicier gather a double ruffle of crepe pane and pasto it to tho foundation, with another rufllo below. A third is made, doubled so that thero is ft ruffle at tho edgo of the small end as a finish. A ribbon is tied around this part an6) another is put at each sido of the wide end to hang it by. It requires half a yard of crepe paper to mako this dainty present sultablo for tho "men folks." Shaving Paper Holder. Cut round a pleco of heavy cartrldgo paper and cover it with whlto paper, back and front. Then gather threo doublo ruffles of crepe paper, sotting one Just beyond tho edge, tho othora further in, and at the center put a bow of four loops without endg, and & fleoe a.iaQT shaving pa.per ribbon loop to hang it by. At tho back sew another short loop, to which at tach a packago of shaving paper. This can bo renewed as often as used. This needs but three-quarters of a yard of crepo paper. Cardboard Bookmark. This is a pretty present for tho stu dent, and is cut out of ono pleco ot stiff cardboard, tho body of tho but' terfiy being cut loose from tho part intended to bo put between pages. Cartouche paper covered with crepo paper is also pretty. Tho wings and ooK-rrLiatf& the feelers can bo colored with painv and bronzo powder. A little sentiment of somo kind can bo written on tho flap. Entire City Rejoices. Perhaps tho most charming of all New Year's customs halls from Frank-fort-on-tho-Maln, where it has pre vailed from time immemorial. On tho night of December 31, all tho city keeps festival. Family parties sud gatherings of friends aro universal. Games, stories and music, supple mented by much eating and drinking, speed tho evening hours. At the ex act moment when from the great domo of tho cathedral the first stroke of midnight sounds its warning every window is thrown wido open and from their casements lean all tho dwellers in tho town, young and old, each with gtess in hand. This is lifted high In air as simultaneously from a hundred thousand voices the cry goe3 up, "Pro sit Neujahr!" ("Happy New Year.") The Untrodden Way. Each true heart In which there Is a spark of the Dlvlno life turns eagerly toward the unblemished page, tbo un trodden way, of the Now Year, not with wonder simply, or with hope; but with fervent resolvo that tho dead past shall bury its dead, and that a nobler, fuller, sweeter spirit shall glisten in tho chalice of existence. F. B. Meyer. Offering for the New Year. It is natural to wonder what the Now Year will bring us. Lot us re member that there is another side that we have something to bring tho New Year. If our offering Is faith and hope and sturdy purpose, we need not fear that its gifts will fall short 1 A B 4 li