NEW YEAR 



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NEW YEAR 



Other large industrial establishments are saw 

 and shingle mills, box factories, machine shops, 

 car shops, creameries, a fruit cannery, shipbuild- 

 ing yards and munitions factories. 



Conspicuous features of the city are the pub- 

 lic hospital, erected at a cost of $200,000; the 

 high school, the Carnegie Public Library and 

 the Westminster Trust block. As the capital of 

 the electoral district of the same name, it has 

 the government buildings, including the court- 

 house and the Indian and fisheries office. A 

 penitentiary and provincial asylum for the in- 

 sane are also located in the city. 



New Westminster was founded in 1859, and 

 until 1866, when the colony of Vancouver Is- 

 land was joined to British Columbia, it was the 

 capital of the colony on the mainland. It was 

 named by Queen Victoria in honor of the an- 

 cient city of Westminster, now considered a 

 part of London. Thus it doubly deserves the 

 popular name, the Royal City, which is given 

 to it. It was incorporated as a city in 1872, 

 and remained the largest settlement on the 

 mainland of British Columbia until the rapid 

 growth of Vancouver, founded in 1885, deprived 

 it of this honor. In 1898 New Westminster 

 suffered from a fire which destroyed the busi- 

 ness district. W.B. 



NEW YEAR, the first day of the calendar 

 year, celebrated in all civilized countries by re- 

 ligious observances, often preceded or followed 

 by festivities. The custom widely prevailed 

 even among the earliest of the ancient nations. 

 The Chinese, the Egyptians, the Jews, the Ro- 

 mans and the Mohammedans, though observ- 

 ing different days as the commencement of the 

 year, all marked them with elaborate cere- 

 monies. In ancient Rome, where the year be- 

 gan in March, the day was sacred to Janus, 

 whose two faces were typical of the attitude 

 of the people toward a day which gave cause 

 for reflection on the past and thought for the 

 future. Presents were exchanged, and during 

 the Empire the custom of giving to the em- 

 peror became so general that the entire popu- 

 lace brought presents and wished him good for- 

 tune. The former simple branches of bay and 

 palm gave way to elaborate and costly presents. 



Among the Druids, the priests cut down 

 branches of the sacred mistletoe on New Year's 

 Day, March 10 in their calendar. After this 

 ceremony they feasted and offered sacrifices. 

 The Christian Church from the beginning has 

 observed the first day of the year. The early 

 fathers forbade any festivities, because of their 

 pagan associations, but these prohibitions were 



New Year's Program 



Ring out the old, ring in the new, 

 Ring, happy bells, across the snow ; 

 The year is going, let him go ; 

 Ring out the false, ring in the true. 



Tennyson. 



Song, The New Year Tennyson 



Threshhold oj the New Year Selected 



(From Poetry oj the Seasons) 

 Essay, On Good Resolutions 

 Original Exercise, Dialogue between the 



Old Year and the New 



Song, Excelsior Longfellow 



Essay, Looking Forward 



Farewell to the Old Year Doudney 



(From Poetry oj the Seasons) 



Skating Wordsworth 



Song, Jingle Bells 



Original Exercise, The Messages of the 



Months 



Quotations Selected 



Tableaux representing historical events 



of January (see page bl!2) 

 Song, America 



eventually ignored. Christmas Day, Easter 

 Day, March 1 and March 25, the Feast of An- 

 nunciation, have all been celebrated at various 

 times and in various countries as the opening of 

 the new year, and it is only since the sixteenth 

 century, when the Gregorian Calendar was 

 adopted, that January 1 has become generally 

 recognized as New Year's Day. In Russia, 

 Greece, and the other countries which retain 

 the Julian Calendar, New Year's Day is twelve 

 days later, on January 13. In many countries, 

 especially in Scotland and Germany, New 

 Year's Day is the occasion of visits, congratu- 

 lations and wishes for success and happiness. 



Formerly in the United States New Year's 

 Day was a day set apart for formal calls, but 

 the custom has declined greatly. 



