, 1860-03-06
Growing Old, aud Coming Down.
EFmrn FtaseTs Masa1tne.]

:. Most people ind it painful to come down In
the matter Of growing old Most men and wo
men cling, as long as may be, to the belief that
they are still quite young: or at Least not 90
ussy oid. Let u3 respect ne eilnSlng 70 youth;
is al t;ntonseiota testimony to the depth end
universally OF the conviction that, rs time goes
on, we are leaving behind US the more guiteless,
innocent, nad imprcssiouable season OF our life.
We feel little ayMpalby, indeed, for the silly old
woman Nho aiecls The airs and Cruces Of girl
ct sesenteca; who makss her s aausnters at a.
quite grown up; aud who renders herself ride
uIous in low dresses aud d capless head when
her head is half bald and her shoulders ike
IN uncooked plucked fowl Thst is down.
right oHensite and reroltipgt And to
see such an individual surrounded BY a
circle of young 1ads to whom she is talking in
buoyapt and flirting manner, is as melancholy
m exhibition of human folly as can anywhere
be seen. But it Is quite different th!cy when
man or woman, thoughtful, earnest and pious,
sits dorm and muses. at the sight of the frat
gray hairs. Hero is the slight shadow, VIC
think, Of certain great event which is to come;
here is the earliest touch of o chill hand which
cay; VIC hare begun to die. And no worthy
human being will pretend that this is other than
a very solemn thought. And We look buck a.
well rs forward; how short time since We
were little children, and kind hands smcothcd
down the locks now growing scanty and gray !!
You cannot recognize in the glass, when sou see
the caEeworr, n1ioua face, the smooth features
Of the careless child. You feel you mu-t come
down; you arc young 10 more. Yet you know
what shifts people seek in this respect to avoid
coming down. We postpone, year after year,
the point at which people cease to be young
We arc pleased when We hear people talking Of
men obove thirty as young men. Once, indeed,
Sir Robert Peel spoke Of Lord Derby ut forty
five IS man tin the buoyancy Of youth"
Many men Of tire.and.forty would feel . secret
elatlon ut tbs words thus employed. The
present writer wants good deal yet Of being
half way yet he remembers how much obliged
he felt to Mr.. Dickens for describing Tom
Pinch, in Martin Chuzz'ewit," Tia an adver-
tis.ment 10 be put in the Tim<s,) as " a respect
able young mao. aged thirty-6ye: You reuaem-
ber how Sir Bulrer .Lytton, as he has himself
grown older, b.. made the heroes of his novels
grow older par; s7ssn. Many years ago his TO
mantle heroes were lads Of twenty; now they
arc always sentimental men Of fifty. And in
all this VIC can trace q natural conviction Of the
intellect, as well rs the na1urs disinclnation il,
suy respect to eozre down. For youth, With all
better thing than age, with all its e1.
periencc; and thus to grow old is re-
garded as coming down. And there
is something very touch'ng, something to
be respected and sympathised with by all people
in the yigor Of life. in the fashion in which men
who have come down 50 fur as 10 admit that
they have grown old, refuse to give up By ad.
mit,ing that they ere past their work, and in.
deed persist in maintaining, after fifty years in
the church or thirty on the bench, TINT thcy are
as strong ns ever. Let us reverence Tue old
man. Let us help him in bis determination not
to give up. Let Us Tighten his burden when we
can do so, and then give him credit for bearing
| it all himself. Ifihefe be one respect in which
it is especially interesting and respectable when
man refuses to gre up at any price, and in.
deed is most unwilling to cbme down, it il in
the regard Of useful, honest labor in the service
| Of God and man. Sometimes the uuwil!iugncss
to come down in any degree is amusing, md
almost provoking. l remember once, coming
down a long fight Of steps from q railway
church, who had served it for more than sixty
years, coming down with difficulty, and cling
| ing to the railing. Now, what ought to huye
done was, to remain out Of his yiew, and to see
| be got safely tlnwn without making him aware
that>I was watching him. But hastily wen'
up to him and brfged him to take my arm. al
the stair was 70 slippery and STEEP. think
| assure you,' he replied, my friend, am quite
as able to walk down the steps alone as yor
are:"
Apart from the more digniGed regrets whict
accompany the coming down Of growing old
| there arc petty Notifications which vain people
will feel as they are Obliged to come down il
their views as to their personal appearance. 4!
u mans hair falls OF, as he grows unwield',
| stout, as he comes to blow like porpoise il
ascending hill, as~his voice cracks when Il,
tries to sing, he is obliged step by step to con,'
| down. 1hcartily despisc the contemptiblc crea
| ture who refuses to con,e down when nature
bids him : who dyes his huir aud his moustacIe
| h ftrn cfn II r,n1l ri