The Washington herald., 1907-12-01
THE OPTIMIST.

Fear not Old Age. His face is grand.
Aud cain ard Tranquil. like land
That in its summer day and fan
Hath giy'n IFS fruits its strength. It's ALL
And now lies resting. while the
With kindly touch spreads DER It low
4 mantel white and bids it sleep
In slumber soft. in slumbcT deep
Once. some msnths ago, the Optimlst
was criticized because he ventured 10
find some optimistic and hopeful thought
even in a graveyard. 1 think that little
optimistic essay was written. as much as
anything. to show. If possible. that there
is no condition. no contemplation OF life
that should be without its hopeful out
look
Ordinarily. it may be. that optimism
should be considered a virtue belonging
by right 10 youth-hot-head, fiery. am
bilious youth with all the world before
it; its battles still unfought; the bitter
ness Of defeat still unfelt; the saver Of
victory still untasted. And yet after
all, is not that rather narrow view?
Your true optimist viii take little or 10.
account OF old age He win, with Young,
in his Might Thoughts. agree that:
We see times burrows on another brow
How few themselves IN that just minor
Why should we fear 10 grow old? Ey-
cry one knows Brownings fine utter
ance.
Grow old along with me.
The best is yet 70 be.
and the optimist Will always hold this
in his soul as eternally true. That is
what the hopeful outlook on life means.
The days pass and the years, and. II
We be honest with ourselves. we must
know how often we have failed utterly
10 reach the goal OF our desires: the
height Of our aspirations. But optimism
viii stay with us-an honOred and an
helpful guest-if we will but have It. to
tell us always that to-morrow-yes, to-
moreover the next day. we shall win,
win nearer TO our hearts desire.
And so. hour by, hour, day by day.
and year by year, we shall live our lives.
If our ideals be high. our hearts true.
our yearning for the best always domi-
nant within our nGtures-no matter how
many times We faH-we shall find old
age creeping on Us. not with regret or
fear that We are nearing the end, but
with infinite gratitude that so far We are
carrying our gray hairs without absolute
dshonor; that so far we have won our
way; and. realizing that because Of the
God-spirit within US. We have not failed
utterly, we may look calmly and hope
fully still, toward the end.
Richter. the great German philosopher.
once said: What makes old age so sad.
is not that our joys. but that our hopes.
then cease" but that was 10 take a too
narrow view OF the whole question. and
10 limit the bounds Of hope by the limit
Of the life we know. La Bruyere once
wrote.
Life Is a kind Of sleep. old men sleep longest: nor
begin % wake bat when they are % die. T. then
they take retrospect Of the whole course Of their
long lives year by year they End frequently neither
virtues nor commendable actions enough 10 distin-
g1Iish them from another: they c0nf0uud their
different ages; they nothing sufficiently remark
able hy which % measure the tine they have lived
they have had confused dreams without any coher-
encC-a tumble Of diversified imagery. but low and
sordid. Like those who awake. they are sensible
that they have slept a long while.
That really represents the truly pessi-
mist!c view Of old age, II IS not the