Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-08-06
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THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.
By Henry F.. Cope.
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'hy youth is renewed,"-Psalms

By Henry F. Cope.
Thy youth is renewed,"-Psalms
ciii., 5.
All men feel as the years come over
them that life has lost something it
never can find again. True, the days
mean more to us all and yet, some
how, they mean SO much less; life is
richer, yet poorer. Forty finds us
signing for some lost joys and most
of all for the power of seeing things
with youths enthusiasm and freshness
OF vision.
We need to know whether this pro-
cess Of hardening, this loss of the pow
err of the keen enjoyment Of ideals,
this s~lackening in response of enthusi-
asms is necessary; whether the heart
n spirit must get old along with
the years, and the love and hope stiff
fen up along with the limbs. Youths
dreams must fade, but need the spirit
become unresponsiye to the better Wis
ions that age ought to bring?
At its heart this passion for reado-
lescence is simply the longing to find
again the lost keen enjoyment Of life;
we would take it less as routine and
still less as a bitter dose; we would
feel some s~pontaneity, III real plea
sure in the days work and in the OF
coming years.
The renewal of youth is a renewal
of the heart. 1t is a matter of find
ing again the sufficient motives for
living. They come again into youths
keen joy in living who take time to
look up once in a while from their tasks
to the eternities, to set their little
round of daily doing in relation to the
great universe in its infinite course.
A man soon becomes only a cog when
he looks only at his own particular
wheel. Somehow we need always to
keep before us some sense of this
whole workshop of Il humanity in
which each is doing our part, in which
in some way all the work will fall
short If we fail of that part. Seeing
life whole, in its vast relationships,
trivial.
No life is trivial. It may be set
down in the most narrowing circum-
stances and yet it may reach up to
the stars. 1t may seem to be in lowli-
est condition INC yet it's influence may
&C through the ages. The size Of ev-
cry life depends on its ideals. Great
ness always is a matter of the heart.
You may bury a large soul, but it will
only spring into larger living.
The keen joy of living that belongs
to youth is simply the outflow of spon-
taneous physical powers; there comes
a keen joy in living to maturer years
which is born of the consciousness of
the greatness of life and OF the vision
of the reach of ones influences. the
possibilities of ones living A sufi-
cient motive comes when life is seen
as the chance to love and serve.
The boy shouts because he must;
the man may not shout, but still the
sparkle may come to his eye and the
blood rush to his heart and soul with
in him kindle at the impulse of a
great passion, with the enthusiasm of
attempting a great task. If you want
to feel the renewal of youth take on
a task worthy of our powers.
1t takes a large measure of faith in
the universe and in the goodness that
eternally reigns through all to keep
our hearts young. Nothing withers
the spirit and congeals the blood
quicker than the habitual pessimism
born of looking only on the fabric of
life from the under side, seeing only
the knots and tangles and knowing
nothing of the glowing pattern of the
whole.
Let the eyes once catch the vision
of the wonder of this world of which
even the individual is an essential
part; let the life but once feel this
sense of belonging to the universe, of
having a place therein n a part to
play as truly as the stars in their
and you have tasted of the
springs of eternity; passing years
makes no impress then, for you see
yourself as part of the eternal pur-
pose of life.
Each stage in the way of life has it's
own vision, it's own inspiration. They
are %eternally young who live always
in their day, leaving the past they
learn the meaning of the present; they
do it's work; they catch the uplifting,
invigorating vision of the coming
days. To put all the heart into life,
to live and to do greatly and not
meanly, to live for a great world and
a great tomorrow is to be eternally
young.