1914-12-31add

As readers of the Hamilton Spectator, during the afternoon of the last day of 1914, spread out their newspaper, an items which would have drawn much attention was a poem submitted by Hamiltonian John Stephen.

Entitled “The Auld Year” the poem was an anything but warm, nostalgic farewell to the year 1914:
          “O year that passeth on thy way

   Into the frozen wastes of night:

Ere ebbs the soul of dying day,

   O leave with some ling’ring light!

O year of tumult and of blood,

   That saw turb’d force grind forth in spate

And swash along in swirling flood,

   O take away these times of hate!

The year is passing. Ah! The strife!

   Can we the riddle read aright?

Have all the glories of our life

   Shriveled, shrunk to one word – fight !

The broken door, the gaping wall

   Stand black against  the spotless snow;

Poor shelter where the wounded crawl;

   Where laughter rang one year ago!

O stealthy robber of the home,

   That glides away beyond our ken,

Leaves altars rent ‘neath shattered dome;

   Give back, give back our hearts again! “¹

¹ “The Auld Year”

Hamilton Spectator.  December 31, 1914.

It would be a very different New Year’s Eve as 1914 turned into 1915 in Hamilton.

As described in the Spectator, there was a radically different atmosphere in Hamilton than there was just one year before:

“Hamilton will not bid goodbye to the old year with as much hilarity as usual this evening, owing to the fact that out of respect to the brave men who are fighting the battles of the Empire in Belgium and France they should ring out the old and ring in the new in a quiet manner.

“That is the reason why the watch-night services in the various churches will be better patronized than usual.

“It is many years since Canadians have had to bid farewell to a year that was so full of strife and unhappiness as 1914 has been.”²

² “Good-Bye Old Year : Hamilton Will Welcome in the New One Tonight.”

Hamilton Spectator.   December 31, 1914

However, there would still be some New Year’s Eve celebrations in various parts of the city.

For example the Savoy Theatre on Merrick street scheduled a late show, to start at 11:40, and which would be interrupted briefly at the stroke of midnight. The advance sales of tickets for that show indicated that it was to be well-attended.

Also there were to be many celebrations in private residences:

“Several house dances are also on the program for this evening, and the year 1915 will be ushered in with all the gaiety and pomp that could be expected under the conditions.”²