Happy New Year from Salem, Massachusetts 1848

 

From the Salem Observer, Salem, Massachusetts, January 1, 1848

"THE NEW YEAR

We have once more, as the stereotyped phrase goes, "arrived safely at the commencement of another year."  The planet to which it is our fortune to appertain, has again wheeled its course around the Sun without accident or incident of any kind.  -  We have neither joggled against the vagrant comets which have been seen wandering about in space, nor have fallen out with any of those fixed and respectable bodies which are addicted to more "steady habits."  Hence we have the satisfaction of believing, as we greet the New Year, that "Old Mother Earth" is still a welcome visitant of the starry Host.

While we have gone on thus smoothly with our celestial neighbors, things amongst ourselves have been less unruffled.  The past year has been signalized by many events which have "shed disastrous eclipse upon the nations."  The great famine in Ireland and on the Continent is an event which will be remembered with grief for ages. The commercial distress abroad, the many wars and much bloodshed, and especially our own war with Mexico, can never be forgotten.  Add to these and other public evils, the countless private sorrows, from which, unhappily, no year is free, and we have a picture of the Old Year mournful to look upon. But the picture is false unless it presents cheerful lights also.  The past year has not been without its happy events.  Amongst these may be mentioned the accession to the papal throne of a liberal Pope, (the discovery of Chloroform?), the abolition of Slavery in Algiers, and the spread of generous ideas, liberal principles, and the spirit of humanity, which we cannot but beieve has taken place.  Take it all in all, the past year has doubless afford its full share of blessings.  We cannot expect "Heaven to weep rubies in a crimson shower," but must be satisfied with a fair sprinkling of precious experiences.  

Retrospections are apt to be dull, but anticipations are hopeful and cheering.  We have henceforth to do with the New Year - "the young spark who came of age this morning."  The Old Year may be decrepid and morose but the New Year is sprightly and happy.  He, at least, is no lugubrous old fellow, cutting and slashing on every side with his lean and hungry scythe, but rather a "tentie seesman," scattering the germs of hope and promise with liberal hand.  That many of these seeds may fall upon your lands, dear reader, and find no barren but a fruitful soil, is our earnest desire. In what more hearty way could we wish you a Happy New Year? " 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy New Year from Salem, Massachusetts 1848", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 1, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/01/happy-new-year-from-salem-massachusetts.html: accessed [access date]).