The Grant County herald. (Big Stone City, Grant County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1883, 1880-07-10
The Yesterdays.

Ever since the days Of the Wise Man
OF All. q great deal Of breath has been ex-
pended in talking TO the young about the
waste Of their time, as if it were possible
TO drill anything OF the sort into their
minds until II comes 10 them by the les
sons Of experience. You may tell them,
and they may know it bv mere role and
routine, that two from three leaves one,
out they d. rat know II as q fact ot con-
sciousness Til they have learAed it
through the visible and sensible abstrac-
tiCn 6 two objects from taIee II their
owr hands. =
r. tie yoaag, hte se-ms Ike ne opl.
pour 81 aa iA.xdausaae spring flowing
INTO 4 bounslless sea. Should the sprn..,,
by a4y possibility faii, there is yer th.,
sea toGra~ ifoM. IAev aa not rEallae'
hat tie saa S N tie diu confines % the
aife IL e#me, and thti tnlv IT. waters of
the running river ted ay tiat sffsng arc
theirs. There seems 10 then 10 be 80
mreE ,ila", = gauu6ess 4 flt1rc that
.here is o. harry ahoat anything sj.e
their pleasure anu they may pause -
shcH thiet errand to run aitcs everv bat
teEt1y, Sc re ii me pcrpetuitT Of tAc sun
ny season. And III ~ once, ~ iHey eeese
tAe chase and look about them, = IS 20
longer morning, but high noon. and very
lucky indeed are they if they have no.
chased butterflies to a pelnt beyond htgn
noon, and where the afternoon shadows
begin 10 gather.
AS "a rule youth is SO fuH Of vitality,
| SO elastic and 50 buoyant, that the mo-
ments 20 lightly on the wings Of the
swiftly succeeding thoughts and actions.
1t is only the unhealthy young-un-
healthy morally or mentally, or placed in
unhealthy circumstances-w ind any
need Of using the process known as Kill
ing time, that Thoreau inlpaled on the
point OF his pen when he sald, "As il one
could Kill time without inurlng eterul-
ty.'
For the most OF US, alas time Kills II
self all too soon We hu, lust think Of
this subject to be studied, OF this art 10
be accom- plished, Of this pleasure TO be
enjoyed, Of this work to pe achieved in
fact, Just learn how to enjoy and be con-
scious that we are enjoying, we but Just
learn how delightful times is--and time
is gone. We have been dallylng with
youth and al the sweet properties Of
youth, and suddenly the lock Of hair tha.
blows before our eyes Is gray.
And what Of that, one might say. Sl.-
yer is as beautiful as god; white is as
strong and good in It's way as black o.
yellow But the truth is that that silve,
IS the insignia of the frost OF the grave,
and the gold was the emblem OF vitality
and pulsatlon; and as one replaces the
other we are tain TO know that the wind
| which blows from the undiscovered Coun-
try is breathing IN our face.
It IS not that the gold departs from
the hair or the bloom from the cheek in
itself tAat gives Us though, but the
knowledge Of a meaning aehine the fact,
that the vital energy departs with them
and that force which sends us along the
| paths OF life as the stars are sent in then
courses. AND it is not by degrees, but
! usually all at once. that we are made
aware OF our loss-loss, 100, Of something
| more than the round beauty Of early
years, and all the pleasures that belonged
to them, the loss Of the interests OF that
| period. We no longer live in them: w
| look back on them. We remember how
sweet those pleasures and interests were
the bitterness is that tney are no
| longer sweet, and that We do not care
whether they are sweet or not; that we
have ceased TO value them. 70 tahe
deligh, in them, to long to- them
and that we know that while We
once teit We could nor I've without them
we now neither reseh forward Io. CSC.