The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-11-03
YOUTH AND MATURITY.

THERE IL Il certain cvcn-handcd JUS
ticc; and for what he takes away, he
gives us something in return. He robs
us of elasticity of limb and spirit, and
in its place he brings tranquility and
rcpoSc-the mild autumnal weather OF
the soul. He takes away hope, but he
gives us memory. And the settled I'M
huctuating atmosphere of middle age
is no bad change for the stormful emo
tions, the passionate cries and suspenses
of the earlier day. The constitutional
melancholy Of the middle-aged man is
a dim background on which the pale
flowers Of life are brought out in the
tondcrest relief.
Youth is the time for action, middle
age for thought. In youth we hurried.
ly crop the hcrbage; in middle age, in
II sheltered place, we chew the rumina.
| tive cud. In youth, red-handed, red.
ankled, with songs and shouting, we
gather in the grapes; in middle age,
under our own tig-tree, or in quiet gos
| sip with q friend, we drink the wine
free of all turbid lees. Youth is lyri.
cal poet; middle age is a quiet cssayist,
| fond of rccounting experiences and Of
|appending u moral TO every incident
| In youth the world il strange and unfa.
miliar, novel and exciting, everything
wears the face and garb of q stranger
in middle ago the world is covered
with rcminisccnce ~ with q garment
it is made hOmely with usage, and il
is made sacred with graves.
The middle-aged man can go nowhere
without treading the mark Of his own
footsteps. And in middle age, too
provided the man has been q good and
ordinarily happy onc-along with his
mental tranquility there comes a corrc-
spending swcetpess of the moral atmos-
phore. lie has seen the good and evil
there is in the world, the ups and downs:
the almost general desire of the men
and women therein to do tho right
thing if they could but SEQ h0w-and he
has learned to be ounCensoriouS, humane
toaattributc the best motives to every
action, and to be chary of imputing a
sweeping and cruel blame. lie has q
quiet smile for vaingIorious boasts q
feeling of respect for the shabby-gcnteel
virtue 5s3e,p ,pity for thrcadbare garments
RropdlyWoSr, and for tho napleSs hat
glazed intS'fnoro than pristine brillian-
cy from frequent brushing after rain.
IlS@guld SfbS$atiric.l for the world.
He has no fiagtA of scorn to point at
anything undesTthe sun. He has a
hearty "sAmcn" for every good wish,
ana in the worse cases ho leans to YER
diet of not proven./
And along with this pleasant bland
.ndss.apd charity, a oertahn grave, seri-
TSiSshumor, "a smile on the lip, and a
tAarip the eye" is noticeable frequently
irWnfldlc aged personssra phase of hu-
md peculiar to fhatAReriSS,o of life, as
theSrySantheluum t9v Pccepfber. Pity
lies at ahe bottom of it, just rs pity
lslies, upshs hspected, at the bottom OF love-
lPerhahs fhis is . special quality of hui
Tnor, wthNts sadness and tenderness,
It's mirth with the heart-acho, its gayety
t2,rown out OF deepest seriousness, like &
l,erocus on child's graveAAnever ap
| preaching closer to a perfection than il
Isomc passages of Mr.. Hawthorne
writings, who was a middle-aged man
from earliest boyhood. And although
middle-aged persons have lost the ac
ltual possession OF youth, yet in virtue
Fof this youth they comprehend it, sec
all around it, enter imaginatively into
every sweet and bitter of it. They
wear the key of memory at their CIR
dies, and they can open every door in
tho chamber of youth.