Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-04

OF its life now seem opened and bleed
ing away. After a while. leaf after
leaf. they fall. Now those on the
outer branches, then those most hid
den, until the last spark OF the gleam-
ing forge shall have been quenched.
So gradually we pass away. From
day to day we hardly see the change.
But the frosts have touched us. The
work or decay is going on. NOW
slight cold. Now a season of over
fatigue. Now fever. Now a stitch in
the side. Now neuralgia thrust. Now
a rheumatic twinge Now fall. Lit
tie by little. Pain by pain. Less steady
or limb. Sight not clear. Ear not SO
alert. After a while We take a stan.
Then, after much resistance, we come
to spectacles. Instead of bounding in
to the vehicle, we are willing to be
helped In. At last the octogenarlan
rails. Forty years of decaying. NO
sudden change. No fierce cannonad-
ing OF the batteries Of life; but a fading
away-slowly-gradually. AS the leaf!
| AS the leaf!
Again: Like the leaf we fade. to
make room for others: Next years
forests will be as grandly foliaged as
this. There are other generations OF
oak leaves to take the place Of those
which this autumn perish. Next May
the cradle Of the wind will rock the
young buds The woods will be all
album with the chorus of leafy voices.
Ii the tree in front of your house, like
Elijah. takes chariot of fire, its man
tie will fall upon Elisha. If, in the
many ranks fall, there are reserve
forces to take their place to defend the
fortress of the hills. The heaters OF
| gold leaf will have more gold leaf to
| beat. The crown that drops today
| from the head OF the oak will be
picked up and handed down for other
kings to wear. Let the blasts come.
They only make room for other life.
So, when We go, others take our
| spheres. We do not grudge the future
| generations their places. We will have
had our good time. Let them come on
| oh' hd'C thSii oOOu tlihC. HClC ID uO
signing among these leaves today. be-
| cause other leaves are to follow them.
After lifetime of preaching. DOCTOR
ing, selling, sewing, or digging, let us
cheerfully give way for those who
come in to do the preaching, doctoring,
selling, sewing and digging. God
grant that their life may be brighter
than ours has been AS we get older,
do not let us be affronted if young men
| and women crowd us little. We will
have had our day and We must let them
have theirs. When our voices get
cracked, let us not snarl at those who
can MARBLE. When our knees are stiff
ened, let us have patience with those
who go fleet as the deer. Because our
leaf is fading, do not let us despise the
unfrosted. Autumn must not envy the
| spring. Old men must be patient with
| boys. DR.. Guthrie stood up in Scot
land and said, you need not think |
| am old because my hair is white: l
never was so young as l am now" l
look back TO my childhood days, and
remember when, in winter nights, in
the sitting-room, the children played,
the blithest and the gayest of all the
company were father and mother. AL
though reaching fourscore years of age.
they never got old.
Again: AS with the leaves, we fade
and fall amid myriads of others. One
| cannot count the number of pIumes
which these frosts are plucking from
the hills. They will strew all the
streams; they will drift into the cav
erns; they will soften the wild beasts
lair, and fill the eagles eyrie.
All the aisles of the forest will be
covered with their carpet, and the
steps of the hills glow with a wealth
of color and shape that will defy the
looms of Administer. What urn could
hold the ashes of all these dead leaves?
Who could count the hosts that burn
on this funeral pyre of the mountains?
So we die in concert. The clock that
strikes the hour of our going will
sound the going of many thousands.
Keeping step with the feet of those
who carry us out will be the tramp of
hundreds doing the same errand. Be-
tween fifty and seventy people every
day lie down In Greenwood That
place has over two hundred thousand
of the dead. said to the man at the
gate, "Then IL there are so many here,
you must have the largest cemetery"
He said there were two Roman Catho-
lie cemeteries in the city, each of
which had more than this. We are all
dying. London and Pekin are not the
great cities Of the world. The grave
is the great city. 1t hath mightier
population, longer streets, brighter
lights, thicker darknesses. Caesar is
there, and all his subjects. Nero is
there, and all his victims. City of
kings and paupers! 1t has swallowed
up in its immigrations Thebes, and
Tyre and Babylon, and will swallow
all our cities. Yet, City of Silence.
No voice. No hoof No wheel. No
clash. No shifting of hammer. No
clack OF flying loom. No jar. No
whisper. Great City of Silence. or all
it's million million hands, not one of
them Is lifted. OF all its million mill