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VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, DECEMBER 25, 1909.
NO. 52
Written tor the Indiana Farmer:
NEW YEAR'S.
By  Grace  Eby.
"Toll ye the church-bell sad and slow
And  tread  softly  and  speak  low
For the old year lies a-dying."
Christmas day, the Annunciation,
Easter, and the first day of March have
all at different times, shared with the
first day of January, the honor of opening the new year. In the fifth century,
when the  25th of Decern- —
ber became universally
celebrated as Christ's
birthday, the first day of
January was also placed
on the church's calendar as a holiday. But it
was not until the middle
of the eighteenth century
that the seventh day after
Christmas was legally declared the inaugural day
of the new year. The
Romans dedicated that
day and       the en
suing month to their god
Janus, who had two faces
looking in opposite directions, and henoe that season was to be retrospective as well as prospective. Gifts and greetings
were exchanged, and the
time given up to festivity.
The church forbade
Christians indulging in
merriment, and commanded them to spend
the day in prayerful meditation and reading the
Scriptures. Thus it is
that the modern new
year's day is both religious and festive in its
character. The Jews celebrate their new year at
the beginning of the =====
month of Tisri. (For this next year
5657, they will celebrate new year's
day on the 8th of September).
It has always been the custom for
the people among the northern nations
to see the old year out and the new
year in; but few seem to think of the
solemnity of the occasion. The tendency of the mind is toward merriment
and jollity, and the fact that another
year has been subtracted from the sum
of life is recognized by a comparatively
small number. Charles Lamb said:
"Of all sounds of all bells, most solemn
and touching is the peal which rings
out the  old  year."
Just as there cluster about Christmas
many quaint, beautiful legends and
customs, so there are many stories told
of what used to be done at New Year's
in the olden time. The custom of giving gifts at the commencement of the
new year originated among the Romans. The Druids are said to have cut
the sacred mistletoe at the beginning
of their new year, and to have distributed it to the people.
Among the Chinese the celebration is
continued for three days, and is the
greatest festival of the year. All debts
are paid, and the less prosperous
tradesmen who can not do so are often
compelled to give up all their property
to their creditors. Calls are made,
gifts exchanged, paper prayers are offered in the temples and the merriment    which    extends    throughout the
rest of Christendom is manifest in the
land of the Chinaman. When pins
were invented, about the beginning of
the 16th century they were very acceptable and valuable New Years' gifts
to women. Often a sufficient amount
of money for the purchase of a pin
would be given, and from this old New
Year's custom arose the expression
"pin money." Long ago in England
the head of the household summoned
his family on New Year's eve in the
great   hall,   where   they     partook     of
His rousing call; no sounds but
sounds  of joy
Salute  the  year—the  first-foot's  entering step,
That sudden on the floor is welcome
heard,
Ere the  blushing maids have braided up their hair;
The laugh, the hearty kiss, the good
New Year
Pronounced with honest warmth. In
village,   grange
And   borough   town,   the  streaming
THE GRAND CHAMPION CARLOT.
Shown by Keays and Oglesby of Illinois at the International  1909.
numerous refreshments and enjoyed
one another's festivities. It was another custom of the same country for
a young man to go to the house of his
sweetheart at midnight, and it was his
liberty to kiss the woman who opened
the door. Of course, the lover always expected his sweetheart to answer
his knock, and much laughter was
aroused when a sedate spinster aunt,
or a bent and wrinkled grandmother
opened the door to the embarrassed
youth.
The   spirit  of  the   words     of  Omar
Khayyam:
"Now the  New  Year  reviving  old
Desires
The  thoughtful   Soul   to   Solitude
retires"
is shown by many persons who truly
use the New Year's season to look
backward and forward. The elder
sister Year, with her basket filled with
faded roses, bundles of broken promises, bottle of tears and many other sad
souvenirs, welcomes her younger sister Year, who comes dropping her
fresh roses everywhere.
"Long ere the lingering dawn of that
blithe  morn
Which ushers in the year, the roosting  cock
Flapping his wings, repeats his
'Iarum shrill,
But on that morn no busy flail obeys
flagon,   borne
From   house   to   house,   excites   the
poor man's breast
And makes him feel that life has still
its joys."
DISPOSING OF RUBBISH.
Editors  Indiana Farmer:
What to do with the old rubbish is
often a perplexing problem. Rubbish
of all sorts, such as old worn-out machinery, old tin cans, broken window
panes and glassware of various sorts,
broken crockery and dishes, old shoes,
etc., will accumulate around all premises slowly but surely, and in time will
make a considerable pile. Such stuff
is always a nuisance to have around
and yet often one does not know how
— to dispose of it. Old machinery and tools can be
broken up and the pieces
of wood converted Into
fuel and the metal parts
sold for junk, if worthless. Old shoes can be
burned.
As for the tincans and
glassware, about the only
thing to do with this stuff
is to haul it to some unused corner of the farm,
or else dig a deep hole
and bury lt. The latter
method is probably the
better way of solving the
problem, as the rubbish
is then out of the way for
all time, while if it is
piled in some corner of
the farm it will probably
be in the way of someone
at some time.
If there is an abandoned well on the farm,    this
makes  an  excellent  place
in  which  to     throw    the
rubbish,   thereby    disposing of it and at the same
time the    well    is    being
filled  up.        The  old well
must not be too near the
dwelling   house,   for   then
stagnant water in it may
prove a source of disease
==        germs.       A     good     cover
should be placed over lt In order that
there may be no danger of stock getting into it. P-
ALL   STEEL  PASSENGER   COACHES
FOR THE ROCK ISLAND.
An additional safeguard in railway
travel has been provided in the all steel
passenger car. After many years of
planning and building cars are now being made that will reduce to a minimum the chance of passenger coaches
being telescoped or destroyed by fire.
The flrst delivery on an order for all
steel passenger coaches placed by Rock
Island lines has just been received,
and many of the thru trains
have       been       equipped. The   cars
have a seating capacity of eighty
the seats are handsomely upholstered
in green plush, having high backs, and
the arm rests are of Mexican mahogany, as are also the window trimmings.
Double windows are provided, and just
above, a pane of prismatic glass. Lavatory facilities are ample, fittings being of white porcelain and the walls
enameled in white. Cars are vestibu-
led and brilliantly lighted by means of
thirty-three sixteen-candle power incandescent lamps, so arranged as to
throw an even light over all. Garland
ventilators insure a complete change of
air every few minutes.
SILOS AND SILAGE.
The Indiana Agricultural Experiment
Station has shown that dry fodder
loses 25 to 35 per cent of its nutrition,
as compared with corn silage in feeding. That ought to commend the silage method of saving the corn fodder
to any one. If one was losing that
large a per cent in handling his wheat,
corn, or other cereals, he would certainly change his methods to something
better when shown to him. This is the
plain truth about fodder and corn silage, and such facts ought to make any
one feeding live stock take notice. We
are glad to know that more silos were
put to use this year than in any previous year, and there is plenty of room
for doubling the number each year
for many years to come. There is the
more reason for this now that feed
stuff is so high in price, and likely to
stay so.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson is
authoritively quoted as saying that if
every distillery and brewery In the United States were to close and never use
another bushel of grain in the manufacture of Intoxicating liquors, the A-
merican farmers iis a class wouldn't
know it as far as the effect would show
itself on the markets for grain.