Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, January 1849Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, January 1849
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
A HAPPY NEW-YEAR.—Holding continual intercourse through the press with
so many thousands scattered over this country, and other countries, we
feel an enlarged sympathy with our fellow beings, and use suitable
occasions to give utterance to hopes and wishes in another form than
that of the essays, stories and poetry of the stated columns of this
Magazine. We set forth our humble “table,” and while we invite all to a
seat, we bid all welcome to the viands; nay, we make the little festival
with a particular and special view—to express to our readers our hearty
wishes for “a happy New-Year.” May they all be happy, all enjoy the year
upon which we now enter, all be freed from care and troublesome anxiety,
and all have enough for their own enjoyment and the gratification of
liberal feelings.
Now we are as sensible as any can be that the above wish is extended to
the readers of Graham—“And so we are selfish, sordid, can only wish
well to those who _do_ well to us.” That is the charge which will be
made by some good-natured body that has not had her feelings refined by
a constant perusal of this Magazine. She curls her thin lip in scorn at
our narrow feeling, and quotes scripture and poetry against the
contracted philanthropy which does good in such a limited circle. We
shall not quote scripture back to her, but content ourselves with a
simple remark that we adhere to our form of expression, and shall prove
it to be sufficiently inclusive for all the New-Year wishes which we are
bound to entertain and utter.
In the first place, we wish the readers of Graham a happy
New-Year—health, peace, comforts—rational enjoyment and pleasures that
will please on reflection.
Can peace, comfort and enjoyment be had by the readers of this Magazine,
when those who are related with them are deprived of such
gratifications? Should we not offend by gross injustice if we should
imagine the readers of Graham capable of high enjoyments when others
were in distress? How numerous and extensive are the ramifications of
social life! Not a blow is struck on the remote verge of society but
some sympathetic nerve carries it to the
heart—friend—relative—associate—give interest to events; and such
links in the chain of social existence bind man to man, and make of
human society one common body. We wish you happy! then wealth, health,
peace and quiet to all with whom you stand related. Can you be happy and
your brother, your friend, your relative miserable? It is not possible.
And when we wish a happy New Year to the thirty or forty thousand who
take, and the four hundred thousand who read Graham, we wish a general
happiness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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