St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-08-15
IN THE EIGHrIEs AND BEYOND.
A. B. VALENTINE, Commissioner

On the 9th OF August Lord Jenny
son reached his SOth year. On the
29th of the same month DR.. Holmes
will celebrate his tenth year n Dor
rowed time On the 18th ~ next
December Mr.. Gladstone will tell the
world that he enters upon his SOth
year. Mr.. Browning had the mis-
fortune to be born little late into
the world of heroes, being now only
II. Cardinal Manning reached his
S1st year on the 18th of this month.
Cardinal Newman is in his SSth
80 on the third of October; Mr..
Whittier will be 80 on the 18th Of
December; Bishop Hefele was so on
the 18th of1ast March; DR.. D9llin
gen is the patriarch of the lot, hav-
ing reached his Goth birthday on the
2Sth of last February. These men
may be characterized as an "old set;
they are 1.-The old boys" of the CEN
tury. DR.. D9llinger is the only one
who got into the world before the
century began, but not early enough
to know anything about it. In the
different ranks of life each one of
these men may be called representa-
tive, and has done notable work.
What is remarkable of each and all
is that not one is yet absolutely laid
on the shelf. DIR. D9llinger has as
keen an outlook upon the religious
and social life of Europe now as he
had fifty years ago. The two cardi-
nails, Newman and Manning, are
truly old men; but you cannot touch
an important matter in the common
life of the world to which Cardinal
Manning does not respond, nor has
the tender voice of humanity ceased
to find response in the heart of DR..
Newman Bishop Hefele is still one
of the strongest ecclesiastics in Eu-
rope. DR.. Holmes has not ceased to
sing his songs in modern herOics,
which commanded even the admira
ton of so severe a judge as the late
Edward FITZGERALD, and Mr.. Whit
tier touches as tender and true
note today as he did when the suffer
ings of the slave fired his brain and
kindled his heart Mr. Browning
struck as sharp note of Indignation
the other dav in defendino- the name.
of his lamented wife as he struck half
a century ago in some of his immor-
tallyrics Lord Tennyson, the great
silent laureate, whose reserves are
his inspirations, still commands the
severity and splendor of style which
distinguished his 'In Memoriam.
Mr.. Gladstone, the grand old man."
fairly rivals John Quincy Adams, the
''old man eloquent" in holding all
his faculties in easy command and at
full service Mr. Bancroft is report
ed to have ceased work, but has not
withdrawn as vet from the benigri-
ties of a delightful literary life. All
these men are good today for the
things in which they have been noted
for half century. What is the secret
of their perpetual youth, of their con-
tinued inspiration, of their unique
survival? How is it that man like
Mr.. Lowell can produce, after 70, a
poem which expresses the ripest
fruits of literary genius? What kind
of soils the life of these men nourish
ed in that it sustains mind and body
alike in perpetual vigor? Something
of the grea tness of human life is felt
in these careers, as it was felt by
those who knew Goethe in his old
age 1t was said of the late Sidney
Bartlett, who left us in his Goth year,
that he had seen man who had seen
one who had known one of the ven
cradle Pilgrims. One feels in spend
ing an hour in imagination with
these still living worthless as if the
traditions of the centuries had some
how been gathered into their careers,
and as if they had come down to us
snowy-bearded, like tradition itself,
from another generation. The first
part of this century brought into ex-
istence a great number of men who
have profoundly influenced American
and European life, and the few here
named are nearly all still living
among that glorious company
They command the reverence of the
English speaking people, and, diverse
as their lives have been, each and all
have lived with an open heart to-
ward God and humanity.-[ Boston
Herald.