The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-12-15
OLD MEN-THElR sHoRTcoM-
INGs AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Decome morose and cranky. They
find it hard to adapt themselves to
new and ever-changing conditions.
Using a quotation from the Bible.
they are prone to believe that there
were giants in the earth in those
days"-meaning the days when they
were in their prime and at their best.
They delight to believe that it was
the golden era of chivalry. Swelling
with benignant pride they boastfuliy
declare that then men were courtiy
to women. That men were brave,
and always on their metal; that they
would brook no insults nor handy cpl
thets; that disputes were settled at
the point of the pistol; that the field
of honor" was the place of glory.
Discussing morals, politics and re-
ligion, they fain believe that all men
then possessed the courage of their
convictions no. so now-and more
over had the courage TO meet their
traducers face to face. That they pos
sessed wit, eloquence, wisdom and
piety in a degree so pre-eminent that
they will never again bear repetition.
Alas, aiack! times are now. degen-
crate and greatness has departed
fled to british beasts,
And men have lost their reason"
Thus the "old-timers" criticize,
growl, find fault, complain, belittle,
grow gloomy, become pessimistic,
scatter the seeds of discord and dis
content, and, when finally they are
called hence the verdict of their con-
temporaries, if not made public, is at
least inscribed on their secret tab
lets: THAT man lived too long!"
Would that we could live so as to
grow old more gracefully and pro-
woke a more pleasing obituary.
But, my, my, speaking seriously, is
it not somewhat of a misfortune to
grow old in an age like this?
We look out in nearly any direction
and we see bicycles, motorcycles and
automobiles whizzing by, and in the
distance hear the rumble Of the loco
motive engine; we look overhead and
see ships sailing through the air, and
know that the very air currents will
soon be harnessed for the purpose OF
conveying messages of thought en-
tirely around the globe.
We see people flocking into Florida
as they never did before, and towns
springing into existence in a year
that formerly took twenty years in
building, and even the Everglades,
so long looked upon as the last of ere
alton, are being converted into a fairy
land of beauty, so one can but regret
having read and realized its truth
that
Whatever poet. orator or sage
May say of it, old age is still old age
1t is the waning, not the crescent
moon;
The dusk of evening. not the blaze of
noon"
Where so much is doing, and so
much is to be done, how can one-and
especially the editor of daily news
paper-get his consent to acknowl-
edge the soft impeachment of creep
ing age? How eagerly he reads and
reproduces the familiar words of
Longfellow:
"Ah, nothing is too late
Till the tired heart shall cease to pal
pitate
Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sopho-
Wrote his grand Oedipus, and Simon
ides
Bore off the prize of verse from his
compeers
When each had numbered more than
four-score years;
And Theophrastes, at four score and
ten,
Had but begun his characters of men;
Chaucer, at Woodstock, with the
nightingales,
At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales;
Goethe and Weimar, toiling to the
last,
Completed Faust when eighty years
were past.
There, indeed, are exceptions; but
they show
How far the gulf stream of our youth
may flow
Into the Arctic regions of our lives,
Where little else than life survives
Many think, when a mans head be-
gins being frosted over by Father
Time, that he should close his eyes to
the beauties and pleasures of the
world and begin making preparations
and shaping his steps toward the
tomb.
But why should one spend the best
part of his years, best fitted by expe-
rience and observation for the benefit
of his fellows, in gloom and melan-