The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-05-12
FARMvILLE VA, FRIDAY, MAY p, 1905.

peacemaker among the big DOlS ana
girls called grownup men and women.
And, my friend. IL you ever want to
have that old wltbered heart Of yours
beat and throb with happiness. this Is
what you need TO do: Gather all the
babies, the boys and the girls Of your
neighborhood, 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
mlghtlest 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 great work
OF life? He always kept his heart
young and fresh and loving by associ-
ating 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 I'm 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.
lie continually had his children or 9th
er peoples children about him. No
more beautiful word picture was ever
drawn by authors pen than a 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 sleet to his neighbors
homes and there bundling up Marjorie
Fleming. a little girl Of FIVE or six sum
mers. 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 LOngfcllow
and our preachers like Beecher and our
merchants like Cooper and our cleo
triclans 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.
II 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 ship II
il were lying loose in the hullf sald
Reecber 1T must be fastened TO II
with bolts and screws before II can
propel the vessel. Now, a childless
man is like a loose engine. A man
must be bolted and screwed TO the
community before he can work well for
IFS 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 hrmer
than the children. But ] go even fur
ther than did Mr.. Beecher. hold that
there are no influences more enectual
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 a little
child. The best way to smooth out all
the wrinkles Of old age is to bury them
in the dimpled cheek OF a 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 hide and seek with
the boys and girls after the supper ia
BILE Is cleared and the school lessons
have been learned. The best way to
grow young Is to associate with the
young. God pity you il 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
pelling our minds year in and year oui
10 seek new fields for mental and moral
and spiritual investigation and new
sppllcations for doing our regular work
by forcing ourselves to take up new
lines Of study, by saying to ourselves
"Thoueh | may live TO be fifty or sixty
or seventy years Of age, yet will new
or cease TO be a student. and | VIII
never cease 10 be interested I'm the ad
vancement which is going on all around
me-" Yet we find the strange fact that
many men after they have made thelI
success in one line OF work as a ruiz
are satisfied with that success. and be
cause they are satisfied they begir
10 wither and shrivel up and gradually
20 into mental and physical decadence
This mental and physical depletion
which comes from being satisfied witt
q past success cannot be better Illus
trnted than by some OF the faculties
of our old colleges. Now, the colleg'
faculties of both the east and the ives
were originally made mp OF picked men
The presidents and trustees Of thos'
institutions in almost every case Sc
lected the very brightest and best stu
dents OF their classes. They were tn
honor men Of the colleges who wer'
asked to fiji the honored professoria
chairs. But, marvellous TO say, although
the college faculties Of the old institu
tions in my day had been recruited
from the brightest men. yet aimos
without exception those faculties ha'
large percentage Of men who seeme'
TO be simple relics Of the past. The,
seemed 10 be mummIfed men, entrel,
ont Of touch with present day events
They were walking cube roots or In
earnated "dative cases" or petrlhsd 81
amples OF Doric or COrinthian arch
lecture. They seemed 10 be men wn
had learned one thing well, but as 500
as they had mastered that one line o
study all their mental faculties wer
then allowed 10 become dormant. Thu
they withered up into a fossilzed an
embalmed old age.
Conditions In our college facultie
have radically changed since the tim