Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1898-09-16

j,
breathed into him by his Maker. which
BILE in every age.
Mother Earth. are the heroes doadY
DO they Thrill the soul OF the years no more?
Are lhe cleaning SNOW ana tho puppies red
All that IL left OF The brave of yorcY
Are there none TO fight as 'rh"seus fought
Far In the young world misty dawLi
or 10 teach az the gray haired NCstOr TAUGHT
Mother Earth, arc the heroes gomez
Gomez IN "A granier form they rise;
Dead! We may clasp their names in ours;
And catch the hight of their CLEARER eyes,
And wreath their brOWs with immortal lowers
Wherever mob deed Is done.
- Is the pulse of "A hcro's heart is stirred:
Wherever Right has a triumph won.
There are the heroes voices heard
The artist and the poet again agree
iii their conception of man ia the early
autumn Of life, that ripeSt Of the seal
sons, most productive III its golden fruits.
Later manhood is represented by the
Judge, full of wise sayers and mod
ern instances" as Shakespeare says; the
Judge, Solomon, wisest of all men who
ever lived, the artist tells us. Wisdom
then is the chief characteristic of man
in the maturity of his powers. This
wisdom is sometimes coupled with what
the world calls knowledge, sometimes
not. Whatever it is, it enables the man
TO judge for himself and for others, of
comparative values 10 look ahead and
forecast results of thought and action
Wisdom is not born in day, as Miner.
va the tabled goddess of wisdom,
sprang forth full armed from the head
of Jupiter. 1t is the result of all the eX-
perience and training of the preceding
years; more than this, wisdom is the re-
suit of all the wisdom of past ages. The
wise man is not wise in his own con-
ceit. he is modest, willing TO learn from
the experience Of others as well as his
own. He never reaches the goal
bat is ever learning, if thereby he may
come to a knowledge OF the truth Such
men, who have crossed the Rubicon
which lies between the Gallo country
of youth and the Rome of ripper man
hood, command the homage of all tor their
genuine excellence, high principle, and
sterling honesty Of purpose.
There comes "A time when physical
strength fails, when memory betrayS its
trust, and mental vlgor decays; when
Abraham sits IN his tent ana entcrtains
angels unawares the angels of sAncti.
fed affection, of pleasant memories of "a
life filed with IA noble purpose, of de-
lightful anticipations Of an Immortality
believed in with an intensity denied to
the best and Wisest of the ancient pag.
ans.
Sometimes, too, il happens that Age
is opportunity no less than youth. SOph-
Ocles was nearly ninety when he was
summoned before his judges on the
charge that his powers of intellect had
decayed. His answer was Read the
'OeQipus ut Colonus which he had
just composed. Dryden was past seven
~ when he wrote his ode TO ST. Cecilia,
perhaps the most imaginative of his
poems Goethe completed Faust at the
age OF eighty. TItiau's brush dropped
from his hand when he stricken by the
plague, at nearly one hundred years Of
age. Michael Angeles creative powers
shoue with luster at the age of ninety.
IN our own country, the veteran states
man, Josiah Quincy, kept the enthus.
asm of his youth TO che last. lie was 10
gloomy pralser Of the past when he was
boy, no Gladiator tempOris acti me
puerto, as Horace says, but one who
animated youth with the same courage
and patriotism which he himself pos
sessed. y still more conspicuous eX
ample Is too fresh III the minds Of all Of
Us 10 need comment, Gladstone, the
statesman, the scholar, the Christian,
whose powers failed him only at the
last. Are these instances exceptions:
III so, they still show "HOw far the gulf
stream OF our youth may flow into the
arctic regions OF our lives"
Old age surely has its compensations,
when it can look down from its emil
hence on the conflict going on below,
and cast a retrospective glance over the
past of a useful and unstained life And
If In second childhood rs IN first, extreme
intirmity of mind and body make such
a one the debtor of others patience and
tenderness, these loving hearts also have
their compensatiOns, and feel that they
have been entertaining an angel III their
household But sad 1t is TO see one
who survives himself, who dies "a
driveler and IA show" as johnson said
of Swift who falls into state of do
tage, as Marlborough did after his splen-
did achievement. Worse still it is TO
see one grow old after life of vice and
sensuality; one i'll whom the evil pas
sions still exist, though he no longer has
any pleasure III their qualification
Think of Coleridge with a noble mind
so full of lofty genius, Frustrated by a
vice ike opium eating, vice which he
hated but could not conquer Last
scene Of all that ends this lies eventful
history is second childishness. Happy
is the man TO whom with the breaking
down of years does not come n breaking
down morally as we'll as physically and
mentally; state in which the foib,es
and worst points of character become
more conspicuous, and exhibit II picture
that moves our pity, though il leaves
nothing 10 move our respect Happy is
he who when he has played his part in
the drama Of life, and is only waiting
Tor the curtain 90 fall can say from a
full and thankful heart:
Life. we've been loux toy thor
Through pleasant az through cloudy weather:
lis hai d 10 pHr. when fTicuds are dear:
Perhaps Twill cost sigh "a tear;