Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1878-07-26
COLLAPSED MEN AND wo-
EEE.


What pity that, it'll advancing years,
life SO often loses its zesi and freshnessi
As the dew of youth exhales, away goes
the bounding joy and young enthusiasm,
a I'd the path grows dry and dusty. As
the brook in midsummer sinks among the
tie hedges, no more the silvery elee and
nuhbling laughter of girlhood and boyhood,
ihe shine and sparkle of the merry eye
rome out. the spirits dull and Tagging, ex-
s;ience tapering down, instead of the more
Astounding FIRE. The facial lines grow
hard, the lips are set. the motions nervous.
hirried. Poor Richards maxims written
OFT large on the whole demeanor. the
Du;chman's motto, MAY be if you have
no business here, = etc, placarded on every
tone and action. And when the DAYS
cares on shc street or farm are finished. the
leaden, inoping, silent atmosphere which
the fsihcr of The family creates. when he
bangs al the door and hangs up his hat,
aad shores his toes, with a gruff ..thank
soR into his slippers, and buiies his nose
il a newspaper Ii not exactly cantanker-
sas, yet moody soggy, bpnchy, irrespon-
slve. ike . fowl in melting time. Alas for
Old age when collapse begins in middle
isiel lis Ike crossing the Alps in Octo-
Ter the wrong way going Gcm Italian
sine5aris into thcSwiizerIan drifts.
ltnced net and ought not TO tie Sc. Life
IS indeed battle; responsibilities uiul;iply,
sAsork presses On every sue man and We
man, ard hard work, AGO; but it need not
.ske ont ef life i.sslseenaess and its relish,
sur need >ihst dull, malignant, dsril cars
dog us al the way, TO whip lis on like
horses in a tread-n1l. The hardest work
eys and The teSi are those who set their an
sd blows 10 songs. Collapse never corcs
legitiniaiely from the piiing-up Of work. re-
spcnsi5ihty. or care, hut from " oTf1ing from
low aims ignoble motives, frefIl dispose
ions. depressed faculties, and but one set
ct faculties, unrelievesl. untouched by finer
issues. There is but one room to live in.
and that the dingy agoTk-Toom of the base
ment. The upper Aoor, with nobler pros
I'ccis. fitted up by the Great Builder who
designed man for His own temple, are all
5ocked mp and the shutters closed. The
LEST faculties have been unused. the inner
and deeper sources of strength and joy
have never been discovered. The man or
woman has learned how to make money or
keep house in the same unvarying routine
Of daily tread-mill work, but never learned
-ttH ~ lcstAA, u ulillk- 10 cDSCTNc- 10 tCNe-
70 store the varioaas apartments of the
soul with precious things, to he rich in good
works. But, instead, personal talk TO feed |
the craving after knowledge, frivolity, and
mental incidence; for reading, whist; for
conversation, gossip; and, worst of all and |
nearest to collapse, moral Incidence, the
utter narowness and sel6shness of the life
that By saving itself is sure to lose itself
The iate Rev {. Il. Scars, in one of his
fliscourses, entitled Everlasting YOUTH"
suggested, among others, two simple con-
dihons OF keeping advancing life fresh and
green. Always to be learning something
quite the routine of daily work; always to
be learning something out and beyond the
circle of private and personal interest. Let
rs always be learning something about our
rally work which shall subordinate and
gioryfy it. Keep clear of the ruts. Don't
grow into the machinery Of your profession
TO be whirled around as one of the spokes
OF the driving-wheel And, above all,
don't live to yourself, so as while alive to
die spiritually, and become withered limb
Of society good for nothing but tn be cut
off and burneei in the contempt of social
oblivion.