THE NEW YEAR.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 84, 10 January 1885, Page 4

THE NEW YEAR.

BY KATE THORN.

Thb trade in diaries is active. Everybody makes good resolutions, and notes them down in a diary, in their very best hand-writing, with the pauses all properly put in. "Jan. Ist, 18S4.— A fine day. Resolved not to smoke, drink, or chew for the space of one year. Not to speak cross to Mary Ann, though Mary Ann is dreadfully aggravating at times. Must pay back that money I cheated out of Sam Smith in the horse trade. Buy no new clothes until debts are paid. Black own boots. Must reduce expenses. No soda this year. Try to keep temper when wife asks for money. Not btay out at clubs later than ten o'clock. Lodge night get home at eleven. Not to swear if the steak is underdone. Not to look butcher-knives and daggers if the coffee is too sweet. Not to kick wife's cat when she makes her bed in best coat. Not to throw bootjack at Simpson's dog, To give £1 to missons," etc., etc. At the end of the year the individual who has made and recorded all these good resolutions will be amused to look over the list, and he can count on the fingers of one hand those he has kept, and not make use of his thumb in computation. The new year holds out flattering promises. What glorious possibilities may lie hidden within the next twelve months ! What wonderful things may happen before another first of January shall roll round ! We ail look for "something better than we have known." "• Next year," says the busy merchant, as he lifts his aching eyes from the long rows of figures, which represent to him the profit and loss of his business — " next year I will take a longer vacation. Next year I shall be better situated to enjoy life than I am at present. Next year I shall have more time forpleasure." The new year sees the world in gala iress. The cities put their best foot forward and the shop windows glow and glitter with holiday goods. The remote recesses of the earth are ransacked for novelties to please the eye of man and tempt the money out of his pocket. The animal, and vegetable, and mineral king- \ dom all contribute. It is a treat to walk I the streets of a large town and look at the display. Everybody likes to do it, from the wife of the millionaire who has but to sign her name to a cheque to seeui'© anything out of I the stock she may fancy, to the poor sewing girl who counts her money by pennies, and who could not afford to buy the very meanest thing in all those splendid windows without economising in the bread, which constitutes her daily food. The new year brings in bills. A good many of them, too. And they are always larger than you expect. And you always go over them carefully, thinking the tradesman must have made a mistake. £nd you always find, to your sorrow, that every detail is painfully correct. Your wife wants a new cloak. Bridget wants an increase of wages. All your boys want sleds, and skates, and comforters. All your grown-up girls want pianos, or to take lessons in painting. Your grocer tells you that apples are dreadfully scaroe, and eggs impossible to get. The milkman's well gives out, and consequently milk is higher. The women hunt the stores for bargains on the things " marked down." You button your new diary securely within your breast-pocket, and go forth to wrestle with the world, and keep your good resolutions, and if you succeed in keeping half of them, you are a braver man than the average.