Yes, Peter Parley's Almanac-and why not? Why may not he, who is at this moment as much alive as he ever was, make an Almanac, as well as Mr. This and Mr. That, who, though they have slept quietly in their graves for half a century, still appear in the titlepages of the Almanacs, of 1835, 6, and so on? 66 But there are too many Almanacs already; there is the Farmer's Almanac, the Comic Almanac, the Housekeeper's Almanac, the Christian Almanac, the Temperance Almanac, the Churchman's Almanac, the Health Almanac, the American Almanac, and now comes Peter Parley's Almanac! True but if every other class of persons has an Almanac, why shall the Young not have one of their own? Shall they alone, be cast out from the privilege of reading the stars? Shall they alone not be permitted to unravel the mysteries of the sun, the moon, and the planets? Shall they -they who have just entered upon time, and who have the deepest interest in the glorious machinery which is measuring out day and night to the universe, shall they alone, be brought up to let the Orbs roll on, unheeded, unstudied, and unknown? Shall the young not have their Almanac, and be early taught its use, its meaning? Shall not they be permitted-shall they not be encouraged to mark the lapse of time; to study the movements of the heavenly bodies; to observe the weather; to note the recurrence of anniversaries? Nay, shall they not participate in the pleasure which may be gathered from the anecdotes, the conundrums, the jokes, which we Almanac-makers sprinkle over our pages? |