Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

36
A HIGHLAND PARISH.
every new day ? and are we not as ignorant of
what a new day as of what a new year may bring
forth ? There is nothing in nature to make this
day in itself more worthy of attention than any
other. The sun rises and sets on it as on other
days, and the sea ebbs and flows. Some come into
the world and some leave it, as they did yesterday
and will do to-morrow. On what day may not one
say, ‘ I am a year older than I was this day last
year?’ Still I must own that the first of the year
speaks to me in a more commanding and serious
language than any other common day; and
the great clock of time, which announced the
first hour of this year, did not strike unnoticed
by us.
“ The sound was too loud to be unheard, and
too solemn to pass away unheeded. 'Non obtusa
adeogestamuspectora Poeni! We in the manse did
not mark the day by any unreasonable merriment.
We were alone, and did eat and drink wTith our
usual innocent and cheerful moderation. I began
the year by gathering all in the house and on the
glebe to prayer. Our souls were stirred up to bless
and to praise the Lord : for what more reasonable,