ERE stand we again on the

threshold of a new year; and in the dim twilight of its early dawn, not knowing what the said new year has in store for any one of us, we are all busily engaged in the exchange of congratulations. We have already said to one another "A happy new year" so many times, that we begin to cherish a vague belief that this year is destined to be a happier one than any that have gone before. Yet, wherefore these congratulations? Wherefore the merry chimes of these joy-bells, with which we greet the stranger who gives no sign of the errand on which he comes? Judging from the years which are past, wherefore these hopeful expecta

tions which we cherish in respect of this new year"? We know that this year will be, very largely, as those that are dead and gone; but, this notwithstanding, we have no heart to chide into silence the joyous utterances concerning it which, in our soberer moments, we feel to be exaggerated and unreasonable. It will do no harm to greet with our best wishes the "new-born child" of time, though clouds may be already casting their shadow on the young stranger. Let us then, before we say another word, wish one another "a happy new year;" and let us do this, remembering that the year-without overflowing with merriment and good fortune, having its full share of dark days as well as