The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1901-02-22

VI gears anu grow younger IN spirit;
text. Psalms CHI, 5: so that thy
youth is renewed like the eagles"
There flies out from my text the
most majestic of all the feathered
cTeatlon-an eagle. Other birds have
more beauty of plume and more
sweetness of voice, but none of them
has such power of beak, such clutch
OF claw, such expansion of wing. such
height of soaring, such Wilderness of
coInlnlon. Its appetite rejects the
carbon that invites the vulture. and
In most cases its food is fresh and
clean. Leveling his neck for flight.
IN spiral curve it swings itself toward
the MONDAY sun. 1t has been known
10 1--we 100 years. What concentra-
ton of all that is sublime is the gold
en- eagle. the martial eagle, the boot
ed eagle. the Jean lie Blanc eagle,
But after awhile in its life comes the
melting process, and ii looks ragged
and worn and unattractive. and feels
Ike moping in It's nest on the high
craSs- But weeks go by. and the
Old feathers are gone. and new or
astrological attire is pu; on, and its
beak, which was overgrown. has the
surplus of bone beaten OF against
the rocks. and it gets back its old
capacity for food. and again il
mounts the heavens in unchallenged
sad bOundless kingdoms of air and
light. David. the author OF the text.
had watched these monarchs of the
eky, and knew their habits, and one
day. eXulting in hia own physical and
spiritual rejuvcncsccnce. he says to
his own soul: You are getting
younger an the time. You make me
think of an eagle which I saw yes
terday, just after its melting season,
swinging through the valley of Je
hoshaphat. and then circling around
the head of Mount Olivet Oh. my
soul. thy youth is renewed like the
eacle's''
The fact is that people get old too
fast. They allow the years TO run
away with them. The almanac and
the family record discourage them.
Some of you are Older shan you have
any business TO be. You ought 10
realize that as the body gets older
the soul ought to get younger. Com
ing on toward old age YOU are only
IN the melting season. and after that
you will have better wings, take high
er fight and reign in clearer atmos-
phere. Our religion bids us to look
after the welfare of the body as well
as of the soul. and the first part as
wen as the latter part of my subject
is appropriate for the pulpit.
Many might turn the years back
ward and get younger by changing
their physical habits. The simpler
life one leads the longer he lives.
Thomas Parr, of Shropshire, Eng
land. was a plain man and worked
on farm for a livelihood. At 100
years of age he WAS at his daily toll.
He had lived under nine kings of
England. When 152 years of .se, he
was heard of in London. The king
desired to see him and ordered him
TO the palace, where he was so rich
~ and royalty treated that it de-
stroyed his health. and he died at
1S2 years and nine months of age.
When DIR. Harvey, the discoverer of
the circulation OF the blood. made
post-mortem examination of Thomas
Farr. he declared there were no signs
of senile decay in the body. That
man must have renewed his youth.
Ike the eagle, again and again.
All occupations and professions
have afforded Illustrations of re-
juvenescence. HippocTates, the father
OF medicine, lived 100 years, and
among those eminent in the medical
profession who became septUagenar-
ians and octogenarians and nonagen-
arians were Darwin, Gall. Boerhaave,
Jenner and Ruysch, observing them
selves the laws of health that they
taught their patients. In art and
literature and science among those
who lived into the eighties were Plato
and Franklin and CARLYLE and Goethe
and Button and HALEY. SOphocles
reached the nineties.
You cannot tell how old a man is
Nv the number of years he has lived.
] have known people actually bOyish
in their disposition at so years of
age, while Louis H., king of Hungary,
died of old age at 90. Haydn's ora
torio, 1.-The Creation" was composed
ct 20 years of age. Humboldt wrote
his immortal work The Cosmos"
at IS. William Cullen bryant, at so
years of age, in my hou-e read with
out spectacles "Thanatopsis." which
he had composed when IS years of
age. Isocrates did illustrious work
at "a. Liontinus Gorgias was busy
when death came to him at 107 years
OF age. Herschel at so years of age
was hard at work in stellar explora-
ton. Masinissa, king of Numioia. at
90 years of age led a victorious
cavalry charge against the Cartha-
ginians. Titan was engaged on his
greatest painting when he died in his
one hundredth year.. How often they
must have renewed their youth!
But the average longevity of those
in private life and with less mental
strain and no conspicuous success is
much larger than the average longe-
vity of the renowned. There are
hundreds of thousands of men and
women now renewing their youth
like the eagles. so that the possibility
of such g turning bacl: of years is all
around us being demonstrated.
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