TH11 WISCONSIN FARMER.

      J. W. HOYT,                : : :                             EDITOR.



VOL. 7V. A_ D.O                           JA N _UR _Y 1 1
VOL. XV.                      MADISON, JANUARY 1, 1863.



No. 1.



  The New Year and Some of its Suggestions.
  The world has passed another milestone on
the great highway of life, and to-day is strid-
ing forward, as ever, into the realms of the
Unknown. The Past is forever gone, but its
events have found ineffaceable record. Will it
not be wisdom in us to turn to that record-
particularly to that portion of it which has
been made since the opening of the year just
departed-and so inform and strengthen our-
selves for the duties and privileges of tha Fu-



           Tiff, INDIVIDUAL SOUL.
  This holy of holies-the soul's innermost-
who shall venture to invade the sanctity of its
precincts? Not we: for we have learned that
the soul is its own better high priest. But will
it minister there as it ought ? Ah ! that is a
question which every pure and noble human
soul, and every superior intelligence of the
Upper World asks and repeats evermore. Nay,
it is a question in which the Great Father him-
self is more interested than in all else that
pertains to this planet. Why ? Because upon
it hangs the present and future happiness of
each individual, the welfare of communities
and nations, the progress of the race.
  Reader, dare to be honest with yourself this
day, and so prove your kinship with the good
and true of all ages. Light anew the lamp of
conscience and let its intensest rays search out
the most obscure places of the heart. If with-
in the temple dedicated by God to Truth, Jus-
tice and the highest Purity, the base represent-
atives of Fraud and Taint have been allowed,
drive them forth in the might of summoned



God's Angel at the door, with sword of fire!
  The life of man is full of glorious possibili-
ties; but the period allotted for their fulfill-
ment is brief at the longest. A single year is
so quickly gone, and yet it is no small fraction
of the whole. Oh, think of what growth you
are to make in order to the fullness of intel-
lectual, moral and social stature which should
be yours ere the coming of the end. The way
is open to you-the bright and shining way,
that leads to the attainment of a beautiful and
noble selfhood, such as shall be rejoiced in by



man and approved by Cod.
                 SOCIETY.
  We are each our brother's keeper, and no
circumstance of life can absolve us from obli-
gation to our neighbor. Has the past been as
rich in good will and charitable deeds as it
should have been? A man's benevolence is
the measure of his life. If narrow and selfish,
it is inevitable that he be a miserable dwarf,
spiritually and socially. If broad and gener-
ous, seeking the good of others and deriving
his.happiness therefrom, it is just as inevitable
that he Aevelop into a great and noble man-
hood.
  The soul is a sacred entity, and he who by
willful neglect or misdirection stints or cripples
it, commits a most fearful crime, not only
against the soul itself, but also against society
and against God. There are a thousand ways
in which it is possible to contribute to the ele-
vation, progress and happiness of those about
us, and so help to make society what it was
designed to be-a beautiful and harmonious
association of individuals, each aiming at the



grace and of heroic aspirations, and then place



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I-;



I greatest good of the whole. Let us see if we