The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-03-12

Il
to give them Ice cream before we started
back. As we went In q gentleman stand
Ing upon the sidwalk said' " man,
pity you'll What have you got there-an
orphan asylum" MOL answered. i
have no asylum. have lot of teachers
here who are making me rove Cod and
love mankind and love life and love
everything God has made upon his beaut-
iful EARTH"
How to Be Young.
When we took that long ride / was
| the greatest winner. When those little
folks began to sing found myself sing
| ing In spite of myself. When they talked
and asked questions found myself say
ing to myself; Yes Just as these little
children are wondering about causes and
effects which are so plain to mo l am
wondering about troubles In this world
the causes of which are plain to God
and will yet be made plain to me. All
that / must do Ia to wait, and God Will
explain ALL" When the children became
hungry l found myself becoming hun
CRY. When they had their little diifer-
ences in the wagon / found myself the
peacemaker, which taught me a good les
son-how to be peacemaker among the
big boys and girls called grownup men
anu women. And. my friend, II you ever
want to have that old withered heart OF
yours beat and throb with happiness, this
is what lou need to do: Gather all the
babies, the boys and the girls Of your
noighbornood together, pile them into
a wagon II you are out In the country
leave your wife and the nurse at home
or at least make them ride along In an
other vehicle, and then by the grace of
God you go forth and learn one of the
mightiest lessors of life-how to keep
young by bearing part of the Joys and
the sorrows of the young.
Do you know how Thomas Chalmers
was able to accomplish his great work
of life? He always kept his heart
young and fresh and loving by associ-
ating with the youn~. His daughter,
Helen Chalmers, told my father that
during the darkest days Of the Free
church controversy he would spend part
of each day In playing with the chill
dren In the house or flying kites with
the boys upon Edinburgh common. Do
you know how Walter Scott kept his
heart young? He always sought the
companionshp Of the young. He con-
tinually had his children or other peoples
children about him. No more beautiful
word picture was ever drawn by authors
pen than a description of that love OF
John Brown In that essay the great au-
thor of "Kenilworth" Is pictured going
through the snow and the sleet to his
neighbours homes and there bundling up
hdiJOI fIeInlnBt ii Httlt girl Vi i've vi
six summers In her shawl or his cloak
he carries her back to his study. There,
while his pen runs rapidly over the pages
OF his immortal books, Marjorie chatters
on. Study Eugene Field and his love for
little children. Study the lives of our
authors like Longfellow and our preach
ers like Beecher and our merchants like
Cooper and our electricians like Morse
and our editors like Greeley and our
"a M low M
will find that, without exception. they
kept young by keeping in touch with
young people.
Influence of Children.
4 I did not have any babies Of my
own I would adopt some. No man can
defy the inroads of time unless he con-
tinually associates with the young folks.
What would an engine he In ship IL
1t We're lying loose in the hul1?'f said
Beecher. at must be fastened to II with
I bolts and screws before ii can propei
the vessel. Now. childless man is like
a loose engine. A man must be bolted
, and screwed to the community before he
can work well for its advancement, and
there are no such screws and bolts as
! children" That Is true There Is no
screw or bolt that holds man to the
duties of life firmer than the children.
But I go even further than did Mr..
Beecher. 7 hold that there are no in
fiuences more effectual to keep us young
while we are performing those duties than
these same little ones. The best way
to see the sunbeams dance is to watch
them through the dancing eyes OF lit
| tie child The best way to smooth out
ell the wrinkles of old age is to bury
them IN the dlmpled cheek Of smiling
baby girl The best way to send the
blood coursing through the withered ar
teries of threescore wears Is to play ''blind
mans burr or hide and seek" with the
! boys and girls after the supper table is
cleared and the school lessons have been
learned. The best way to grow Young Is
to associate with the Young. God pity
YOU II you cannot find any enjoyment
in making the SHOWS Of December melt
before the life giving rays of May or
| June.
| How shall we renew youth? BY COM
| nellinR our minds year in and year out
to seek new fields for mental and moral
| and sniritual investigation and new an
| Dlieations for doing our regular work
! by forcing ourselves to take ND new lines
| of study, by saving to ourselves Though
I may live to be fifty or sixty or seventy
| years of age. vet ] will never cease to be
a student and I will never cease tn be- in
| terested In the advancement which is
! going on all around me-" Yet we find
| the strange fact that many men after
| they have made their success In one line
! of work as n rule are satisfied with that
| success. and because they are satisfied
| thew begin to wither and shrIvel I'D and
gradually go into mental and physical
| decadence.
How They Became Fossils.
| This mental and physical depletion
which comes from being satisfied with
a past success cannot be better illus
| trated than by some of the faculties
| of our old colleges. Now, the college
| faculties of both the east and the west
were originally made up of picked men,
| The presidents and trustees of those in
situations In almost every case selected
the very brightest and best students of
| their classes. They were the honor men
| of the colleges who were asked to fill the
| honored PROFESSIONAL chairs. But, mar
| velous to say, although the college fac
| ulties of the old institutions In my day
| had been recruited from the brightest
men, vet almost without exception those
| faculties had large percentage of men
who seemed to be simple relies Of the
past. They seemed to be mummified men,
entirely out of touch with present day
events. They were walking "cube roots
or incarnated ''dative cases" or petrihed
| examples of Doric or Cornthian archi-
lecture. They seemed to be men who
had learned one thing well. but as soon
as they had mastered that one line of
study all their mental faculties were
then allowed to become dormant. Thus
they wiltered up into fosslzed and
enibalmed old age.
! Conditions in our college faculties
| have radically changed since the time
Il n mr.