The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-01-19
An Essay on an Old subJect--A High-

TFrom "Erer1b Sat,ndGy'--the .NeaO Weekly
pttbtshed by zFeknOr and F'elds, BoSton'l
The discovery Of a gray hair when
you are brushing out your whiskers OF
morning rst7fallen flake OF the com-
ing SHOWS of age-is disagreeable.
thing. So is the intimation from your
old friend and comrade that his eldest
daughter is about to be married: 80
ARE living twinges of the gout,. short
mess of breath on the hillside, the tact
that even the moderate use OF your
friends wines at dinner, upsets you.
These things are disagreeable because
they tell you that You are no longer
young.-that you have passed through
Youth, are now in middle age, and iar-
ing onward to the shadows in which,
somewhere, a grave, iSFhid. re-s ffzF,
I Thirty Is the age of the gods, and
the first gray hair informs you that
you are at least ten or twelve years Old
er than that, Apollo is never middle
aged, but you are - Olympus lies sever
al years behind you. You have lived
for more than half your natural term
and YOU know the road that lies before
YOU Is very different from that which
lies behind. You have yourself changed.
barely fecognize' the boy of nineteen
that once .wasI Hope sang on the sun
nv slope oflife's hill asyou assembled; she
is busily singing the6ld song in the ears
of a new genefation,-but you have
passed out of the reach of her voice.
Won have tried your strength you have
learned precisely what yon can do:
YOU have thrown the hammer so Of
Ten that you know to an uinch how
far YOU can throw it,-at least you
are a great fool if you do. not
The world, too has been king
on and has made up her mind about
ct. M vol 1aH On
as, an auctioneer ,appratses and values
an estate or the furniture of house.
HOnce YOU served EPrince sFlorizel and
wore three pile" but the brave days of
campaigning are over. What to you
are panZonets and love-songs htd The
mighty passion Is yap1d ana. second
hand. Cupid will never more hutter
rosiIy over your head at most he will
only. .flutter in an Inninsptted fashion
ovelthe head of your daug ghter-ln-lAwI
You have sailed round the, world, seen
all its wonders, and come home again.
and must, adorn your q dWelling as pest
yousc n with the rare things you have
picked up on. the way. AT lifeis table
You have tasted of every dish except
fhe Covered One, and of that you viii
haye.Your share by and by, The road
over which You are fatedi to march is
more than. half accomplished, and at
every onward stage the scenery as GER
due timethe twilighbwin fall. To you,
on your onward journey, there Will be
little to astoinsh, little to delight! The
Interpreter's House Is Behind where you
YOU first read the poets ), SO Is also the.
House Beautiful with the Three Dam
sells where you hrst learned 70 Ioye; .NSe;l
as you pass onward you are attended
by your henchman Memory, who may
be either the cheerfullest or gloomiest
ofcornpanions.l You have come up out
of the sweet smelling valeyTtlowers
you are now on the broken granite,
water courses and before you, striking
you full in the face, is the broad disk
Of the solitary setting sun.
One does not like to be an. old fogy,
| and still less perhaps does one ike 10
own to being one. You may remember
every company into which you entered;
and how It pleased you to think how
precociously clever you were, and how
opulent in. Time. You were introduce
ed to the great Mr.. Blank,-atj least
| twenty years older than yourself, and
greater you would be than Mr.. Blank
By the time you reached his age. But
| PLEASANT as it is to be the youngest
member of every company, that pleas
| ure does not last forever. AS years
pass on you do not quite develop into
1
generation makes its appearance and
| pushes YOU from your stool You
make the disagreeable discovery that
| there is n younger man. OF promise IN
| the world than even yout then the one
youngeriman becomes dozen younger
/ men. then younger men come flowing
| in like waves and before you know
| where you are, by this impertinent
Younger generation-fellows whoiwere
\ barely breeched when you won your
\ first fame-you are shouldered into
Old Fogydom, and your staid ways are
sco5ndreIs into, the bargain. There is
4 nothing more wonderful in youth than
this Wealth in Time. 1t is only a
! Rothschild who can indulge in the
1 amusement of tossingia soYereign to a
beggar. It is only q young man who
What are twenty. years TO a young fell
4 low'i of twenty? An ample air built
/ stage for his pomps and triumphal pro-
\ cessions, What are twenty years to a
middle-aged man of forty-fiye? The
falling ofthe curtain, the covering up
| of the empty boxes, the screwing out of
the gas, and the counting ofthe money
4 taken at the DOORS with the notion, per
haps. that the performance was rather
aipoor thing. 1t is with feeling Gu
/ riously compounded of pity and envy
/ that one listens to young men talking
4 ~
4 light their torches at the sun They
\ will regenerate, the worldl They will
Il abolish war and hRndin the Millenni-
l.unli What pictures they will paint I
i What poems they will writef One
| knows while one listens how 1t will all
Il end. Butit is Nature's way :she is al
4 ways sending on heFyoung generations
n full of hope. The Atlantic roller bursts
ilin harmless foam among the shiDgle
and drift-wood at your feet, but the
iI;hext, nothing daunted by the fate of IFS
N pred decessor, comes on with threatening
crest; as i ito carry everything before il.
land so 1t will be for ever and ever.
4 The world could not get on else, My
Il.experieuce is of use only to myself i
Ecannot bequeath it to my son as ! can
nv cash. Every human being must
.l.start untrammelled and work out the
H problem for himself. For a couple Of
thousand years now the preacher has
been crying out YdnitdS Vdnitatunl,
but no young man takes him at his
word. The blooming apple must CRATE
in the young mans teeth before he owns
that il is dust and ashes. Young peo-
pie will take nothing on hearsay. i
remember when a lad of Todd's Stu
dents Manual falling into my hands.
IL purused therein a solemn warning
lIagainst novel.reading. Nor did the
reverend compiler speak without au-
thority. He stated that he had read the
4 works of Fielding, Smollett, Sir Walter
Il Scott, American Cooper, James; and the
4 rest, and he laid his hand on his heart
and assured his young friends that in
l each of these works, even the best of
I them, were subtle snares and gilded
| bats for the souI. These books they
were adjured to avoid as they would a
pestf1ence, or a raging fire. 1t was this
/ aJarfninor massage in the TraTsaffautic