The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1905-07-28
THE HOME CIRCLE.
AN ADDRESS

1HE HUME NlKNLE.
AN ADDRESS
THE NINETIETH BIRTHDAY OF MRS
MARY ANN BIRCH, IN NEwTOwN,
OCTOBER 3, 1866, BY REV. NEWTON
II. MARBLE, D. D.-LOANED TO THE
BEE BY HENRY KINDLE.
"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head.
and honor the face Of the old man.
Such is the injunction of Holy Scrip
ture concerning the reverence due to
old age. And so obvious Is this duty,
that even the laws of the heather
nations Of antiquity enjoined respect
for the aged. Herodotus relates that
the Egyptians required the younger
to give place to the elder, when they
met in the way; and to rise from their
seats at the approach Of the aged.
Lycurgus and Plato speak of similar
Difference paid to the aged by the
Greeks. On the other hand, savage
nations treat old persons with great
barbarity, often casting them out to
perish with hunger, or to be devoured
by wild beasts, when they are no long
er able to take care Of themselves.
Children forsake their parents, and
leave them to die In this way. But
Christianity rises, not only above saw
age nations, but also above heather
forms of civilization, in her tender
care of the aged: She embraces them
with the arms OF her benevolence;
takes them to her heart; soothes their
sorrows; cheers their loneliness, and
sheds heavenly radiance on their de-
Ginning days.
Very old persons have generally out
lived their generation; they have seen
those with whom they we're associated
In the morning, and in the noon day
Of life, depart one after another, until
all are gone, and they are left stand
ing among the graves of whole gen.
eration,-like the solitary oak, around
which lies a PROSTATE and decayed
forest. No wonder, therefore, that
very aged persons have sense of lone
illness, which causes them to look back
to those who are coming after them,
for society and sympathy. The in
tirmities Of advanced life make them
also very dependent upon the
ASSISTANCE AND KINDNESS OF YOUNG
Err PERSONS.
Very much can be done to ease the
heavy burdens of age, and cheer the
dreary days OF declining life, by the
tender assiduities and watchful SYM
pathy of kind and affectionate hearts.
Human life presents few more beauti-
full pictures than the innocence of
childhood, the vivacity of youth, and
the strength of manhood, all minister
ing to the comfort Of declining age,-
the old grandfather and grandmother
living among their descendants, re-
spected, beloved, and watched over;
their every want anticipated; the
chair placed for them when they sit
down, and the staff brought for them
when they walk abroad; the playful
children hushed when their noise in.
commOdes; and the pillow smoothed
by a gentle hand, when sickness pros.
trates them.
We have all seen such living pictures
though they are too rare. Partial
neglect, manner and bearing which
seems to say that the aged are a bur
den, from which it would be a RELIEF
to be delivered, too often make u.
ashamed of our common humanity
You can have no better key to the
measure Of true refinement and Chris
tian sensibility, which characterize 8
family, than its treatment of an aged
member, dependent upon its care anc
sympathy. Old age has it's mission
We speak in loose way of the agec
being past their usefulness. But this
Is never true; they are always usefu
in the hand Of God, as long as he con
tinues them here.
In the same spirit OF ignorance it i!
sometimes asked, what little chile
that just appears on the stage OF life
and then vanishes, is sent into the
world for? Never did a child come
into this world, but had it's mission
here, however short it's stay. Never
did little child leave this world the
same as it found it. BY it's advent
aspirations were awakened, and by its
departure Impressions were stamped
upon characters, which will be as last
ing as eternity.-Though short was it!
stay,yet it did work which will never
be obliterated. So we say the seconC
childhood, old age, has work to do
God is using it to manifest and dis
eliminate human character.
The family from which an ageC
member has departed, is different
family, either for better or for worse
than it would have been had it never
been subjected to the discipline Of ole
age dwelling in it's bosom. Never
then, think Of the old as useless. They
oro doipo q work ovon whi)n thav arc