The hydraulic press. (North San Juan, Nev. Co., Cal.) 1858-18??, 1858-11-06
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Old Age.

and the general truth of his reproach-
full observation I might once have
admitted. But the experience of
later years has rendered me sceptical
IN this regard. The wrinkles and
the gray hairs are so often brought
by sin, or at least by what we call
sin, and the possessors of these re- :
vered indications of graveward.tend-
ing steps so seldom possess with them
the digni6ed self-respect by which
they should be accompanied, that
may we'll be pardoned for dissenting
from the popular belief. The popu>
lar mind retains legacy of dogmatic
proverbs, which was bcqueathed to
it BY the ignorant ancestral "wisdom"
Of nobody knows how many centuries
ago, and which is almost impregnable
to the attacks of truth by reason Of
its very antiquity. Hence men see
their gray-haired elders exceed them
in all manner of wickedness; they
see them grow more selfish and ex-
acting in proportion as they need more
to receive and are less able to give !;
they see them also magnifying their
self-importance, impertinently obtru-
ding their egotism upon forbearing
respect, and haughtily claiming for
musty prejudices and narrow views
the attention due to wisdom ; they
see them physically impotent and
mentally in their dotage, casting the
long. dark, gloomy shadow Of their
evening upon the lovely morning ob-
jects-the beautiful youth around
them yet they still magnanimously
reiterate: "Old age is lovely :"
Why is it lovely? Surely, that which
is quick and strong in man-which
prompts him rapidly to conceive and
powerfully to execute-agility with
grace, and strength without brutality,
this, in the man physical, is love-
illness and in the man mental and
moral, an honest heart, unhardened
by sordidness, frank guileless dis
position, soul large enough to en-
terrain another image than its owners,
an intellect capable of reasoning and
not forever blinded by egotism.-
Without these qualities man is an un-
lovely object at any age Now old
age lacks many, sometimes all of
these. 1t has lost the beauty of it's
lusty morning, the glory of its noon
day prime I; intercourse with strug-
Cling mammon- W orshipers in the court
of trade has made it sordid, until the
rim of a dollar has become the cir =.
conference of its world ; the fires Of
the intellect, once shining in the bold
glancing eye, are dim and fading.
and the shadow of death already
darkens its presence, reminding US of
the tomb. Hence old age is not
lovely, but pitiable. As we'll admire
the blasted tree, lifting its melancholy
column of decay amidst the gay YER
dure of youthful forests.
Yet there Is an old age that is
lovely; an old age of benevolence
and universal love, when the declining
sun of long life beams tenderly and
beautifully upon the objects around
it, setting finally in such glory as
makes its departure lamented and
leaves behind it amber tints of lin
gering remembrance.
These is an old age, amongst many
women and few men, in which all
the best qualities Of youth seem to
be, not embalmed, but powerfully re-
juvenated, unalloyed by baseness Of
any kind. The old uncle, or the sill
YER headed grandfather, tho old mai
den aunt-curses on him who mocks
her i-or tho venerable grand mother
whose heart beats to the music of
youthful footsteps; these save the
ancient saying from tie stigma of utter
falsity; their latter days are full Of
blessings to all but themselves, per-
haps, and their memory fingers on
earth long after their departure. But
these were lovely in youth.
Oh, vain 1t is to expect the hard
heart of early years to soften, the
vicious inclinations of youth to become
aspirations after virtue, long career
Of iniquity to terminate in righteous
old age. A whole existence of NAM
non-worship, of selfish neglect Of all
human claims, of forgetfulness Of
nature, of blind veering over the sea
of life without the guiding helm of