The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-23

.lIldL ll1t UluCol lHLHDil
 lived in the house and was his great
 grandfather. Before taking the news
 paper man in he showed him the wood
 pile. The wood was piled against h
 house and hid most of one side of it
 The boy said that his great grandfathe
 had sawed and split all of It. anC
 most of it yesterday. The boy wen
 into the house with the visitor, appar
 ently curious to find out what it wal
 all about.
 "Yes,' said the old man, in answer t'
 the visitors uestion, ''l guess Tn
 older'n anybody else round here.' | Every well, then, to come right to the
 question, do you think it worth while
 to live to be so old?'
 why, sh'd think twas! What she
 I wanter to die for, now't I've just got
 ready to begin to live? Why, l sawed
 m split more'n a cord O wood yist'd'y
 Yer c'n see it piled up 'longside the
 house out there Piled it up myself too"
 ''I saw it as I came in. It is cer- tainly something to be proud of. But about this uestion of whether it Is worth while to live so long,"
 That's what I'm tellin' yer. There might be some questionin' whether twas wuth while livin' the fust sixty years of mans life, but there ain't no question bout the next thirty Or forty, f a. man c'n manage t live through em. The fust sixty years it 's all fuss n worry-trying to make mon ey n gittin' married 'n' all them kind O troubles, but by the time a mans sixty he'd oughter be kinder settled in life he'd oughter be kinder settled in life and decided what he's goin' to do, an he c'n start in fer a hoorror time. Why, yis'd'y I sawed n split more'n a cord O wood Yes, sir, m piled it up ag'in the house, too. Wha jer think O that?"
 You certainly throw new light on the question"
 'Yes, sir, m then, when you're young, you're all the time worryin' bout other foll5s-your family 'n' all that, m when you're older yer don't halter do that no more, m maybe other folks looks after you. That's where yer git square on posterity for all yer done for 'em. A young mans putin every thing into life, m he ain't putin noth- in out on 1t. Maybe young man on get round little easier, but I afn't so sure O that. Anyway, when you're and when you're old s the time for gfttin' square. Heh! Heh! Heh! An I ain't so sure bout a young mans gittin' round so much better, neither. Yist'd'y Isawed n split more'n cord O wod Yes, sir, n piled
 But is it not your experience that as you grow old your friends drop away from you--die or are removed to great your health and your faculties fail, that you are left more and more helpless and lonely, that you seem to have lost your usefulness in the world? And would 1t not be bet ter if you departed in peace with the old friends in the frrBhness and the, of life, a burden to none. by those Who.love ydu--" The man paused, deeply moved by his own discourse. He had not realized that he had so much pathos in him.
 Friends die off?" said the old man; "course they do. Don't it show you're hot stuff that you c'h stand the racket loneer'n they can? Health 'n' faculties fail?-Helpless? ?-Lost your usefulness? Rot! Why, young man, yist'dy sawed m split more'n a cord O wood'-
 Then you hold old age to be an un- doubted advantage?"
 Say said the boy, suddenly, "how old dyer call old?"
 The days of our years are three score years and ten the newspaper nan murmured.
 "All right" said the boy; "you call anybody old when he's 70, an you say t would be better if nobody didn't live 50 long as that, cause they get lone some. We'll, now. s'pos'n nobody didn't i've more'n fifty years. Then a good many people wouldn't live more'n thir- y or forty years, an so you'd call any body ola if he was 50, wouldn't you?"
 why, yes" said the newspaper man. T suppose we should. I never thought if that
 All right, then; I s'pose, then, you'd ay ii would be better if folks didn't i've to be so old-they'd better die when they was thirty, say We'll, then lot of 'em would die when they was wenty or fifteen, and anybody that vas thirty would be called an old man, md so, accord'n' to you, it would be 'etter for folks not to live to be so Id an it would be better for 'em to lie when they were thirty, and hen"
 Here! Here! young man, I think ved better call this question settled" That's one O the brightest boys," he old man exclaimed "The way he n git away with figgers, Hey, AL red, how many cubic feet be they in a ord O wood?"
 Hundred an twenty-eight," said the oy
 'Yes, sir; yis'd'y I sawed n split lore'n-~Got to go? We'll, so long, 'n' ome n see me ag'in when yer wanter now anything. Long's there's newspa- CT felers that don't know no more'n ou do and comes here for me to tell m, I guess I ain't lost my usefulness o, sir. Come up ag'in when yer git . tuck. ."-From the New York Trib- ne.
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 THE PEARLS OF ARKANSAS.