The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-11-12

Captlous people will ask at once the
date, forty or sixty? and one had better
admit at once that middle age Is not
a fixed frontier which divides every Ire
into the same size of provinces, but
varies with each person. Some chllurcn
are Old at fifteen, with precocious talk
and weird solemn faces. and some men at
thirty have the air Of fifty. They are
stout In body. they mble In their walk
they drop oracuar remarks, they endure
with an effort he gayety OF youth. There
are others who defy time, and put tho
record or the Registrar General to con-
fuson.fEIt5is enteredain a government
Gbc.ok that&my friend George Bolton was
born in 1899, and he has presented eH-
tracts from that registrar for legal plr-
noses without a smile and without
blush. II one were to believe black ana
white men when written by an official,
and be bound by red tape, George Is now
we'll in the eighties but anyone who
knows George. and everyone who meets
him, Is aware that that entry is q Joke.
"A Perennial Youngster.
For one thing all his friends speak
about him by the name OF George al
though I, hasten to add he Is man of
substance and social position, OF the
finest courtesy. and the most spotless
life. "A gentleman Of the old school, one
would say, except that you must leave
out the word old" They speak about
him by his Christian name because
though they may be men OF fifty. George
Bolton Is a. boy beside them, mere
youngster, who Is hardly, entitled except
in formal address to be called Mr."
BY and bye he will grow up and come
into his rights, meanwhile 1t were absurd
80 think Of him as more than q young
fellow. 5
He is SO smartly dressed, with the
flower Of the season In his butonholc,
he has such a ruddy color through living
In the open air; his manner is so CHEEKY
with a never SO fit In my life," or
GLORIOUS winter weather" He is not
skating this year. but that is just be-
cause Of touch OF rheumatism. nothing
to MENTION otherwise he would be on the
ice with the best of them He finds a
good word to say Of every person. and
there Is sympathy and charity In the
grasp Of his hand. He goes eNery'"he
and everybody likes him, especially t4c
h young folk with whom no is. most at
hcme4 The only people who don t appre-
.ciatei HIM are aged and pompous persons,
who are forty years old, and have made
a little money, or have recently been in
cluded among His Majesty's Justices Of
the peace They cannot say anything
against him, but they consider him frtvo-.
lous George will never, i am afraid,
make old bones, we have given up hope
OF seeing him reach middle age. We
shall be buried before that day comes
and George will be attending our funeral,
and he genuinely concerned, dear old, 7
mean young, fellow Last evening I'll I
met him at a conversazione and while
the middle-agers We're trying to secure
comfortable corner, and giving UP their
seats to ladies' with grudGe. George
was bounding upstairs taking two steps
at time, and complimenting the young
women on their appearance and ins.re-
ing llpon dance before the night was
over, and maklns every one glad,
Years Don't Count.
This perennial youngster has his repre-
sentative In literature in Oliver Wendell
Holmes, w who sang the song OF "Tho
Boys" and warns all worn and Withereu
peopleSout Of the room;
l',,IIas there any old fellow got mixed
with the boys?
| IF there has, take him out. without MAX
| ing any noise! p.S RI
Hang the Almanac's cheat, and tho cat
alogues spite!
Old Time Is a liar! We're twenty to-
II night!'
Then he goes on to tell how one how
| is doctor, and another Judge, and
4 another n mayor, another a miniSier,
4 another poet, and so on. but of course,
! it's all a Joke, for they're only boys.
Eyes, we're boys, always playing with
tongue or with pen,
And ! sometimes have asked--shall we
eyerNbo men?
Shall wo always be youthful, and laush-
\, ing and gay,
/ Till the last dear companion drops smll-
Ing away?
Then here's to our boyhood Its gold and
Its grey
The stars OF its Winter the dews OF It's
May!
And ,yhen we have done with onr Iife