Gilpin observer., December 30, 1920, Image 3

About Gilpin observer. (Central City, Colo.) 1897-1921

Image provided by: History Colorado

                
The Old Year Paf&^flxl
The winds that from the
From regions of eternal snow,
At midnight now are chanting
Their Miserere
The while the Old Year, bentai^^^y,
Goes desolate upon his
A King without a realm to sway, \\\ JJ
Like sad, discrowned Lear. u
In silent woods low droops the fernl \\
And seems for summer’s flowers
But holly berries gleam and bum,
To grace the Old Year bier;
And from the blue of heaven’s exparreey^ryuyl^^^
Tfc ; stars look down with pitying
And softened seems the /
Of moon at midnigh^le^n
The Old Year passes; lo! he stands
And watches Time’s fast falling santis, J
like dying flames from „ ; Jk
That soon will Zgn
And now a last flame jo\ v
Its flickering light o’er wintry *
And lights the way the Old Year goes
To distant realms of night /
But while we stand, silent, devout,
O’er eastern hills, old Time’s redoubt,
There comes a gladdening “Hail!” and v\
That brings to us new cheer.
For Twenty-One, both lithe and
With merry peal from glad bells /wyv \UWC
Has come with joys as yet unsung —~~ = ( P
A new King now is herej_^__-
—~rHrTTs>idJutK in n. y. Wo ru*L yW
New Year Kissing
Customs
Saluting the Parish Pump
i HERE bus always been a close
and mystic association of kiss
ing with the New Year. Every
T
lover, if circumstances permit, thus
saluteß his sweetheart at the dawn of
the New Year —and some lovers are
not particular, whose sweetheart she
is that they thus salute on this aus
picious occasion.
There Is an ancient kissing custom
associated with a parish church In
Lancashire. The legend Is that any
one who at the first stroke of mid
night kisses the keyhole of the church
door, and then runs right round the
edifice In time to kiss the keyhole be
fore the last stroke of the hour. Is cer
tain of good luck during the whole of
the year.
It requires a certain amount of
nerve to enter this country churchyard
at the dead of night, even for such a
purpose, but rumor hath It that no
new year Is boru without someone es
saying the race round the church. The
distance Is such that It Is Impossible
for more than one person to thus court
a year’s luck.
Churchyards have always been favo
rite places for New Year osculations.
In the Wensleydale district. In days
gone by. all and sundry could kiss
••without scandal” on New Year's eve
In the porch of the church.
It was largely availed of. too, for
It Is on record that the accommoda
tion fell lamentably short of the de
mand. and consequently there was
*even more squeezing than kissing—lf
that were possible.
A somewhat gruesome kind of
churchyard kissing used to obtain
among the Basques of the Pyrenees
on New Year’s eve. It was the custom
for the maidens to then repair to the
ehnrchynrd. and on their fingers waft
kisses to the four quarters of the uni
verse.
A kiss was supposed to brush their
lips on return, and If It was warm It
Indicated that they would marry nnd
he happy ever after. On the other
hand. If the kiss was cold and of the
earth earthy, the Inference was that
single "blessedness” would be their lot
The only means by which the omen
could be broken was by repairing to
the church and kissing the church bell,
a gravestone and a piece of coffin
wood. This remedy was very fre
quently resorted to; nnd so supersti
tious were the Basque maidens that
hut for the consolation afforded some
of them would have lost their reason.
In these degenerate days the lot of
the mayor of Durham Is far happier
than that of his predecessors in an
cient times. If tradition can he relied
on the chief magistrate war then un
der an obligation to kiss the first cow.
the first sheep nnd the first pig
brought Into the first market of the
New Year.
TM* went on until It occurred to a
resourceful occupant of the mayoral
chair to Interpret the custom as relat
ing to the first three market women,
and henceforward they were the re
cipients of the New Year kisses until
the ancient custom vanished alto
gether.
It Is much to be feared that the
abuse of kissing customs has been
inrgely responsible for their falling
Into disuse, though some of them are
certainly more honored in the breach
than in the observance.
One such, which used to obtain In
Oxfordshire, concerned the tenants of
certain estates which they held on
condition that on New Year’s morning
they publicly kissed the parish pump
or paid a drink fine to the assembled
populace.
As might be supposed, the tenants
almost invariably preferred to pay the
fine, but It Is on record that one mis
guided. close-fisted individual actually
kissed the pump in order to keep the
fine In his pocket.
The populace were so disgusted at
his meanness and infuriated at the
loss of the liquor that they held him
under the pump and pumped the wa
ter on him until he was almost washed
away.
The exchange of drink for kisses
was. in the bad old days, a not Infre
quent New Year’s day practice In pub
lic houses, where It sometimes led to
rows and riots among the frequenters.
At one hostelry in the metropolis
It was the custom for the landlord to
hand out to every member of the op
posite sex who called before the hour
of noon on New Year’s day a measure
of ole In exchange for a kiss.
What the landlord’s better half
thought of this proceeding report say
eth not.
At another London public house It
used to be permissible for the first cus
tomer on New Year’s morning to kiss
the barmaid byway of paying for his
liquor. But only the first was entitled
to this privilege, and any subsequent
caller who presumed to pay in this
fashion had to forfeit half a crown to
the hnrmald. One astute Hebe got her
sweetheart to call first and mulcted
several later callers of the customary
half crown In the course of the morn
ing.
A NEW YEAR'S WISH.
To those my friends who bold me dear,
I w!»h great Joy throughout the year.
To other friends, who like me leas,
A full ten months of happiness.
For euch ae like me not at all—
I hope they'll have good luck till fall
—lris.
HAPPINESS
J-JAPPINESS comes not so
muck from what is done
for us ex from what wi do for
others. Its proscription is the
best ervice of which we are I
capable, rendered unselfishly.
Let gat he e year of service to I
God, our country and
our fellowmen.
the Little
New Year
,L EAN O R RICHARDSON
looked across the festively
I decorated restaurant table
‘at her husbaua, who was
’ consuming indifferently his
frozen, nut-sprinkled des
sert.
He certainly was not grow-
E
ng uny younger, while she —well, only
Eleanor herself knew the exact num
ber of gray hairs in her carefully ar
ranged coiffure and realized the un
equal battle being waged between the
cold cream of her masseuse and the
Insidious crows’ wrinkles at the cor
ners of her dark-fringed eyes.
“Do you know, Fred, this doesn’t
Interest me a bit?” she said, with c
casual glance at the gay scene about
her. "Other years I have enjoyed
It well enough, but tonight, some
how, It seems—stale."
“I suppose,” returned her hus
band, placidly, "that the people who
get the most fun out of this sort of
thing, after all, are those who come
here from the backwoods where they
douse the kerosene lamp at 8 p. m.
and light It again when the roosters
crow. The rest of us are used to It.”
By making reservations long In ad
vance the Richardsons had been able
to secure a place in the most desir
able location in the dining room—
not too near the palm-embowered
orchestra loudly dispensing Jazz, not
too fhr from the tinsel-draped stage,
where at the moment were twisting
and gesticulating Hawaiian beauties
In very tropical costumes, which
seemed absurdly inappropriate con
sidering that It was New Year’s eve.
Eier.nor cupped her chin In white,
expensively ringed hands. "Perhaps
It Is the reaction from the sea?/>n or
perhaps I’m merely bored, buf l feel
out of sorts. As I look back on our
ten years of married life they seem
happy enough, and yet to look for
ward In the future to the same sort
of ten years doesn’t seem worth
while.”
Fred Richardson looked at her In
surprise. Retrospection had never
been one of Eleanor’s habits. "What’s
the matter, old girl?’’ he asked with
unusual solicitude. “Shall we leave
this Joint and go the rounds? There
won’t oe much In the way of excite
ment anywhere until midnight.”
"But I tell you, Fred, I’m not look
ing for excitement tonight,” exclaimed
Eleanor Impatiently; "strange as It
may seem. For one thing. I’m worried
as to whether I’ve done the right thing
by Beth. You know that Jim Goddard
has been wild about her for some time,
and waifts to marry her offhand on his
ridiculously small salary. Of course
Beth, after living with me all these
years, asked my advice, and I em
phatically advised against It. Told her
to wait until they had laid by enough
to put them beyond the chance of
worry.”
"Well, that was sensible enough ad
vice nowadays, I guess,” acquiesced
her husband, good-naturedly, flicking
the ashes from his cigar.
Eleanor looked at him keenly. Time
was when he woulfl Dave spurned such
counsel as savoring of too worldly a
wisdom. Ten years of money-making
In the big city had wrought their
changes In him, too. She sighed.
Then: "Oh. well,” she exclaimed,
shrugging her shoulders; "I should
worry about that now. Jim was to
get his answer this evening, and I
Imagine by now Beth has turned him
down quite definitely.”
At that moment a shower of con
fetti and colored streamers shot from
the bulconles and mezzanine, turning
the Interior of the restaurant Into n
-Wall, That Waa Senalbla Enough Ad
vice Nowadays.**
veritable rainbow-tinted blizzard, de
scending In confusion on the bril
liantly dressed women and their com
panions seatei below.
Eleanor rose, drawing on her long
white gloves. "Let's go home. Fred,"
she said. Moved by one of the many
odd Impulses which hod been stir
ring within her, she tacked Into bur
huge muff the evening favor—a frail
pnpler mache representation of old
Father Time bearing In his arms a
very pink, very undressed baby, pre
sumably significant of the old year
bringing In the new.
As Eleanor and her husband ap
proached their car, a moderately
priced sedan waiting on a qnleter
side street, Fred thought with satls
tactlon of the neat little sum In the
THE GILPIN OBSERVER.
bank, now almost sufficient for the
purchase of a very late very com
pletely equipped, high-powered model.
Resolving also to acquire a chauf
feur, lie opened the door for his wife
who. skirts held high to avoid the
trampled slush, stepped In. At the
same instant. "Fred!” she cried In
alarm. "Fred, what in heaveu’s name
is this?”
Fred, equally startled by his wife’s
tense tones, peered unseelngly Into
the dark depths of the car then un
hooked the electric torch from Its
socket, and flushed It on.
There, on the luxurious cushioned
seat, lay a small, shawl-wrapped
bundle, oddly soft to Eleanor’s in
quiring touch. As she parted the In
sufficient, ragged covering the bright
light disclosed a very plump and
quite new baby, with open eyes
under as yet unlashed lids and very
intriguing dimples In his fat knees.
Fred gasped to his wife: "What
shall we do with It?"
“Why, 1 suppose drive to the po
lice station. There Is evidently not a
clew as to Its parents."
While Fred drove with unusnal care
through the traffic which here and
there practically blocked the slippery
street, his wife sat holding the un
sought package in a lap quite unused
to such an occupant.
She wns thinking that possibly life
would not have become so drably mo
notonous and the bond between her
self und Fred so frayed at times If
children had come to their home. At
first she had been thankful, seeing no
opportunity in their meager budget
for bills for nurses and doctors and
certified milk. Later, the advent of
a child into her well-ordered days
Carrying Something in His Arms.
w’ould have seemed a catastrophe she
would not have known how to meet
As the car stopped in front of the
station, the baby stirred. Fred, get
ting down, held out his arms.
"Wait,” she said, a strange note in
her voice. “It seems so healthy—you
don’t suppose—perhaps a child around
the house —”
Fred, who had long ceased to speak
his regret that he had no children,
looked at her at first without compre
hension, then with a great light in his
tired eyes. Rut It died out as suddenly
as It bad come. "Nell, you must be
crazy. Why, we’re lucky If we’re al
lowed to have a lap dog in our flat,
much less a baby. Hand It over.”
"But, Fred," Eleanor went on,
strangely relieved of the boredom she
had complained of, “there’s that money
in the bank—this car is good enough
for anybody—how much would a little
place of our own cost —not too far out,
but with grass around It —and a
porch—”
"Nell,” he said huskily, "you’re—
you're wonderful. It would be like
getting another chance at life. Let's
go home.”
A few minutes later than this con
versation, a well-set-up young man and
a slim, piquantly pretty girl were gaz
ing at each other with miserably defi
ant eyes.
"No—no—no, Jim," cried Beth. "I
do want to. But Eleanor says I’d be
crazy. She tried It and she knows.”
"Then It’s good-by for keeps, Beth,”
returned the other, grimly. "Heaven
knows I want you badly enough, but
not *t the expense of waiting for
years and wasting our young lives, all
for the whim of a third party who
doesn’t count”
Jim turned to go, and Beth stood
twisting and untwisting a damp little
ball of handkerchief. Why didn’t she
dare follow the dictates of her own
heart, not the bidding of a cynical sis
ter, however good thot sister had been
to her?
As Jim opened the door, the eleva
tor stopped across the hall. Out
stepped Beth’s brother-in-law. carrying
something In his arms. Behind fol
lowed o strangely allve-looklng woman,
whose first words struck most Incom
prehensibly on the younger girl's ear.
"Beth, dear, please telephone at
once to the nurse's bureau and ask
them to send up the best graduate
nurse they can get hold of, with the
formula for feeding a very young baby, j
and—how do you do, Jim? I hope I
Beth’s been nice to you I Forget what
I said about not getting married. II
doesn’t pay to wait too long!” She
hurried after her husband who had
gone into an Inner room.
Jim held out his arms once more
and Beth went into them. When slit
raised her head to meet his lips the
bells of the city were breaking fortli
In joyous peal:
"Ring out the old, ring in the new!*
"For us,” murmured Jim, fatuously
"For us,” murmured Eleanor and
Fred, theli eyes meeting across tht
wide expanse of white lace spread
where Fred had laid the baby.
"The old year has gone,” said
Eleanor; then added whimsically, "bul
we brought the new one home wlti
us I”
(Copyright by the McClure Newspapei
Syndicate.)
CASTORIA
ForJnfants^and^Chil^en.
Mothers Know That
Genuine Castoria
a i M
Always w ,
J A/
Bears the SWa*
Signature j/, W"
_ /iv Air
of 4m it
ntX Use
v-r For Over
Thirty Years
CASTORIA
Exact Copy of Wrapper. tmi ccntaus company, ncw roes cm.
Force of Habit.
“I ain’t ett enough since ’way along
Inst spring to keep a chicken alive,
skurcely,” miserably moaned Austin
Akinside, who is afflicted with chronic
dyspepsiloquacity. "And wliat little I
do manage to eat distresses mo like
all fury. My heart ain’t working ex
actly right, and I have spells of pal
pitation, shortness of breath, and—”
"Uh —huh l” absent-mindedly re
turned the proprietor of the Right
Place store In Petunia. "Anything else
today?"—Kansas City Star
Hall’s Catarrh Medicine
Those who are In a “run down” condi
tion will notice that Catarrh bothers
them much more than when they are In
good health. This fact proves that while
Catarrh la a local disease, It Is greatly
influenced by constitutional conditions
HALL'S CATARRH MEDICINE Is a
Tonic and Blood Purifier, und acts through
the blood upon the mucous surfaces of
the body, thus reducing the Inflammation
and restoring normal conditions.
All druggists. Circulars free.
F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio.
Must Hire His Own Help.
A man who was house hunting dis
covered the kind of home he wanted.
The door wns opened by n pretty par
lor maid. He asked lier some ques
tions nervously, for he wns n timid
man. Presently, remembering the
servant problem, he said:
"And nrc you to be let with the
house?”
“No," answered the maid; “if you
please, sir, I am to bo let alone.” —
London Tlt-Ults.
Contnct with a too-sbnrp man dulls
one’s confidence In humanity.
Any woman can fool a man, but It’s
sometimes difficult to keep him fooled.
Kill That Cold With
*irv*
CASCARA fcf QUININE
for and
Colds, Couchs Lo Grice*
Neglected Colds are Dangerous
Taka no chances. Keep this standard remedy handy for the first sneeeeb
Breaks up a cold in 24 hours Relieves
Grippe in 3 days—Excellent for Headache
Quinine in this form doe* not affect the head—Cascara Is best Tonic
Laxative— No Opiate in Hill’a
ALL DRUGGISTS SELL IT
they ' DcolJr «ged them to go where the*couldmakeYhomeof
M///JT >5l \ “—t! ~ paying rent end reduce Co# of living—where they
Wnfll/MI K 1 could reach proipenty and independence by buying on «aay farms.
WIV i\ \ Fert,,# Land at $l5 to $3O an Acre
■// / 1 # 1 T"l»nd similar to that which through many years has yielded from tO
1/ / *5 buahola of wheat to tho acro. Hundreds of formers in Western
I' * -J.?4 Canada have raked crops in a shade season worth more than the whole
|r c o * l °f their land. With auch crops come prosperity, independence cood
■ K k orne8 * and all the comforts and conveniences which make forhappy frying.
I | f j Farm Gardens—Poultry—Dairying
I 1 are sources of income second only to grain growing and stock raisin*
■ I \J Good dimate, good neighbors, churches.
iff I * * schools, rural telephone, etc., give you the
H 1 Ml /I opportunities of a new land with the con-
Pi I » a/ I veniences of old settled districts.
K\ 1 m [\A H > jf\ f. For illuatratad literature. map*, dascription of
V VLY /\ y\ farytooportunxlea in Manitoba. HMkatcbewan.
\ «<kl Albarta, railway ratM.ete . writ*
k jV / Li. \ Department of Immisratiou. Uttawa, Caa.. or
\ » o,| n 4, Bee Wdg" oSthi. N.I.
Canadian Qovernmont Agsnt
Spellbound.
"Why don’t you go on writing my
speech?" said the orntor.
"I am spellbound,” replied hlg
typist.
"lias my eloquence such an effect?**
"Yes, sir. I never worked for •
man who used so many words I can't
spell."—Boston Transcript
Sure
Relief
Beluans
Hot water
Sure Relief.
RELL-ANS
■W FOR INDIGESTION
Attention, Ranchers
Opening sale horses and mules. Stock
Show January 17th to 22d and every
Thursday. Send address for market letter.
DENVER HORSE & MULE CO.
Union Stock Yards Denver, Colo.
Girls! Girls!!
Clear Your Skin
With Cuticura
Seep 2Sc. Oi.tn.et 25 emi 50c, Tilts 25*.
FRECKLES 'BBS3BSKB