11: New Year's Edition
Attempting to relate thoughts from a century ago to now. Also: why your pets shouldn't attempt to cook a haggis.
Rochester Democrat-Chronicle, January 1, 1924.
A new year is here. As is my habit, I’ve flipped through newspapers from a century ago to see what wisdom editors wished to impart upon their readers as the calendar flipped over. Here’s what I found…
Daily British Whig (Kingston, Ontario), December 31, 1923.
Here’s one based around the business concept of taking stock and applying it to everyday life. If I took stock of 2023, it would be a rollercoaster ride that I’m glad to be off of (for the moment). There are steps I want to take to prevent the “further decay” hinted at here, from adding more business clients to finding new ways to enjoy the world around me/rediscover old interests/generally live my best, most honest life. One positive sign is that it finally feels like people are emerging from their COVID-era cocoons, so reviving old friendships and making new ones is a priority for 2024.
Buffalo Times, December 31, 1923.
This editorial can be divided into two parts as it relates to today, with the verse in the middle as the boundary. The first half contains the typical commentary about about the nature of time and the good feelings that usually kick off a New Year. The second half explores feelings about the state of America in 1924 that might make some present-day readers cry.
“A high and ennobling civic spirit pervades the land.”
One would like to imagine a year where those imbued with civic spirit might overtake the charlatans, the dividers, the fearmongers, the loudmouths, and the selfish over the next 12 months. And there were plenty of those troublesome forces around in 1924, as represented by the growing popularity of the KKK. One suspects 2024 may be crucial is seeing whether forms of rationality re-emerge to help (or at least attempt to alleviate) our various current crises or whether our darker impulses and wretched excuses for “leadership” triumph.
(Honestly, if you subsist on a media-fed diet of all-Trump/all-Poilievre/all-Ford all the time, find another newsletter to doomscroll subscribe to. You’ll have plenty of choice in that department. It’s not a healthy diet, says he who keeps dithering about dumping digital newspaper subscriptions for publications that I enjoy the non-headline content and archival access but find way too obsessed with the former president in ways that may not be helpful)
You may also note about the editorial writer’s belief in the strength of American institutions compared the turmoil elsewhere, then pause for a moment of silence.
Daily Mirror, December 31, 1923.
Maybe the general gloominess of the world and having to handle a few personal crises has, at times, made me lose sight of the good things that did happen over the past year, or do a better job of congratulating others when they have excellent news and accomplishments to share. And, perhaps, strive to show better examples to the 2023 equivalents of the contented baby in the final panel.
What’s New?
Two pieces marked the end of my publishing year for 2023. For TVO, I looked at holiday drinks Ontarians have enjoyed over the years, from innkeepers serving mulled wine to egg nog parties.
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My weekly quiz for the Toronto Star wound down in early 2023, but it made a comeback for New Year’s to look back at the events and names of the year gone by.
Curio Collection
Buffalo Express, January 1, 1924.
A front page cartoon with some resolutions from a century ago. For 2024, I would change the “dissatisfied farmer” to pretty much anyone, and add “America” to the drunkard’s coat. The motorist-pedestrian message would stay exactly the same.
Buffalo Times, December 31, 1923.
Despite the optimism expressed in this front page photo (is that really a smile, or as much as his October 1919 stroke allowed?), former US president Woodrow Wilson was not doing well as 1924 began. His health declined rapidly in January, and he would pass away on February 3, leaving William Howard Taft (then serving as chief justice of the Supreme Court) as the only living ex-president.
Daily Mirror, December 31, 1923.
Robbie Burns Day will soon be upon us, which also means haggis season (yum!). Here is some advice on how not to let your pets cook one.
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That’s it for now. Enjoy the new year!