Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-03-09

nave tlQt Olu WltucTcu Heurt OF yours
beat and throb with happiness, this ia
what YOU need to do: Gather all the
| babies, tho boys nnd the girls OF your
| neighborhood. together. pile them into
a wagon IL 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 lessons 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 grcnt work
| Of life! He always kept his heart
young and fresh and loving by nssoci.
atlng with the young. 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
children in the house or flying kites
with the boys upon Edinburgh com.
mon. DO you know how Walter Scott
kept his heart young? He always
sought the companionship of the young
He continually had his children or 9TH
err pcople's children about him. No
more beautiful word picture was ever
drawn by authors pen than descrip-
ton Of that love by John Brown. In
that essay the great author Of "Kenil-
worth is pictured going through the
snow and the slcct to his neighbours
! homes and there bundllng np Marjorie
Fleming. little girl OF five or six sum-
iners. 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 I.ongfellow
and our preachers like Beccher and our
merchants like Cooper and our cleo
t-iciars like Morse and our editors like
Greeley and our presidents like VIII
liam Mckinley you will find that,
without exception. they kept young by
keeping in touch with young people.
The Influence " Children.
If 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 be In q ship II
it were lying loose in the hull:' said
Beecher. 1T must he fastened to 1t
with bolts and screws before it can
propel the vessel. Now. Il childless
man is like loose engine. 4 man
must be bolted and screwed to the
community before he can work we'll for
it's advancement. and there are no such
screws and bolts rs children" That is
true. There is no screw or bolt that
holds man to the duties of life firmer
than the children. But l 90 even fur
ther than did Mr.. Beecher hold that
there are no Influences more cffPctual
to keep us young while we are per
forming those duties than these same
little ones. The best way to see the
sunbeams dance is to watch them
through the dancing eyes of Il little
child. The best way to smooth out all
the wrinkles of old age is TO bury them
in the dimpled check of smiling baby
girl. The best way to send the blood
cOursing through the withered arteries
of threescore years is to play blind
mans buff" or ibid, and seek" with
the boys and girls after the supper ia
bic is cleared and the school lessons
have been learned. The best way to
grow young is 10 associate with the
young. God pity you if 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 conf
Polling our minds year in and year out
20 seek new fields for mental and moral
and spiritual investigation and new
applications for doing our regular work,
by forcing ourselves to take up new
lines Of study. by saying to ourselves,
Though may live 10 be fifty or sixty
or seventy years of age. yet l will nev-
err cease to be student. and l will
never cease to be interested in the adj
vancement which is going on all around
me-" Yet we find the strange fact that
many men after they have made their
success in one lire Of work as a rule
are satisfied with that success. and be-
to wither and shrivel up and gradually
go into mental and physical decadence.
How They Became Fossils.
This mental and physical depletion
which comes from being satisfied with
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.
Tho presidents and trustees OF those
institutions in almost every case Sc
lected the very brightest and best stu
dents of their classes. They were the
honor men of the colleges who were
asked to Ill the honored PROFESSIONAL
chairs. But, marvellous to say, although
the college faculties of the old institu-
tons in my day had been recruited
from the brightest men, yet almost
without exception those faculties had
large percentage OF men who seemed
to be simple relics Of the past. They
seemed to be mummified men, entirely
out of touch with present day events.
They were walking cube roots" or in.
carnated 'dative cnses" or petrified ex-
amples Of Doric or Corinthian archi-
lecture. They seemed to be men who
had learned one thing well, but as sool