The Atlanta constitution., 1896-07-06
IN HIS OLD AGE
Bill Arp Tells What an Old lIan Of
Seventy Can Do.
He IS NURSING A GRANDCHILD
And Thinks That Is Something Those
of Three Score and Ten Can Do To
Make Themselves Useful.

"ITow many miles to AIiybrght? Three
score and ten" Now, since l nave just
passed my SEVENTEEN year on this mundane
sphere, / can't keep that old refrain out
Of my mind Three score and ten! il 1ol-
lows me about. and seems TO say; your
time is out old gentleman. Every DAY you
live now is del gratia-a favor-an extra al
lowance that was not promised ana Is NOT
deserved. So, be thankful and prudent, ana
don't drink too much ice water TINS not
weather. a young mans maJoilsy 10
twenty-one an old mans seventy. Twice
he crosses the Rubicon, II ne hVe5 thae
long, and then comes another rivera
darker one-and like Caesar he may say
'Jacta est aloa'-the die is cast"
1 was rumiuating about this seventy
years-this maSical sacred nunpCr thdt u
fore Christ and seventy disciples ~e'e
mans allotted aGe. Seventy lehhSu ii9'
translated the old testament 300 years be
sent out by Him as missionaries 10 preaen
the gospel and establish Ills church' =
was Moses vino wrote that the Gays OF our
years shall be three score and ten, ana Net
he lived to be one hundred anu O"9"'y
years-nearly twice the allotted age anu
half of which was labor and sorrow-Wo'k-
ing with vexatious and ungratcfui Ieopie.
II IS curious how gradually the age or man
kind dropped down fron nine hundred 70
one hundred and twenty i'm inc ten general
tions that succeeded Noah; then II dropped
to seventy in the next ten, ana there ~
stands. There has aecn no change Tor 1'VV
years. The long suffering or thS CIea1oi
seems to have been appeascd.
Well of course these seventy years are
not the fixed Limit for any man or woman,
but they are certainly the allotment 81
human longevity. put few so peYond IT,
The wagon breaks down all over. II can
be patched up any more. For several years
It has been sent 10 the shop occasionally
for k.
the time viii surely come wien wheels ana
aNles and hounds must all collapse. rms
is no misfortune nor fault nor pehalty'
but, as Judge Hammond used TO say II
is the law of this ccse,' ami there !s holu-
ing so very sad or horrible about it. 1t IS
just such a change as all nature IS gong
through, and if "a man lives riSht, he has
no reason to lament its coming. Every
seed of tree or flower is II symbol OF our
own resurrection.
Old age has its rewards as well as It's
irnrmities. Moses said that the young men
shall stand ~ and honor the faces oi the
old men, and many of the promises are
u good old age-d fun age-a ripe ola age
as a shock OF corn i'm its season 10"
considerate are the children to their aGed
parents. and how loving are their grant
children. They run our crranuS ana 'ollo
my back hair and black my shoes and 80
10 the postotiice Tho years from seventy
to eighty are not always years of labor ana
sorrow-scmetines they are the best OF
all Sydney Smith said: 81 am feventy-Iour
years old. ann az case in my circumstances
in tolerabie health. a mild whi%, loler-
ating churchman, much given 70 talking
lauchlne and noise. / am, upon the whole,
a happy ,nau-have found the world enter
tanning and am thankful TO providence Ior
the part allotted me in Il"
Much depends on a mans surroundings,
but more depends on his philosophy che