Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-04-27

>SSe NEuSfrom ouf'seG& Ma NpEted
: With ttRs Merriment EhhA9 makes >Njs
laugh. Houses are different in differ-
ent ages, but souls are alike in all
ages.
And like also, for the same reason,
who has travelled through experiences
OF many years and is now nearing the
journeys end. He looks back through
a vista Of eighty years or more, and
forward to an eternal future which is
close at hand. He reminds me of a
vigorous youth standing in the door
way of a tottering mansion. Indeed,
! am of the opinion that a soul grows
young as the body grows old; that
there is no such thing as age to the i'm
mortal part Of us. The muscles and
nerves become weary and need the rest
which change, the change of death,
brings, but the spirit just crosses the
threshold of conscious healthy life
when signs of physical decay make
the machine works with hesitation, or
perhaps refuses to work at all, but at
that moment the man in the old house
knows that he is better fitted to do
good work than when he stood years
ago at the entrance of his earthly car
eer. Give him a new body and he will
show you that his sojourn or bivouac
here has been only an apprenticeship,
and that when death gives him his
freedom and another world furnishes
him with his opportunity he will be a
nobler creaturt than his present cir
cumstances have allowed him to be-
come.
reverence old age;' l mean the
right sort of old age. If one can grow
old gracefully, can ripen like an apple
which is ruddy with sunshine dew and
at last drops into the basket of the
fruit gatherer, then 1 think the sun
set of life is more beautiful than its
sunrise. OF course there is a pecul-
lar delight in youth, with its many
tasks in front Of it but mellow and
sweet tempered age. its stin, all done,
ready to go when the summons comes,
has charm Of its own, richness as
of the autumn forests, a sanctity like
that of cathedral, and the dignity of
lofty pine which totters in the gale.
But one may be soured by age, and
that is great misfortune. To fret
because we cannot do what was so cas-
lily done in days gone by, to chafe be-
cause our will is no longer the law of
the household, to rebel because the new
generation has way Of lts own, new
customs and habits, to which we are
strangers, and to constantly find fault
because we must sit in the background
while our children, grown to men and
women, occupy the foreground-to do
these things is to sadly err, to make
the last days of our Journey more diff
ficut than they need be and to overtax
the love, that does so much and makes
so many sacrifices for our contentment
and happiness.
,79i1Gis "a daSN&o grow OldjwTakfAs 'niuch|
Il s,Yfstpess5as can be gathered from the
fact that heaven is close, at hand. AT
ter certain age this world has prac-
tically done with us, for others have
taken our places. There is much for
us to do, but it is not the same kind of
work that we did years ago. Our rich
experience can bless many a life, and
II our age is as serene and bright
and lovely as a 'Lapland night" We
shall be a sanity presence in the
household, honorsk reVered and be-
loved.
In order to accomplish this our
thoughts must grow purer, our tempers
gentler, our charity larger. and, above
all, our faith stronger with the pass
age Of time. He whoIsees no tomorrow
will be wretched when the sun declines
To sit In the armchair in the corner
and be glad that the little ones are
happy; to be happy with them; to be
willing to live within the narrower cir
Gle which increasing infirmity pres
cribes, but to smile on those who enjoy
what we have enjoyed so long, all that
is the peculiarity of g heavenly old age
which draws to ii the respect and rev.
erence of the new generation.
Gods way is the best after all.
Youth is elastic, middle life is titanic
but when you have reached the middle
of the afternoon, and from that hour
on until the shadows slowly fall. the |
soul must admit that its house is out
of repair and be content with those Sc
rene experiences which are like ca4n
after the stormy period Of iife's acti
tites
l used to dread to grow old. but n9 Nv