Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-06-14

ON GROWING OLD.
Not Everybody Knows How to Do It WIN
Much Grace

AA uCA 0Eace.
Growing old is not a pleasant exner,.
ence, we are Obliged to confess. II comes
Ike shock to ,,s when we first wake mn
to the reality We wonder how long If
may have been since Others have noticed
and commented upon it,
When some friend invites us to ga GRAND.
mothers tea" with the apology. 81 knew
you had grandchildren, we are aro,sed
10 the consciousness that perhaps we do
not see ourselves as Others see us We ara
constrained to take our bearings hr COM
pairing and contrasting our feelings and
our experiences with our younger friends.
we rebel lnwardly, even though we
should die and make no sign,'' when we
see ourselves set aside and Younger ones
taking our places. We know there is a
great deal said and written about furrows
on beautiful brows, wrinklcd hands that
have done life's duties well, and all that.
1t may sound very well on paper but tho
actual facts are cold and hard ones. for
We know that something sweet
Followed youth with flying feet,
And 1t never comes again
We are told that gray hairs and wrinkles
count for nothing so long as the heart is
young and as long as we keep in touch any
sympathy with youth and lifc's interests
ana occurrences. But few and far between
are the voyagers ON the ocean of time who
have sailed through unrutficd seas. For
the many the billows have been high, tho
waters deep and the current swift, and
even II after storm comes calm the mar
liner is weather beaten and the Journey has
left its impress.
When we find our minds continually
running backward instead of forward in
anticipation of pleasures and honors that
never come, we may safely conclude that
we have reached the hilltsp and henceforth
the journey lies down hiiH
One of the hardest things in life is to
submit to the inevitable and to learn to
let go. Often it is through a discipline
that is heart breaking that we do learn
how. All our lives we have seen the chill
dren of Others grow up and 90 out into the
world and have thought of it as ono of
those "inevitables, but when our own
nestlings spread their wings and take
Hight from the parent nest-ah, then we
know! We never had realized that some
day ours would no longer need or want our
help, that they were stronger even than us.
We can only cover our longing and our
loneliness with cheerful exterior and feel
hopeful that they may still be able to sing
though we may never hear them
Then, too, we sec our cherished dclu-
sions one after another vanish into the air.
Once we believed they We're facts, but as
they no longer comfort or amuse us, we
are constrained to believe that they were
only fancies or creatures of our imagina-
ton. What was truth yesterday is false
hood tomorrow. AS we move onward ev-
cry days experience and revelation shat
ter our faith in something or some one.
All along the way there are milestones that
mark bctrayals and disappointments, and
other stones, too, underneath which are
dear friends and companions, who in the
beginning started with us cheerfully and
confidently. They have wearicd with ''the
march Of 1ifc' and laid them down to rest
But our experience is only the common
one. We had our roses and our May, and
in the natural order of things sooner or
later must enter upon December.
Joy made Us glad; let sorrow find us true:
God blessed our roses; he win bless our rue
Omaha Bee.