The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-06-21
BIRTHDAYS
HAVE BEEN QUITE NUMEROUS IN
THE ARP FAMILY.
ELL Furnishes tho Fun This Time-His
Comes But Once Year, and Hence
the Necessity of Noticing 1t.
Special For The Constitution.

Special For The Constitution
Yesterday there was another birthday III
the family; most everybody has birthday
/ believe 1t is the paternal this time just
two weeks behind the maternal. | am al
ways behind and it looks like | will never
catch up in this subunary world OF
course, | dident expect anythlnS-nothmS
but a kiss or two from the children and Il
smile all round They used to give as many
kisses as there were years, but they had
to quit that long ago with me, it would take
all day. | found a note on my plate at
| breakfast and on the outside it said: Lines
| to My Husband on His SlXty-slXth
| Birthday" ] looked and wondered, Tor L
! knew it wasent poetry. She never writes
| poetry. but she speaks a good deal of prose
sometimes When l opened the letter there
! was the identical check on the bank that L
had given her just two weeks ago for her
| birthday present She had saved it to give
! back to me- Thoughtful woman Wasent
| that splendid? Drexel 4 Co, couldent beat
| it for iinancieling Each of us got SO and
| nobody out of pocket Il cent. Ill try that
| again next year. SiNty-siX years old! just
| beginning to learn something to
! think, to reflect to ponder. 1t is IL fact
| that when a man gets wise enough TO 1--we
! he is about ready to die, and that is right.
! When we wear out the old clothes we want
! new ones. Death has no terrors to those
who live right There is a beautiful sentl-
| ment from d Persian song which says,
| On parent knees naked, newborn child
! Was weeping while those around it smiled.
! SO live that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
| Calm, thou may'St smile while those around
thee weep.
A venerable friend of mine who died IN
! heavenly smiles used to say he wished Tor
| no warning, but would like to go all at
| once, like the one-horse Shay that we read
| about. He loved TO recite from Mrs bar
| bauld's verses
! Life We've been long together
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather
/ Say not goodnight" but in some brighter
cline
| Bid me good morning"
| Won't that be delightful? For ones own
self to wake up in the spirit land with new
clothes on and the old ones buried three
| feet in the ground-buried with al the
| aches and pains and miseries-buried and
| cotfiued aud sealed that they can tol-
! low YOU Poor pld carcas3-COuident run
nor jump nor dance nor prahGe around
Poor old eyes, nearly bind, ana ears lhaG
| couldent hear. Poor old bald head and
toothess gums and skinny fingers. Liked
to have lived too long, dldent YOU! W nat
a glorious relief to wake up with your mlnd
and soul and spiritual emotions unIettered
| and free and suddenly to know 1t ana fect
! it, Who wouldent say, Good morning,
to his new self, his new clothes, his new
existence? Who wouldent look with pity
upon his mortal remains and say, Goodby,
old friend; goodby, old torpid liver; fare
well, old aching Kidneys; farewell,
rheumatism and bile and spleen and all
internal connections; farewell, DR.. MIX
and DR.. Green and the drug stores; goodby,
| Warner and cod liver oil and 5. ). 5. and
| and la
TUFTS pills and all your kinfoIksE
! But I'm not that far along yet. Sixty
six is not so awful old | don't compare
myself with the young, but with the older
patriarchs, like Moses. We have 4 grand
son who has my name and my birthday.
! He was twenty yeStcrday-just out of MS
| tccnS-and I'm not much older than he Is.
! Fifteen years ago | was ten times as Old,
but now I'm only three times and frac-
| ton. I'm gaining ON him, or maybe he Is
! gaining on me, but it is certain we are
coming nearer together as the years roil
| on. His father has almost caught up with
| me, and strangers take him for my brother.
| No, I'm not so old. / still love company
and jokes and candy and chicken pie and
| flowers and pretty girls. | still love to go
| fishing, and to see circus PROFESSIONS. and
| climb to the mountains top and look down
upon the distant prospect and thank my
! Maker for this beautiful world. We have
to climb for everything worth having, and
| am willing to climb little longer.
| Only SiXty-six-but the trouble is | keep
getting older every day. If one could stop
and call halt and rest awhile under the
! shade it wouldn't be so bad. but there is
no rest for the wicked. These birthdays
! are like milcStOnes that mark the journey
of life-very curious miles indeed for they
| get shorter and shorter as the journey goes
on. Everything shrinks. When | was
twenty it seemed a long way back to child
hood, and still longer ahead 10 old age, but
rc;, tE.,,,
| that We're before. | am not far away from
the children now. l can sit on my mile
stone and, like a telephone, hear my
! grandson as he sits on his Hello, my
| ly, but | hear him. and he is coming on.
| Poor fellow he thinks he will find something
| great when he gets where | am. and maybe
! before, but he won't He will find just
what [ have found-much care, much trou-
| bic, much disappointment, and a little
pleasure. 1t is mixed, badly mixed. hut
| it won't do to brood over. Ii Il man broods
over trouble he will hatch it sure. Burns
| tells US about the old woman who ''nurscd
| her wrath to keep it warm Just so we
up and burst and a whole gang of little dew
| lis come out of them. The good book
warns us not to fret, Fret not myself"
! which means that it is not somebody else
| who does it, but it is ourself and it means
| that we can keep from it if we try. Fret
ting is a bad business and fret is a bad
| word for it means to eat away. to gnaw,
and it does look like a very foolish thing for
! man to do, to gnaw on himself. Good
! gracious, what hills and mountains of
trouble we have all coniured up and brood
! ed over that never materialized.
But | am siXty-siX years old-too old to
| be fooled about some things, too old to be
alarmed or pain-strcken about politics, or
| to believe all that the newspapers say. too
| old to fear that the nation will fall to pieces
| if a democrat is not elected, too old to get
scared when Albion Tourgee predicts
| horrible massacre in the south within ten
years. The viperous old slam
dcrer, he has been pegging away at us
for twenty-five years and will die in the
harness. | reckon. Then the old devil will
| snatch him before he gets cold and make
| him Il trusty those bruteS and tiendS
| he says we murdered He keeps tally
sheet and says the average is one a day.
| Suppose we dcduce half for guessing and
| lying That leaves $50 a year for all the
! twelve southern states. That's not so bad
only fifteen to the state. We will compro-
mise on that New York state averages
| a hundred and fifty, SO the last census says,
| and they were all white but two or three.