The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-02-26

deuee for the part allotted me In T."
Longtelow lived 90 bee sevputy-nve. When
he was seventy he wrote his friend Chllds.
III is Ike climbing the Alps you reach
snoW-crowned summit and see behind Won
the deep valley stretching miles and miles
away, and before you other SUBMITS. higher
ana whittier, which you may have strength 10
cllmb or You may not. Then YOU SIT down
anu mediate and wonder which &c will Doe.
This Is the whole story"
r.Holmes saw -o much fun I'm everything
that he couldn't help making funny rhymes
about an old man.
but nov his nose Is thin
And II rests uuon his chin
Like q stan:
And q crook Is In his back,
And melancholy crack
Is I'm his laugh"
Then he was sorry that be wrote It. for he
says.
81 know It is q sin
For me 10 sit and grin
At him here"
The doctor didn't expect to 1.-Two TO be
eighty-iiye, for long ago he said. "Our
brains are seventy-yeur clocks: the angel of
life winds them up once for ALL then closes
the case and gives the key TO the angel of
the resurrection
q
crook in his back nor a crack In his laugh
We see many aged men who are straight as
an Indian and have not lost the musical tone
OF their voice. Habit and pride Of person
have much to do with this / know an aged
matrOn, neighbOr of ours, who when She
Is sitting hardly touches the back of a
chair, and yet she is not stiff or awkward
always graceful, always beautiful. She is
kind and gentle I'm her age, and has a warm
TRIpnmR W q Xfg abn
hear all that is said she is not embarrassed.
for she says what she lacks in hearing she
makes up in seeing and reading and is
thankful for the faculties that are still left
her. l never saw her with a troubled look,
though l know she has had trouble and deem
grief. Now, contrast such a woman with
one who is always complaining of her hard
lot, or saying something disparaging about
her neighborsl
But the old-time mothers had some excuse
for bent shoulders, for it was the fashion to
sleep on pillow and bolster and it was the
fashion to lean the child while it was nurs-
ing. Habits begun in childhood and con-
tinued in motherhood will never be broken
in the decline of life. 1 believe that the
habits of the girls of this generation are an
improvement on those of the past. They do
not lace like they used to, and they carry
themselves more gracefully. They have bet
ter fitting shoes and cOrsets They have
more comfortable seats at school and are
not allowed to lean forward to their books
or slate or writing pad. The life insurance
companies have at last discovered that wo-
men live as long as men, if not longer, and
policies are issued to them on equal terms
The longevity of both sexes is Increasing.
slowly but surely, and the only drawback is
intemperance-whisk and opium. We're it
not for these the three-scOre-and-te limit
would soon be advanced to four score and
give US a stronger and handsOmer race Of
people
Shakespeare gave us some types of old age
that seem to have fitted the time in which he
lived, out they are very rare in ours. Prince
Hal said to Falstatf: "Haye you not all the
characters of age-a moist eye, dry hand
yellow cheek, a white beard a decreasing
leg, an increasing corporosity? Is not your
voice broken, your wind short, your chin
double, your wit single and every part about
you bloated with antiquity?n
l deny the picture. As somebody said.
deny the allegation and defy the alligator.
There is some of it that does not fit me-
know. These poets are too fond of poking
fun at old men. The she bears ought to
come along. The scripture says that old
age is honorable and that the young men
shall rise up when the old men come in at
the gate. The Old men are the balance
wheels Of all the machinery of government.
II 1t were not Tor them, the boys would run
away with the wagon. There must be
wheel horses with breeching on to hold
back when going down hill. What
are we here for? We can't climb
tree or jump a ten rail fence any
more, nor kick a college ball nor ride BIZ
cycle, but these things are non-essentials
and don't have to be done. We can look
after the grand children and point moral
and tell them tale and teach the young
idea how to shoot without carrying a pistol
in hip pocket. Solomon says that the
glory Of an old man is his children's chill
dren, and he might have said that the chill
dren who have no grand parents did not
have their share of happiness in this world
But old age has its triumphs and consola-
lions. It has passed all selnshness and vain
ambitions and takes comfort in memories
aud philosophie meditation. It realizes the
wonderful progress Of art and invention, for