The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-12-03
Growing Old Gracefully
BY MRS. MARY E. NEALY.

| There is much said and written upoI
| the subject of growing old Il is though
| to be difficult matter to give in to the
\ march of time-to see our forms change
| from their suppleness and grace, oul
| eyes grow dim, our cheeks lose the rose!
| OF youth, while the frosts of age settle
upon cur raven locks. And, if we think
| altogether of self, it is hard lesson tC
learn. None of US change much in feel
ing, and we cannot see why time should
so rapidly make US old. We see oul
mates grow gray without thinking of our
selves. We see our babes grow up into
young ladies" and gentlemen" see
them married and their children rapidly
growing up. and still we feel very much
the same. | think if had still remained
single, with no new tendrils reaching out
about me, it would have been difficult
thing 10 learn that l was really growing
old
But here are my children-no longer
children, but men and women-and
(shall say itO my grandchildren, too
all about me; and it seems easy enough
to know and feel that l am really grow
ing old. 1t is as natural as anything can
be, and | cannot feel the regrets that are
felt by many, for the years have all
brought their blessings, and | do not feel
fire and passion of youth are gone, there
are new and beautiful links in the chain
of affection, increasing with the years,
until | seem to be far richer in love than
when the roses blossomed upon my
cheeks. | love more and more deeply
every year the beautiful earth with its
stars and clouds, its mountains and riv-
ers, its trees and flowers. | love society
more: / am more lenient to others,
more charitable toward their faults,
more ready to laud their virtues; and l
have a wider and grander view of rell,
gion and of the loving kindness of our
Father. And so the years bring me
compensation for my youth. l enjoy my
grown-up girls and boys much more than
1 enjoyed my babies: The visions of
youth are Utopian. We expect too much
of human nature, and are of course dis
appointed. Consequently we are obliged
to let ourselves downward upon the lad
der of experience. This takes ten years
at least of early manhood and woman
hood So that we are really past thirty
before we learn the true philosophy of
living, which is to make the very best of
everything and everybody. to look upon
the brightest side, for the dark side will
come to us whether we will or not. So
now ! enjoy my children: 1 enter into
their pleasures and amusements, and
forget for the time that l am not one of
them in years as well as in feeling; and
in this way l make the days more enjoy
able to them as well as to myself. Thus
we are kept in constant sympathy with
each other, and their memories of
"home" will be far different from those
of my own. They listen more cheerfully
and attentively to my advice, KNOWN G
Io4 fo4 Il l. L.,
joys and sorrows mine; and | am all the
younger in spirit for the association.
Perhaps l lose little in dignity, but l
gain all the more in affection. And we
cannot afford in so short life to ex-
change love for a stilted shadow. Moth
ing else is worth the trouble of winning.
Wealth fees ina night. Fame is diff
cult to reach, and most unsatisfying to
the heart. True affection grows deeper
with age, and brightens the pathway
through the shadows of death. And
think if the angel of youth could come to
me to-day and offer to restore it's spring
skies and blossoms, and to take all that
the years have brought me, l should pre-
fer to keep my years and my blessings.
Dr. Holmes illustrates this feeling with
his inimitable pen in "The Old Man
Dreams" 1
"Oh, for one hour of youthful joy
Give back my twentieth springi
I'd rather laugh bright-haired boy
Than reign gray-beard king.
"Of with the wrinlzled spoils of agei
Away with learning's crownI
Tear out life's wIsdom-written page,
And dash its trophies down
"One moment let my life blood stream
From boyhood's fount of flame!
Give me one giddy, reeling dream
VI life, all love and fame!
''My listening angel heard the prayer,
And calmly smiling, said:
IF but touch thy silvered hair
Thy hastY wish hath sped.
"sBut is there nothing in thy track
To bid thee fOndly stay,
While the swift seasons hurry back
To find the wished-for days.?
"Ah, truest soul of woman kind!
Without thee what were life?
One bliss cannot leave behind:
I'll take-my-precious-w1fe
''The angel took sapphire pen
And wrote in rainbow dew:
THE man would be a boy again,
And be a husband too!
And is there nothing vet unsaid
Before the change appears?
Remember, all their gifts have fled
With those dissolving years?
"Why, yes: for memory would recall
My fond paternal joys; sta....
III take-my-girls-and-b
"The smiling angel dropped his pen
why, this will never do;
The man would be a boy again
And be a father, toop
"And so Ilaughed-my laughter woke
The household with its noise
And wrote my dream when morning broke
/ To please the gray-haired boys"
Age always gives weight to our opin
ions and respect to our advice.
sob, let us have him; for his silver hairs
Will purchase us good opinion,
And buy mems voices to commend our deeds
1t shall be said his judgment ruled our hands,
Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear
But all be buried in our gravity"
Those men or women alone are shun
ned in age who selfshly grieve over thei1
lost youth, and, growing bitter in theil
selfishness, envy the pleasure they car
no longer enjoy. Armstrong describes
| a genial old man thus
Though old, he still retained
His manly sense and energy of mind.
| He still remembered that he once 1OaS young.
| His easy presence checked no decent joy"
And our own Bryant writes:
"Why grieve that time has brought SO soon
| The sober age of manhood on?
| As idly should weep at noon
To see the blush of morning gone"
The saddest effects of age, I think, are
seen in those who are ashamed of being
old. This is the very essence of all weak
ness. The years soiH tell their own. story
l have known many women, and some
men, who guarded their age as a sacred
secret within their own bosoms, as if i
were a crime to acknowledge it. l can
| not understand tbiS faalipU TT 7 war;