Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-10-26
FROM THE GOLDEN BOOKS.
Thomas Jefferson on Life, Old Age
and Its Illusions.

and Its illusions.
! Mr. Jeffersons Letters.-The soil
tude in which we are left by the death
of our friends is one Of the great evils
of protracted life. When l look back
/ to the days of my youth, it is like
| looking over a field of battle All,
all are dead. and ourselves left alone
midst new generation, whom we
know not and who know not us,
A decline Of health at The age of
76 is naturally to be expected, and
is a waning OF an event which cannot
be distant, and whose approach !
contemplate with little concern; Tor.
indeed, in no circumstance has Nature
been kinder to us, than in the soft
gradations by which she prepares us
] to part willingly with what we are
not destined always to retain. First,
one faculty is withdrawn and then an
other, sight, hearing memory, affec-
ton and friends, flched one by one,
till We are left among strangers, the
mere monuments of times facts, and
specimens of antiquity for the obser-
walton Of the curious.
.
! A waning body a waning mind and
waning memory, with habitual i'll
health, warn me to withdraw and
leave the arena to younger and ADLER
athletes. am sensible myself if
others are not, that this is my duty
( If my distant friends know it not.
those around me can inform them
1 that they should not in friendship
wish to call me into conflicts, expos
/ ing only the decays which Nature has
4 inscribed among her unalterable laws
aud injuring the common cause by
sensible and puny defense,
Il is wonderful 10 me that old men
should not be sensible that tseir
minds keep pace with their bodies in
the progress OF decay. Our old Reyo
lutionary friend Clinton, for example
who was a hero, but never a man OF
mind, is wonderfully jealous on this
head He tells eternally the stories
Of his younger days to prove his mem
DRY. as If memory and reason were
the same faculty Nothing betrays
imbecility SO mucn Is the being insen-
sible OF it, Had not a conviction 81
he danger to which an unlimited &C
cupation of the executive chair would
expose the republican constitution OF
our government made it conscien
tieusly a duty to refuse when I did
the fear Of becoming dotard and Of
being insensibe of it, would of Il
self have resisted all solicitations to
remain.
You John Adamsl ask if | would
agree 70 live my 20, or rather 73-
wears over again. To which | say,
yea. think with you that It is a
GOOD world on the whole; that 1t ha~
been framed on a principle Of beneYo-
Illnce, and more pleasure than pain
dealt ont 10 us. There are indeed.
gloomy and hypochondriac minds, in
.haEHants of diseased boules, dis
susfed with the present and despair
ing OF the future. Always CaaHM4A-
,ha, the worst will happen becaus
ii may happen To these | say no"
much have cost Us gne evil, @hica
,haye never happened NV tempera
meut is sanguiHe. steer my ha
with Hope in the head. leaving Fear
lin the stern. My hopes, indeed. some-
times fail, but not oftener than th@
torehodines Of the gloomy tbs.
are. 7 acknowledge. even in the hap
piss, life. some terrible commissions.
heavy setafs against the opposite
mare of the account. But On npt
agree that an age Of pleasure is no
compensation fer moment % pain. !
think With you that life Is TAR mai
ter u account. and the balance often
lay. generally. in its favor