The morning call., 1891-08-23
THE BEAUTIFUL
DECLINE OF LIFE.
Two Direct Answers to The Question,
Is Life Worth LiVing?"
The Best Part of Life Should Be in Front Of
the Man CT Forty, but Some Men at That
Age Have Left It Behind Them.

Age Have Left It Behind Them.
Is life worth living? Some would reply
that depends. 1t is not, strictly speaking.
worth living Ii its premature decline finds
the human being in the mental attitude of
the second individual described by New
York Observer writer, who says of still
another:
She was an old lady with an unfashion-
able bonnet and plain dress. Her face
was wrinkled, her hair gray and her
shoulders had a stOOp in them. yet it rested
one to look at her, she seemed so peaceful
and happy.
1.-THE decline Of life is coming to me just
beautiful" she was saying as the train
came to station, and / leaned forward a
little to catch her words. 81 used to dread
so to be old and wrinkled. Now here am
Just on my seventy-first birthday. and yet l
am perfectly well. full of enthusiasm and
having such good times"
did not doubt that she was having good
times-her face betrayed that.
What are you enthusiastic about?" l
asked presently.
''Oh, the work." she answered brightly :;
there's the church work and the mission
airy work, and best of all. the temperance
work. l love them all and hope / shall live
to be hundred years old and be able to
work all the while"
The brakeman called out my station just
then and l gathered up my packages to
change ears. the old lady nodding me a
bright good-by as | went out.
In the next train fell into conversation
with man somewhere in the thrties.
Young, handsome, fashionably dres> ed. he
had the appearance Of being perfectly well.
with many more avenues of enjoyment and
many more years to live than the old lady
had just left.
Presently our conversation touched upon
the effect OF the use of tobacco upon health.
:" Do you really think it is injurious?" he
asked.
Yes, physically, think it is as bad as
the use of alcohol" l answered.
well, l have used 1t ever since l was a
boy. can't see that it has hurt me much
yet"
:" 1t is an insidious enemy Its poisonous
ehect may be creeping upon you even if you
do not feel or see it."
| had bit of heart trouble asst summer,
and when consulted my family doctor he
laid 1t to tobacco. Indeed lie told me he
would give me just six years to live if l did
not quit the use of it,"
And you still smoker"
Yes. every day. l don't quite believe
what the doctor said. but if he is right six
years is long enough to live now. I've seen
the world. have had all the pleasure that's
to be gotten out of life. I've no children,
my wife is an invalid and will not live
long anyway. society is an empty show, re-
llgion is fraud, and work is a bore. 1t
won't pay to give up something l like and
enjoy just now for the sake OF few more
years of it all.
Then l thought of the old lady, with her
full life, going gently down her beautiful
decline to the river that to her would be
n in IN hot of f,,f
busy world, and this handsome young man.
with his empty life, nearing his dreadful
precipice.
Neither could safely reckon on more tn an
six years of life. and death was far more
likely to come without warning to the young
man than 10 the old lady. Yet he was in
different. Refusing to look ahead he was
reckless as to what came afterward, so long
as his present enjoyment was not interfered
with The old lady was full of enthusiasm
over life, even though her faith gave her as
surance OF another life larger and sweeter
than this.
The old lady was Interested in the prog
ress this grand old world is making toward
the millennium. She saw ahead large
schemes for the betterment Of maukin
thusiasm Of her whole soul. To her. life
was grand, full of noble possibilities, and
filled to the brim with enjoyment Her life
was large and rich and sweet.
The young man saw nothing worth living
for beyond a momentary ana fleeing enjoy
meDt OF the flesh. To smoke until the SEN
sibilities were dull, aud nerves paralyzed,
till they could no longer feel the sweet thrill
OF noble desires and unselfsh longings,
was to him the highest happiness life af-
forded. No wonder he thought that six
years was enough to add TO such life.
There can be no question in any mind as
to which of these two lives was the more de-
sirable. 1t is emphaticaly true that one
was worth living. AS to the other there is
room for doubt.
there is much that tends to shorten life. rem
der il less enjoyable and its decline fraught
with sorrow. The whole world lives too
fast.
The better half of life is in front of the
man of forty, II he be anything of man.
says the Hospital. The work he will do
will be done with the hand OF master,
and not Of raw apprentice. The
trained intellect does not see "men as
trees walking" but sees everything clearly
temper does not rush at work like
blind bull at haystack, but advances with
the calm and ordered pace of conscious
power and deliberate determination. To no
man is the world so new and the future
so fresh as to him who has spent the
to understand the deeper problems Of
science and life. and who has made
some Roadway toward cOmprehending
them. To him the commonest things
are rare and wonderful, both In themselves
and as parts of beautiful and intelligent
whole. Such thing as staleness in life and
its duties he cannot understand. Knowl-
edge Is always opening out before him in
wider eXpanses and more commanding
heights. The pleasure of growing knowl-
edge and increasing power makes every
year Of his life happier and more hopeful
than the last.
To the men who has thus lived the de-
cline of this life cannot tail 10 be but the
entrance upon new and better existence.