The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-02-06

Your decade is the one That viii prob
| ably afford the greateet opportunity for
victory because there is the greatest ne
cessity for struggle. Read the worlds his
| tory and know what are the thirties for
! good or bad. Alexander the Great closed
his career at thirty two; Frederick the
Great made Europe tremble with his ar
mics at thirty-fve; Cortes conquered Mex
leo at thirty; Grant fought Shiloh and
| Donel5on when thirty-eght; Raphael died
| at thirty-seven; Luther was the hero OF
the reformation at thirty-6ve; Sir Philip
Sidney got through by thirty-two. The
greatest deeds for God and against Him
were done within the thirties, and your
greatest battles are now and between the
time when you cease expressing your age
by putting first a figure 2 and the time
when you will cease expressing it by put
ting first a figure 8. As it is the greatest
time of the struggle, l adjure you, in
the greatest achievement My prayer is
for all those in the tremendous crisis OF
the thirties. The fact is that by the way
you decide the present decade of your his
tory you decide all the following decades.
Next accost the forties. Yours is the
discovery of the outside, but the discovery
of yourself. No man knows himself until
he is forty. He overestimates or underes-
Inmates himself. By that time he has
learned what he can do or what he cannot
do. He thought he had commercial genius
enough to become millionaire, but now he
is satisfied to make a comfortable living.
He thought he had rhetorical power that
would bring him into the United States
Senate; now he is content If he can sue.
cessfully argue common case before
petit jury He thought he had medical
skill that would make him a Mott or
Crosse or Willard Parker or a Sims;
now he finds his sphere is that of fam.
| lily physician, prescribing for the ordinary
ailments that afiict our race. He was sail
ing on in fog and could not take reck-
oning but now it clears up enough to allow
him to find out his real latitude and long
litude. He has been climbing, but now he
has got to the top of the hill, and he takes
a long breath. He is half way through
the journey at least, and he is in posi-
ton to look backward or forward. He has
more good sense than he ever had. He
knows human nature, for he has been
cheated often enough to see the bad side
of it, and he has met SO many gracious
and kindly and splendid souls he also
yourself. Thank God for the past and de-
hberately set your compass for another
| voyage.
You have chased enough thistledown;
you have blown enough soap bubbles; you
have seen the unsatisfying nature of all
earthly things. Open a new chapter with
God and the world. This decade of the
forties ought to eclipse all its predecessors
in worship, in usefulness and in happiness.
The world was made to work There re-
maineth a rest for the people of God, but
it is in a sphere beyond the reach of tele.
scopes. The military charge that decided
one of the greatest battles of the ages-the
o'clock in the evening, but some of you
propose to go into camp at 2 o'clock IN
the afternoon.
NY subject next accosts those in the sew
entities and beyond. My word to them is
congratulation. You have got nearly if not
quite through. You have safely crossed
the sea of life and are about to enter the
harbor You have fought at Gettysburg,
and the war is over-here and there Skin
mish with the remaining sin of your own
heart and the sin of the world, but l guess
you are about done. There may be some
work for you yet on a small or large scale.
Bismarck of Germany vigorous In the
eighties. The Prime Minister of England
strong at seventy-two. Haydn composing
lis oratorio, "The Creation" at seventy
years of age. 1socrates doing some of his
best work at seventy-four. Plato busy
thinking for all succeeding centuries at
eighty-one Noah Webster, after making
his world renowned dictionary, hard at
work until eighty-hve years old. Rev.
Daniel Waldo praying in my pulpit at 100
years of age. Humboldt producing the
! immortal Cosmos" at seventy-slx years.
| William Blake at siXty-seven learning ltal-
Ian so as to read Dante in the original.
Lord Cockburn at eighty-seven writing his
best treatise. John Wesley stirring great
audiences at eighty five. William c. Bryant,
without spectaces, reading in my house
"Thantaposis" at eighty-three years of age.
| Christian men and women in all depart
ments serving God after becoming septua-
genarians and nonagenarlans prove that
| there are possibilities OF work for the
aged, but l think you who are passed the
seventies are near being through.
How do you feel about it? You ought to
be jubilant, because life is a tremendous
struggle, and if you have got through re-
specially and usefully you ought to feel
like people toward the close Of summer
day seated on the rocks watching the sun
set at Bar Harbor of Cape May or Look
out Mountain. l am glad to say that most
old Christians are cheerful. Daniel Webs
ter visited John Adams a short time before
his death and found him in very infrm
health He said to Mr.. Adams Il am
glad see you. l hope you are getting
along pretty we'll" The reply was: "Ah,
sir, quite the contrary. | find | am poor
tenant, occupying a house much shattered
by time. 1t sways and trembles with'every
wind, and what IS worse, sir, the landlord,
as near as l can make out, does not intend
to make any repairs"
An aged woman sent to her physician
and told him of her ailments, and the doc
tor said: What would you have me do,
madam? I cannot make you young again"
She replied: 81 know that, doctor. What
l want you to do is to help me to grow old
little longer" The young men have
their troubles before them; the old have
their troubles behind them. You have got
about all out of this earth that there is in
it, Be glad that you, an aged servant
of God, are going to try another life and
amid better surroundings. Stop looking
back and look ahead. o We in the seven
ties and eighties and the nineties, your
best days are yet to come, your grandest
associations are yet to be formed, your
best eyesight is yet to be kiIndled, your
best hearing is yet to be awakened, your
greatest speed is yet to be Travelled, your
gladdest song is yet to be sung The most
OF your friends have gone over the border,
and you are going to join them very soon.
They are waiting for you; they are watch
inc the golden shore to see YOU land; they