The Russellville Democrat., 1889-07-11
HApPINEss oE rHE oLo.
They Are Beyond Selfishness and Have
 Forgotten Envy.


 Forgotten Envy.
 The old are also notoriously strong in matters of judgment, even though their knees be weak. What so pleasur- able as to sit in the seat Of a censor? Is a man ever too old sfor the bench2 The longevity and the haleness of our more considerable lawyers are con viEcing testimony for the advantage ousncss of their position. But every old man stands towards the commuu- fly at large like a judge toward his criminals. Each year broadens his horizon extends his pleasure and his pe~time Melhaselah was man im- mcu-c.y to be envied. What varied lore. what an endless series of gradu- a,ej pictures he must have stored within him as the centuries passed and left him high and dry among his pigmy iallow-menl
 Nothing is easier 1t may be said, than to east together the evils which commonly wait upon old age and thereby to prove that it Is absurd to suppose that happiness can exist in the midst of them. Ot course nothing is easier than to catalogue these pos sib'a a0'ictions but, on the other hand. I contend with my betters. that happiness, cUntentment. or what you please 10 call the "summum bonum' We strive for, is quite independent of these aflictions. Tho prudent person, when old. expects to be tried in this way. He is prepared, and that is hali the battle Nor must it be forgotten that even as his energies have waned with his increase of years so also has his body changed into a condition well suited to bear physical trials which in his youth would have been iusuffera- bic. As a stripling he grumoled with out ceasiug when a toothache or a spraincd ankle kept him within doors {; as an octogena rian the chair to which he Is confined a good many hours of the day Is 10 him by far the most com fortable place in all the world; nor would he exchange it for the Pope throne, fl the throne were only to be won by a journey to Rome.
 But to return to the moral aspect of the matter Is it not d fact that a good mans goodness increases as he grows older2 There is nothing in the world more venerable than good old man or woman. Surely that is much, for are not respect and affection just the two things for which we fight hardest during the fighting part of our career? And they may be acquired without effort.
 1t is only older people. after all, who are quite unselfsh, and feel the greatest pleasure ip witnessing the happiness of others Miss Thackeray was right when she wrote this. IL constitutes the keenest joy of reverend old age; a joy to which the wild intox- icants, which in youth we call pleas ures, are as nothing at all. 1t is almost impossible. made as We are, for the young 10 be disinterestedly happy in the happiness of others. Envy and jealousy are ever on the alert to mar such a divine possibility. But the old are dOuoly gladdened Dy the Vlsl- ble joy Of others. They are generous enough to rejoice because others are profted. And this is not cynicism- they often also find cause to congratu- late themselves that their own snug tranquility is not in peril Of being dis turbed by the like boisterous agents of felicity.
 It is for their pence and resignation that I most admire the old. They have attained Nirvana. The worlds game, confessedly not an amazing one, is known to them. They are on the heights Of Pisgah, whereas we are warning on the plain, or grooming in the valleys about the tedium of our days. All the Year Round.