New Year's Eve 1896, New Year's Day 1897 (Pt.1)

“The custom of lighting up the whole house on New Year’s eve so that not a nook or corner in any room remains in shadow is an appropriate one. It leaves no spot for the least show of gloom or sadness even in one’s thoughts and aids in the introduction of the new year in a spirit of joyousness and gladness.”

Hamilton Spectator.   January 02, 1897.

Thursday, December 31, 1896 it was not unusual for people walking along Hamilton’s residential streets to see house after house brightly lit as the hour of midnight approached.

The Spectator reporter assigned the task of covering the exit of 1896 and the entry of 1897 expressed bewilderment at how people react to those events:

“It is a rather sad commentary on the past of the great majority that they welcome with a great a joyous shout the new year and farewell the old without a regret or a longing backward look at some goodness of other days in their lives.

“There are a few people – a very few – who hate to give up the old year because their backward look shows so many bright spots of their lives that may never come back again. And there are others, timid, who shrink from the new, not knowing whether its gift to them may be sorrow or joy. These, too, would rather cling to the old.

“But it needs all sorts of characters to make a world.”¹

¹ “Welcome to Young 1897 : And Incidentally a Howling Farewell to Old 1896”

Hamilton Spectator.  January 2, 1897.

There were many, many club or organizational events for Hamiltonians to attend on New Year’s Eve, 1896. One of interest received full coverage in the Spectator :

“The members of the Hamilton Bicycle club passed the last hours of the old year pleasantly at their club rooms, where a musical soiree and assault-at-arms was given. The rooms were crowded by the jolly bicyclists and their friends, and the affair was like everything the club attempts.

“The musical portion of the program consisted of songs by Harry Bull, H. N. Thomas, W. Sweeney and others. Recitations were given by W. Symington and F. Tobias, and John Hackett showed his versatility by dancing a Highland fling, and Irish jig and a skirt dance. The pipes were played by Sandy McGregor. E. Pearce and W. S. Hemphill played the accompaniments for the singers.

While the musical soiree was first class, the members got more solid fun out of the boxing bouts. R. B. Harris was master of ceremonies. The first set-to was between F. H. Skerrett and T. Allen, who boxed four rounds. The former had a shade the best of it.

“The Wood brothers gave an interesting six-round bout. Although Frank is shorter than his brother, he is exceedingly clever, and held his own, the last round being decidedly warm.

The feature of the evening was a burlesque bout between George Taylor and little Tommy Jones. It was a battle between the long and short, and the little fellow got the worst of it. He needed a step ladder to reach Taylor. The bout was exceedingly funny, the antics of the pair throwing the boys into fits of laughter.

“A report of the affair would be incomplete without a reference to the refreshments, which were served in abundance in an adjoining room.

“The proceedings terminated when the bells were ringing out the old year and ushering in 1897.”¹

¹ “With the Bicyclists : How the Wheelmen Wound Up the Old Year”

Hamilton Spectator.   January 2, 1897.

It was concluded that 1897 was ushered in in Hamilton pretty much the same way that the arrival of a new year had been observed in the city for many years:

“There were the good people in the churches, the bad people in the saloons and people, both good and bad, on the streets.

“Everybody’s interest was centered on the clocks, and when the midnight hour boomed out, there were the same old noises everywhere. Giant firecrackers, tin horns, a bugle band, the Salvation army and a hundred and one other causes disturbed the usual quiet hour in all parts of the city.

“At the Palace roller skating rink, a large crowd wheeled till after midnight, in many halls many people danced the year away. Others drank to its death, and in one way or another, the great mass of the people were in at both death and birth.”¹

 

                      (To Be Continued)