The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-01-26
SAYS IT'S WICKED
TO GROW VENERABLE
important Thing Is to Keep
Ones Soul Young Even if
Wrinkles Appear

In one of the February magazines
there is an Illuminating article on the
wickedness of growing old Which should
be read by every woman and inward
ly digested. For growing old in it's
real sense should not be applied mere
ly to age or the matter of years, but
should mean mental attitude toward
life. We. need not be really old, unless
we elect not to keep up with affairs,
and allow ourselves to imagine the
world is leaving us behind. How sell
dom do we think of the great differ
ence that has come about in this mat
ter of age during the last fifteen years.
Formerly, when woman married, she
seemed to feel that her life in one way
had come to an end, and socially she
was almost placed on the shelf. Now
her life is but beginning when she
marries. And in another day the I'M
married woman had no place at all;
she was an old maid aunt and took care
of her sisters or brothers children,
but as for having any separate identity
of her own, that was not thought of.
Even ten years ago woman of thirty
was considered old. Now woman Of
fifty married or unmarried, can live al
most any way she pleases and is quite
an important person in the community.
1t is indeed the day of the middle-aged
woman.
The woman writer refers to the
shock which comes to every woman
when she first discovers a wrinkle in
her face. She looks at herself with as
constituent and for moment cannot
take in what has happened. She says:
Generally speaking, this recognition of
physical age is a elear-cut moment.
Spiritual age comes more subtly, so
subtly that sometimes it is never rec
ognized for what it is. 1t shows itself,
at first, in a vague Indifference to many
things-an Indifference that is too often
mistaken for superiority; the poor ag-
ing seul-travefing daily further from
the East-complacent labelling it's de-
feet a virtue"
This sort of Indifference to many
things hitherto vital, is what the writer
calls old age, and she regards this
mental growing old as infinitely worse
than few wrinkles. for the great thing
is to keep ones soul young, even If it
is Impossible to avoid the wrinkles. 1t
is in just these things that we mark the
contrast between the young-old woman
of today and the former old-yOung
woman of twenty years ago. For the
modern woman may not be able to
dN0lQ tllC ply SASIio VI as Ga
though she is clever at this, too-but it
cannot be said that she is Indifferent
about anything She regards life, even
inpersenally sometimes, as interesting
and worth while. Whatever the condition
or her age, few careers are now closed
to her. Women of sixty often take up
the study of French. OF some special
line which interests them and nobody
wonders or smiles.
Longevity seems to be in the air; a
men of seventy ten years ago would
have been considered very old. Now
men of eighty are often in active busi-
ness, and it is not considered remark
able. Society is no longer given over to
boys and girls, but women who are
grandmothers are often the most active
in social matters and their opinions are
the guide. The old in this country are
gradually coming into their own. Each
of us can choose whether or no she will
allow herself to become old, or by toll
erance and kindness toward life re-
main young in soul if not in body.