Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1868-04-01

now TO SECURE A HAPPY OLD AGE.
BY REV, HENRY WARD BgscHER.

Old age is distant port, for which the
whole human race start, aud toward which
they steer. Every other one perishes be-
fore he ever leaves the tarbor. Should
every other ship 60 down before reaching
the lightship off the harbor of New York,
it would represent the human race, enc
half Of which dies in Infancy.
OF the other half, at least half again
pcrishcs before reaching the age Ct forty
five. If we say that beyond the age of
sixty, one may be called an old mau, pro
badly not quarter of the human race
ever reaches old age, The fact that the
average of adult life is placed at thirty
years, or at thrty-thiee, is itself a tos-
timony on this subject most remarkable,
Men do not on an average live one half
of their days Eighty years is fair
term of life Under coed conditions, and
with proper care, the race Of men, com.
prehcnsiyc,y regarded, do not live forty
years. One-haf of life is thrown away
in every generation. The enormous de-
probation upon and waste of wealth power
and CT happiness. not to say anything Of
virturc and morality, are worthy Of the
consideration Of political economists.
Men have right to old age. il is a
part of the allotment of life, and it be-
longs to every one. Men are defrsudcd
if they DO not possess it. They get SO
much less than belongs to the patrimony
which God has provided for them Some
tunes meh are deprived of it by the sins
Of their parents or thoir ancestors This
transmissivc law, by which children are
punished for the sins ef their parents, is
silent is not sonorous. aud yet is more
august aud dreadful that was Sinai when
all in flames.
Many children come into life. and the
experienced eye pIonounces it impossible
for them to live many years. Parents
weep at the strange providence aud mys-
terious dealings of God, when there is
neither strangeness nor mystery in it.
Thousands and thousands arc born who
have q right in life, whose hold upon it is
so brittle that the first wind shakes them
and they fall like untimely figs. Some
are destroyed by accident, or in the dis
charge of duties which call them to SAC
rifcc their life to the common veal. The
greatest number, however, are deprived
Of good old age by their own ignorance
or by their own misconduct. Those that
reach old age often find that it is a land
Of sorrow. Such is the spec aclc that We
|, witness in maqy instances, that it is not
strange that one desires not 10 grow old.
, One breads to see gray hairs in poverty,
in beggary, dependent upon charity
, which is inconstaut as the tides. One
sh.iuks from old age when it is full Of
pain, crippled, shruuk, helpless, hopeless
and needless; and still moro when the
reason wanes, and childhood is the gentle
phrase with which We cover up imbecili.
ty
Now old age was not Designed to te
mournful, but beautiful. Old age is pait
ef a,scheme in life which is divine and
beautiful from beginning to end. 1t is the
climax of symphony which is beautiful
in its inception, rolling ou grandly, and
terminating in beauty and pleasure. 1t
is harmonious and admirable, according
!: to the scheme Of nature. The charms oil
infancy /, the hope and spring Of youth,
the yigor and frutfulhess of maturer
manhood, the serenity, and Tranquil wis.,
dom, and peace Of old age-all these to-
gethcr constitute true human life. with
lis beginning. middle, and end, glorious
! epic The end Of summer ID even more
glorious than summer Itself or than its
beginning in spripg October is, beyond
all comparison, the GROWING Of The year.
And the word Of inspiration saith "lhe
} boaiy head is crown Of glory. if it le
found in the way of righteousness" While
a sturdy old man who has corrupted his
heart, and fills his life with vices, is a
hidcous spectacle so, on the other hand,
pure heart aud sweet Dature; and gencr-
Gus and charitable SOUL walking among
the young aud among the busy, mildly
manifcsting what are the fruits of true
pieiy, is at once blessing and an encour.
agemcnt There is nothing more bcauti-
ful than rene, virtuous, happy old
ace Aud such an old age belongs to
: every individual'slife, IL he only knows
how to get it-how to build il. Now
every one of us-but those fret who are
beginning in life--arc aiming at old age ;
and propose to put before you some con-
siderations which shall direct your seri-
GUS attention to the methods Of attain.
ling serene and bappy old age