Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-05-03
pails eagle
RETAIN YOUR YOUTH.
The Kind OF Life Which Makes
Men Happy and Contented
Blessed Be the Greenhorns," Observes
Lady Writer, and Those Who Read This
Essay Will Probably Agree with
Her-Men and Fossils.


Essay VIII Probably Agree with
Her-Men and Fossils.
Il may not be quite so wise as solomon"
remarked a man in my hearing the other
day, writes amber" IN the Chicago Tribune,
shut any body who expects TO get the best
of me will get badly leftln looked at the
speaker, at his shrewd eyes, with their ''all
ways at once manner of locking at
things: his mouth, pursed and puckered
like dried up pepper-pod; his smile, as
sharp and wintry as a frost sparkle, and
said in my heart: "Well, sir, would rather
be the biggest greenhorn that ever trod the
sod than be you!'
When man gets so wise that he has moth.
ing left to learn the best place for him is a
bookshelf. When he gets so cunning that
you can never catch him mapping the best
place Tor HIM is among the stuffed owls In
the National Museum. The world has no
need of fossils outode of caves and archBo-
logical collections. What dried-up channel
is to landscape, such, to the world he lives
In, is worldly-wise nature which has be-
come invulnerable to a sensation and
incapable Of a mistake or an enthu-
slasm. He has outgrown his chef charm
who has outgrown his freshness. He
attained unto state wherein he is unas-
sailable by the bunders to which other
men succumb. We DO not need such people
any more than full-moOned August night
needs signal lights. Better fail down once
IN awhile than get to be so ossified you
can't bend out Of the perpendicular. Perfec
ton IS all right in butter and eggs, but
man, to be a good comrade, wants enough
OF the lmperfectiOn OF human nature left in
him to render him capable Of an occasional
blunder. | would rather 1--we with the
Statue Of Liberty on Bedloe's Island than
attempt to dwell with a person who has
outlived the possibility of ever being
taken in" or has scared above the weak
ness Of once in awhile taking d leap without
knowing exactly where he is going to land.
Why, bless your heart, my dear, the man
who always looks before he jumps misses a
Iae tumble in the cloveri Children playing
together Ia the havmow would miss the best
elixir Of their sport if they measured every
distance and computed the safety of every
risk. And If, good part of it anyhow,
is nothing more than the venture of chill
dren romping in the dark A preternatu-
rally wise child and sharp man make poor
comrades in either play or WOE. What gives
70 childhood its first and greatest charm!
What more than its freshness aud capacity
&c enjoy delusion' When the child out
grows Its belief in Santa Claus and fairies
II ceases to have the nature of child. and
the wiser it gets and the further from the
humbuggeries of youth the more Of that
first divine freshness and innocence itIoses,
until it becomes, like too many Of Us older
ones, a withered stalk with neither dew nor
blossom left upon il. When we pray for
pure hearts let US add TO our pc
LitiOn that, in the grind and turmoil Of sor-
did living, we may preserve a little Of
the "greenness" Of hfe's springtime in our
nature. Keep US, good Lord, from too
much conceit in our own cunning. Help US
now and then to take the attitude Of little
children who have something to learn.
Make singing birds of Us ra-'ror than sly
old foxes; shrubs of living verdure rather
than dusty specimens niue LACED inside of a
herbarium. Half the people one meets are
only specimens. They are types. samples
in stock, any thing but individuals. They
have been brought up to b. co, formists,
and they a~e per ,'t'y con ent vi n their
labelling in tie conn as.v of ..e Great Alike
Usage plucks them -, IS a bojInlst
picks rose to classify lt rather than to en-
joy its beauty, and conformity is the mGsty
old herbariUm wherein they are pasted and
lettered for al time. Give me the weed
blowing in the meadow, wet b. showers
and shaken by storms, trodden under foot
by b. children and browsed by con-
tented Lerls, ratGtr L. . The finest speci-
men of fora that any scientist has in his
withered and dried collection. A green
leaf with sap in it is better for refreshment
than forest OF dead cedars.
Bless God, then, all you who retain enough
May-time in your hearts to keep you
green" late into the season. Blessed be
the young man or maiden, the elderly man
or matron, who, IN this age Of precocity
and progress, policy and nerve, retains
enough of the primal innocence 10 blush and
be abashed on suitable occasion, and are
not so wise IN their own concert but what
they may sometimes get the worst of bar
gain. The presence of such a person in
this shrewd and practical old world is as
welcome as the sight of . buttercup in the
alkah desert.
Rave you caught the promise in the air of
latea Do you realize that host of bright
spirits are on the way to take possession of
the landl The windfower in its downy
mantle, fiecked with rose, the daffodil with
its airy crown, the lilac with its purple
plume and Its hosts of violets to fill the
sunny spaces of the woods, all waiting at
the gates for the touch of springs crystal
key to fling WIDE the way and let them
through. How constant the seasons are.
April is never behind with her willows and
catkins, MAY never forgets her contracts
with the apple orchards, and June is never
late with her roses. The robin always ar
rives promptly, although he comes IN a
snow storm, and the bluebird tarries not in
uncertainty, but flashes his azure wing on
time along the misty hedgerows If human
friends were half as constant to the tryst Of
love as birds aud blossoms are 10 their sea-
son, this world would never need be ex-
changed for Heaven.
Soldering Copper Wire.