Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1906-09-19
Sentiment a Matter of Age.

lover. She it is who looks across the
room at some one as old as herself
who was young when she was. and
meets in his eyes the glance of com
prehension that she fails TO find in the
younger faces about her.
Every generation receives its stamp
in the days OF its youth. The pres
ent generation is living in a time OF
wonderful material progress, in
time. too. when to be rich is the am
bition of nine-tenths of the communi-
ty and when to ninetenths poverty
seems the most dreaded fate in the
universe. So universal Is the desire
for wealth and for the luxuries and
privileges that wealth makes possible.
that various crimes and corruptions
have found their way into places that
once would have shuddered at the
thought OF them and scorned their
very name.
How can sentiment live and flourish
in time when gold and greed are the
idols OF mems hearts?
For the fourishing of sentiment
leisure is needed. Not only is the
present generation ambitious for ma
terial prosperity, but it is in a hurry
to get on. People no longer live con-
tentedly year after year. in the same
place; they do not strike their roots
deeply anywhere; they are always on
the road California or the Bahamas.
Europe or the far east, allure peo-
pie from their Eresides, and globe
trOtters are so common that their
coming and going elicits no comment.
Time was that a great traveller was
lion. but in these days he has lost
prestige, and nobody PAYS him much
attention. The age is one Of hustle.
haste and a thousand crowding en-
gagements. without leisure we can
not have serenity, and without sereni-
~ we do not have sentiment Con-
sequently, the men and women who
came to maturity when standards
were high and there was time enough
for all one had to do. are the sur
vivors of a beautiful by-gone time,
and in them sentiment still lives and
comes continually to bloom and fruit.
In Owen Wister's charming south
is an atmosphere of tender sentiment
in complete contrast to the vulgarity.
noise and display of a time when di-
vorce is not singular, when marriage
is matter of bargaining. and privacy
has flown from the domestic hearth.
1t is needful only to read in the
same month Edith Whartons terrible
arraignment Of a portion of modern
society in The House of Mirth." anC
Mr.. Wister's exquisite and wonderful
ly artistic story of Kings Port" to
see what has been wrought for us in
the way of mischief by the decay of
sentiment. Look on this picture and
then on that Having done so. take
lantern and search for the dear
souls in whom sentiment still abides,
and sit down beside them and let
them give you lessons in sympathy,
in chivalry. in womanly reticence in
manly devotion and in all that makes
life really worth living Not until
you do this and until you absorb the
sweetness Of their spirit can you hope
to understand what the poets mean
when they sing of love. In the ex-
quisite entertainments Of fairylore and
OF the old mythologies you find love
and life forever hand in hand.
There. is a practical style of think
ing and of acting that deals a death
blow to sentiment, but fortunately
with most OF us. there is yet the
capability of being awakened to ro-
nance and charmed with its potency.
if only we will let go our clutch at
the things that perish and reach out
hand for the things that are eter-
nal. Love of home. love Of little
children joy, hope, mirth. belief in
good men and good women. are the
altar of rose we call sentiment Shall
we let the old people have the monop-
oily of these?
Copyright 1906. by Joseph r. BowIes)