It’s time  to once again take a look back at North Baldwin County’s Gilded Age by revisiting the news from The Baldwin Times of yesteryear.

This week is dominated by the celebration of New Year’s Day as the calendar turns to 1896.

Kicking of The Times’ celebration on the front page is “The New Year,” a poem by Ernest McGuffey that compares the new year to a beautiful woman making a grand arrival, as exemplified in this excerpt:

“For her the dawn’s pale buds of light

Are ‘round her pathway thrown,

As like a banner in the fight

The night is backward blown,

And dims afar the last lone star

As on her chariot goes,

While in the east the later streaks

Grow ruddy as a rose.”

The next front-page entry takes a light hearted look at the New Year’s Day tradition of making resolutions with the illustrated story, “One that was Broken,” by Ellis Parker Butler. It details a man from Iowa taking his Christmas and New Year’s break from work to head to Canada to visit a former coworker. While on this visit, the man meets his friend’s attractive cousin, a young woman who is in the process of seeking employment.

As the visit goes on, the Iowan falls in love with the woman, who appears to reciprocating. Then one day, she gets a letter, after which she announces to her aunt that she is engaged. Upon hearing this, the Iowa man leaves the room and doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Instead, he heads to his bedroom and writes the following New Year;s resolution: To remain a bachelor for the rest of his life.

But at dinner, the Iowan is seated next to the object of his affection. So he decides to congratulate her on the engagement and proceeds to ask who the lucky fellow is. She then realizes his mistake and says she is engaged in the position of stenographer.

It doesn’t take long for things to fall into place, and the man abruptly tears up his resolution. Two days later, the two are married.

This next holiday entry, “New Year’s Day,” by William Rossen Cobbe, depicts poetic anticipation of what 1896 would bring.

“Pity for him who cannot see in the dawn of the new year the light of better things,” an excerpt states. “What hour so glad and bright as that which paints the eastern sky crimson and gold and that is filled with songs of birds, inspired of the pure air and the fresh sun-kissed light? The matin-time of 1896 is come, and all who will may hear the angel voice of Hope whisper benisons that shall be inspiration to renewed courage in the putting aside of things that hinder the onward march to better living.”

Returning to a light-hearted look at the holiday is “A Happy New Year, by Elisa Armstrong. The story is set on New Year’s Day with two young ladies, Emily and Lucy, chatting while filling fresh pressed flowers and leaves into books. Their conversation led to recent holiday gatherings and the agreement that they were both glad not to “be jealous like Jessie.”

Shortly afterward, each girl gets a box of flowers with  note reading, “Happy New Year’s Day,” from the other’s fiance. This leads to a spat, which is followed by the delivery boy returning and saying he had mixed the cards up.

“What a funny joke,” Emily said. “Lucky we are not jealous like Jessie.”

For the second week in a row, Bernard Bigsby’s serial, “Won at Last,” ceases to be placed on the front page of the weathered publication. However, the saga does continue with Mr. Woodgrove returning to Buffalo and singing the praises of his niece’s new governess, Elsie Whitford, to his wife. In the process, he in vain offers to try setting her up with Frank Grey.

Chapter 16, “Draining the Cup of Sorrow,” opens back in Oreton with a poster heralding a $1,000 reward for the still-missing 5-year-old son of Jack Wilders.

The scene then moves to the Wilders’ home, where Susan Green, who is reported to be the last person to see the boy, is summoned for Jack to once again give a recount of what happened. While she tells of a walk in the woods and the boy running up ahead and just disappearing without a trace, it’s also pointed out that she is among those who falsely testified against Frank Grey at the trial claiming he behaved inappropriately as a school master with his then student, Elsie Whitford.

The scene then moves to the mother of Elsie, who, despite her shortcomings, is very concerned about the Wilders boy. So she goes to visit a fortune teller about the matter.

While she is gone, her seedy brother and the equally seedy Mr. Dodd discuss Dodd’s plans to skip town. But Dodd drugs his confidante and steals his money before heading out.

However, while making his get-away with a sleigh driven by a team of horses, Dodd finds the trip to be a bumpy and tricky one. The installment closes with Dodd cracking his whip, which startles the horses and makes them run wildly down a steep incline.

Although 19th century North Baldwin County residents had nothing like the Internet, they had sufficient means of gaining information. Evidence of this is an advertisement for the World Almanac and Encyclopedia, which boasts 584 pages filled with 1,500 topics — all for 25 cents.

“Tells everything you want to know when you want to know it,” the ad states.

Check back next week for another look at The Baldwin Times of yesteryear.