The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-09

After maturity, experiences crowd more thickly upon us. We have no sooner reached the top of the hili' when the descent begins on the other side, almost unnoticeable at first, put memorable, and with a tendency to in- crease in speed. When we are going up the hill the days are counted by our acquisitions. The stage of the descent are marked by our losses. One by one the provinces of our empire are taken away from us. In all the forms of It's manifestations. the physical being diminishes. The horizon of our strength becomes narrower. There Is general falling-off of our sight. our hearing our pleasures, our appetite, our move ments, our muscular energy and the vivacity of our impressions. That Is the time when people think that they give us pleasure when they compli- ment us upon our youthful appearance because they are astonished to find we have any youth remaining in us. And the day comes when a man says to himself: q am no longer the same"
 And yet, it Is only the beginning of decrepitude, in its mildest form and attenuated preface. There are still some fine remains. We can still stand firmly upon this footing of war that is being prepared. Foot by foot, the ground is disputed with the enemies scouts. who open hostilities. We emerge from the first encounter still in a valid condition: we regain confi- dence in our power of resistance. Meanwhile the enemy Is working sec retly against us. The invisible arr my that Is mounting to the assault of our life has not only beseiged the doors of the city, but also has friends in the place. In the midst of our own be- ing its catapults are flung and its miners are at work. That is the greatest pity of all. One can be re- signed to the decline of physical vigor. but how can we accept moral eclipse intellectual decay? When driven back from bastion to bastion. to the utter most entrenchments, we shut ourselves up in the heart of the citadel. in the domain of spiritual life only too often do we find destruction installed in the sanctuary What has become of that fine intelligence. of that vast patro- mony of knowledge, of that piercing gaze? What has become of our strong will?
 Light has given way to twilligh tand firmness to fear. And of what value to us, in this disastrous liquidation, are the ideas imbibed, wherein the inward man is confounded with brilliant intel lectual attachments or precioups vir- tues? Evidence itself demonstrates 1t to us; for a few rare and privileged persons who retain, renew and increase their spiritual clearness of mind in the midst of outward decay, how many more there are who founder in intellec- tual defeat and moral darkness.
 Let us pursue the subject still fur ther; there is even worse than that That we should witness our own de- struction, may perhaps be looked upon as fatality. and man may vanquish and overcome fatality by resignation and jaith. But some men are them selves the workers of their own de- structfon. What can console us for the downfall that Is caused by our own will, for that devastation that the lover of vanity and of superficial life calls down upon himself7 That is no longer only old age, sad and discouraging-it 1t bankruptcy, 1t is suicide. Decay and death no longer appear as the result of inevitable wear. but the truthful and averaging words are carried out; '"The wages of sin is death"
 Do not say to me: Those are say ings of old age' It is useless to dark en the life of the young. We cannot change this state of things. While we are waiting for our turn to come under the cogwheelS let us enjoy the present. Let us eat and drink. for tomorrow we die"
 Do you not feel what wretched pal Natives such counsel offers us to save us from the nothingness that Is eat ing away our lives? What difference Is there between the compIainings of old men at the quick passing of time and the songs of joy of youth, who only needs the clearness of its eyes and the warmth of its blood to be happy? Is not this joy the source of old mems complaining? Are not these songs the brilliant soprano that Is accompanied at the foot of the scale of melancholy bass? With such a conception of life. by only looking at visible things and settling down amidst positive mat ters of fact, all riches are a preface to misery, all wealth is road to ruin We arrive to be sent away; We arc created to disappear; we grow up to be destroyed. What is the result of all our satisfaction at being here of all