The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-06-05
MRS.ARP'SBIRTKDAY
Bills Wife Has Reached Three Score
Years and Ten.
AND SHE is STILL VERY ACTIVE
APPS Birthday Comes in Two weeks
From Now, and lie Thinks lie WIKI
Get q Nice Present.

BIRTHDAYS are very common things IN
This sublunary world. There are sixty
millions CT them every year anu IHa'
means about one hundred and nItF
Thousand every day or six tAcusaHa
eycry hour. Just think OF lt-e'ei!
minute one hundred mortal SOUS co.le
into this world-to live and de- !oE
snod or for evil-for happiness or mis-
ery- AS far back as we have any ms,
torv sacred or profane, kings ana
princes have celebrated their pir'hoa!s
with feasts and wine and song anu
even the humble and the poor take
pote of their annual return. Pnaraoh
celebrated his in Joseph's day and Il
was on Herod's birthday that the
daughter of Herodias danced Delore
him and asked him for the head OF
John the Baptist.
was Illuminating about this because
today Is a notable birthday In my ram
ily. The matenial ancestor has at last
reached her thTee-score years and ten
the allotted age Of man and woman
Kind, and from now on every day she
lives will be one of grace. David says
that the days of our years are tnlee
score years and ten, but II by reason
Of strength they be four score years yet
is their strength labor and sorrow.
Poor old man, he did have trouDleo
life. He sinned and he repented IN
great anguish, as he exclaimed, NJ!
sin is ever before me-" Solomon satin,
1.-The day of ones death is better thar
the day of his birth" And Job SAID,
Cursed is the night when was born.
Jeremiah's life was one Of lamentatlon.
The maxims and precepts OF these old
prophets and preachers are wondertul-
iy beautiful and have never been equal
led, but great men are not always wise,
and even Solomon fell from grace and
died accursed. The man who said, "Re-
joice in the wife Of thy youth and be
thou always ravished with her love,
forsook his own and consorted with
thousand others of all nations, creeds
and colors. He reigned eighty years
and died q disappointed, dishonored,
degraded and miserable old man. But
old age is not necessarily unhappy.
The poet speaks Of
"An old age serene and bright,
AS lovely as Lapland night,
and another poet says: "The world IS
very lovely. Oh, my God, l thank Thee
that | live" Our old age is very much
what we choose to make it. 1t is sad
thing to be weary and tired with the
weight of years 1t is pitiful to look
upon an old man who never smiles,
who has outlived al social pleasures
and whose company is neither sought
nor desired For the sake Of Cur neigh
bors and friends it is our duty to be
cheerful in their company. We should
sometimes smile even II we nave 10
force it. Let US grow old gracefully.
have now in mind just sucn an one
a hale. healthy old time gentleman OF
four score years, whose presence is al
ways welcome and whose children,
grandchildren and neighbors and
friends give him glad greeting when ne
comes. He will be missed when he
dies. for the world is better that he
lives in it. His Christian faith, his
moral conduct, his good example and
his cheerful disposition are a benedic-
ton to the community.
But | was thinking about my wife 5
birthday. There are thirty-seven birth
days in our family, and she knows
them all and never forgets them
They average about three month, Dut
this one of hers is a very notable one,
for she is the maternal ancestor, ann
this day fulfills her years and crosses
the line Seventy years ago she was
born. and not long after that the stars
fell OF course they did. Seventy is
mineral of sacred significance. There
were seventy elders OF Israel and sew
.enty wise men compiled the o.d Iesta-
nent. The Jews were kept i'll captivity
seventy years. The Lord sent
out seventy of his disciples
IN preach and teach the peo-
ple. and seventy years is the allottei
age of mankind. But my wife is not old.
Time has not written no wrinkles on
her brow nor burrows on her cheek nor
silyered her raven hair. If the long war
had not interviewed she would not look
more than 80 years now. But the wear
and tear of the war and anxiety while
fleeing from the foul invader, with SIX
little hungry children tagging arte'
her, made years Of months and weeks
of DAYS. But women, especially moth
.ers. can endure more distress and SUI
fering than men. The maternal instinct
keeps them up. They can suffer and DO
strong. 1t looks like the motherhood OF
ten children would wear woman out,
but they seem to thrive on it, and late
in life they take on flesh and round up
all the corners. But they never stop