Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-21
GROWING OLD.
The Experiences of ssOld Wilson" at
the Theatre.
Row Mem and Women Meet the
Enemy, Time - The Brave
Fight That Women Make.

Gertrude Garrison in New York World.
How unlike women do men meet the enemy,
age! The first time a man notices that the
years are mastering him he is slightly sur
prised, but it never enters his mind to under
take to dodge old Father Time or to keep him
at respectable distance He doesn't run up
and down stairs as he once did. He grunl-
bles as he gets ready to go to the theatre, and
declares he would rather stay at home. He
wishes his wife were not always wanting to
"gad somewhere" He avoids crowds and
begins to illuminate against night suppers.
These changes of taste and habit come upon
him so gradually that he never wonders at
their appearance or thinks about what
causes them.
One night he is at the theatre, and before
the curtain rises he is entertained in his indo-
lence by the chatter of two youthful ships
who sit just in front of him. They are exu-
berant as to spirits, empty-headed and long
tongued. They look at everything from the
decided standpoint of extreme youth and
mental shallowness Their comments amuse
the man behind them and he smiles half in
pity for his own sad knowledge of life. Sud
denly he hears his own name mentioned
and is startled by the strange
ness of it, It is the younger of the
gabbers who refer to him, and the reference
is surprising. The man of 40 hears himself
spoken of by the boy of II as ''Old Wilson,"
or whatever may be his surname.
The little three-lettered adjective fallsup
him like hundred pound weight of astonish-
ment. "Old Wilson," he repeats over and
over to. himself; trying to get accustomed
to the queerness of the unfattering appella-
ton. Sitting there in the blaze Of the lights,
with the throng of play-goers about him and
the music filling the air with sentiment, he
loses himself in "reminiscences of his youth,
which he never before dreamed had slipped
away from him.
He does not hear the overture or see the
curtain rise. He is away in the primrose
spring, young again. He is retracing those
forty years in memory. He is trying to
think when he first noticed lines upon his face
and silverin his hair. He is looking at'him-
self mentally to see if he really is old. He
thinks of it as he goes home, and that evening
becomes to him forever afterward the
milestone which marks the boundary
of his youth. He may have been
old to others before, but never I'M
til then was he old to himself. He cannot
think Of it for long time without a sudden d.
sinking Of the heart. Strangely enough, he
accepts the charge Of being old withouta dis
putatious word or thought. Never once does
he say: ooh, infdel, mistakel Oh, pagan.
no such thingr'
The next time he finds himself protesting
against some little plan for recreation which
he once delighted in he thinks of himself
in his character of "Old Wilson," laughs
gravely and says, little sadly, that he be-
ieves he is getting old. From that time he
speaks of it often and without violence to
his feeling. He drops into older ways quite
submissively and loosens his gripa little upon
the world. He does not resume the usurpa-
lions of age. He submits because it is his
destiny and because his religion and his phil
osophy both teach him that it is folly to fight
the inevitable. But he never sits in a the
atre again that he does not experience anew
that sudden sinking of the heart that fol-
lowed hearing himself called old.
A woman, if she has any interest in life at
all, fences with time and manages to keep a
little ahead of the years. Oldness never takes
her by surprise as it does a man. She knows
that "the foewaits for her down at the end
of life" She knows, too, that he is sure to
send on his messengers to keep her appraised
of the day he will claim her, and she meets
and streaks in her hair; in loss of color and
disappearance of elasticity of movement and
fairness of outline. She is on the watch for
them and she grasses their tracks with the
marvellous cunning of her sex.
At the first intimation that time is pencil
ling her face she throws a dash more of
youthfulness into her attire, and if possible,
little more sweetness into her smile, and
70 oII
cillings. For a, while she laughs at, the au-
dacity of the wretch, as Love is said to laugh
at locksmiths.
She sits in the theatre and notices the fair,
young faces here and there, and knows that
Time is closing in or her, but shethinks to
to cheat him by assuming ignorance of
his power and his intentions. She indulges
in no spoken "reminiscences, ceases to
date her stories and begins to associate more
with women good deal younger than her.
self When the crows feet become noticea-
BILE she resorts to a mask veil which comes
just to the tip of her nose and takes atleast
five years from her record. a little later
and she makes her hat defy the thrus5s Of the
enemy by jauntier poise than ever. She
fights the foe openly, cheats him
with her cherished articles, contests
every step he takes and scorns
him always. She never admits his mas
terry, as men do. The theology of the toilet
tells her to resist age and he will fee This
is doctrine she faithfully lives up to. When
she feels the weight of years upon her she
affects not to know that Time, the allde-
vourer, is going to be the victor, after all.
Just as bravely does she fight him as though
there was hope that she would win the
day. When she can no longer defy him ut
terly she yields grimly to his dictation,
though she never acknowledges his mastery.
Anti-Ch0iera Rules.