The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-19
1oNGSrREEvs OWN STORY.


hanny marriage to one of the most
charming ladies of Georgia, permit me
TO express to you my appreciation oi ALI
erica's greatest newspaper.
.Poeple have been marrying ever since
tho world began. In fact If we read
rho Rible record alright Adam did not
know his age when the Almighty fash
;oneI for him the helpmeet who was
Later on to play such am important part
in the world. Youth Is a relative term
and is not correctly expressed by years.
TNhe young heart is often the creation Of
wears of sorrow preceding, and the sun
lit face Of the man of seventy-five is
more suggestive Of the perennial youth
which makes men attractive, than the
browning visage of twenty, which speaks
of discomfort and unrest.
I have often, as your congratulation
suggests, been struck with the eplgram
of Holmes that he was eighty years
young" The counting Of age is, after
all, a matter of point of view. Inc
youth first counting his years, which
proceed from nothing, esteems himself
young because they are few. The man
of many years might equally account him
self young because his remainder is
equally few. As / experience the infiu-
ence Of this happy day l ask myself If
/ am really old, or am l just beginning
to be young.
There is time behind me, know,
much of which has been wasted because
its giving was prodigal There are
glorious years ahead of me, which can
appreciate, because ] have at last learn
ed their value / think and feel and
enjoy. God has blessed my later years
with fresc;ence, and an understanding
which have multiplied their value, and
rendered their existence pleasure.
a RETROSPECTIVE PICTURE.
AS i have grown from decade to de-
cade, / have seen the growth and devel-
opment of family which ] loved and
cherished. In the order of Gods Drovi-
dence the wife and mother has been re-
moved; the children have left the shadow
of the parent tree and each has flown
TO a nest Of it's own. | still remained
in the old house. with but the pictures
TO look at and an occasional letter to
read from an absent one. L feel lonely
because of the want of company, but,
excuse me, | do not feel old. There Is
too much bounding of the pulse, too
strong pumping of the heart, too great
a wealth of affection to allow of my
whitening up like an old mummy to he
set aside in some museum. There is
life and energy and ambition left, and
where these are life has not flown.
What. then. was more natural than
that should put my house in order, pay
renewed attention to my toilet and wan
der out to see what kind of an impress
sion I could make. j found pretty
face and was attracted. | sought ac-
quaintance of the owner and was charm
ed. ] read her heart and found 1T pure,
I looked into her soft blue eyes and
found that love was twankling there.
I of course hesitated to press my suit
until I felt assured, and surely, Thought
I to myself, if she thinks me young, what
need / care what others think? During
the years which are left to me / can be
to her such a husband that not all the
young mer in Christendom could equal.
and the memory which she will carry
down the years when, in the order of
nature, / may not be present, will be to
her a sweet dream to be treasured and
transmitted to children's children.
WHAT DOES WOMAN GAIN BIZ
MARRIAGE?
What does a woman gain by marriage?
All, there is a question to which diverse
answers might be given How often
years to find herself but the con panion-
slave, whose value is reckoned by the
work she does. The other day a dis
tinguished Georgia lady, Mrs. FELTON,. n
an address before farmers coblsntion,
pictured such wife, ground down by
-exaction, uncheered by a single word of
appreciation, who, after years of toll
and striving, dies, only then to be for
the first time appreciated. / make the
argument that there should be disparity
I of years, but not of youth, between hus-
band and wife. The man of experience,
who has been through the world, who
has rubbed against its rough edges, has
had his obstinacy subdued, his power of
consideration enlarged, and his quality
of appreciation SO refined that he can
feel and respond to those delicate long
ings which are implanted in the female
breast.
BOTH WIFE AND PARTNER.
The man who in the crowning years
of his life takes to wife fair young
girl, invites her, not only to the condi-
tion of wifehood, but to tho dignity of
partnership. He naturally has affairs
to attend to. in which his wife tak,s an
interest. Her powers develop as her
husband learns TO lean on her Judgment,
and thus there is brought abouS that
community Of interest which enraptnres
the principles concerned in it, aud then
we have the model husband and wife.
In my own case, / have q vineyard
on my farm, have sheep and other rural
interests. / have a book on the market
which requires a good deal of attention,
and have a correspondence requiring
respect. All this was very heavy to me
alone. My wife has understanding of
business. she has been the editor of a
newspaper and has literary talent 1t
will be pleasure to her to enter in all
my business enterprises, and together
we can plan and consult and perfect,
thus passing days Of happy anticipation
as well as of realization. She under
stands my situation thoroughly, and I
understand hers, SO that our minds are
as one, based upon knowledge and not
upon haphaZard.
LOVE BLENDS WITH PATRIOT.