The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-08
Copyrighted, 1901, by The Constitution

this sublunary world. There are Sixty
millions of them every year and that
means about one hundred and fifty thou
sand every day or six thousand every
hour. Just think of it-every minute one
hundred mortal souls como into this
world--to live and die, for good or for
eyil-for happiness or misery. AS far
back as we have any history, sacred
or profane, kings and princess have cele-
brated their birthdays with feasts and
wine and song and even the humble and
the poor take note of their annual re-
turn. Pharaoh celebrated his in Joseph S
day and it was on Herod's birthday that
the daughter of Herodias danced before
him and asked him for the head of John
the Baptist.
| was Eliminating about this because
today is a notable birthday in my fam
ily The maternal ancestor has at last
reached her three-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 three score
years and ten. but il by reason OF
strength they be four score years yet is
their strength, labor and sorrow. Poor
old man, he did have a troubled life. He
sinned and he repented in great anguish,
as he exclaimed, my sin is ever before
me-" Solomon saith. 1.-The day of ones
death is better than the day of his birth.
And Job said, Cursed is the night when
| was born" Jeremiah's life was one of
lamentation. The maxims and precepts
of these old prophets and preachers are
wonderfully beautiful and have never
been equalled. but great men are not al
ways wise. and even Solomon fell from
grace and died accursed. The man who
said, "Rejoice in the wife of thy youth
and be thou always ravished with her
love-" forsook his own and consorted
with a thousand others of all nations,
creeds and colors. He reigned eighty
years and died a 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, thank Three that
l live" Our old age is very much what
we choose to make it, 1t is a 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 out
lived all social pleasures and whose COM
pany is neither sought nor desired. For
the sake of our neighbors and friends
it is our duty to be cheerful in their
company. We should sometimes smile
even if we have to force it. Let us grow
old gracefully. / have now in mind just
such an one-a hale. healthy old time
gentleman of four score years. whose
presence is always welcome and whose
children, grandchildren and neighbors
and friends give him glad greeting when
he 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 cheer
full disposition are a benediction to the
community.
But 1 was thinking about my wife's
birthday There are thirty-seven birth
days in our family, and she knows them
all and never forgets them. They aver
about three a month, but this one of
hers is a very notable one, for she is the
maternal ancestor, and 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 a numeral of sacred
significance. There were seventy elders
of Israel and seventy wise men compiled
the Old Testament. The Jews were kept
in captivity seventy years. The Lord
sent out seventy of his disciples to
preach and teach the people, and seventy
years is the allotted age of mankind
But my wife is not old. Time has not
written wrinkles on her brow nor fur
rows on her cheek nor silvered her raven
hair. If the long war had not inter
vened she would not look more than so
years now. But the wear and tear of the
war and anxiety while fleeing from the
foul inavder, with six little hungry chill
dren tagging after her, made years of
months and weeks of days. But women
especially mothers. can endure more dis
tress and suffering than men. The ma
ternal instinct keeps them up. They
can suffer and be strong. 1t looks like
the motherhood OF ten children would
wear a 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 work. My wife has
made over five thousand little garments
and is still making them, for the little
tation for nice needlework and making
buttonholes has been long established,
and she is proud of it. She never stops
sewing until she loses her spectacles, and
then she borrows mine. No, she is not
old James Russell Lowell said of Julia
Ward Howe on her SEVENTEEN birthday
that it was better to be 20 years young
than 40 years old. 1t is this endurance,
this cheerfulness in adversely that makes
the women outlive the men. There are
three times as many widows in this COM
munity as widowers. There are seven
teen in our little Presbyterian church and
only four widowers, and the war was
not the cause of it. Maternal love is
preservative Of health. 1t is tonic.
promoter of digestion, a panacea, where
as man will pursue money until he
loses his digestion. st. Paul said that
1.-THE love of money is the root of all
evil" but he had no thought of apply
ing it to women, for she has no love for
money. If she gets any she is not happy
until she spends it. The girls said their
mother wanted new bonnet, so they
bought one for her birthday, and all
had to do was to pay for it. She always
let's me do that. She is a free trader
and will kppp mo in dopout al0fhoc