The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-11-01
THE DAYS OF OUR YEARS.

"And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How
old art thou?"
Jacob confessed to being what
\ would now pass as very old man,
but he protested that he had not at
Z tanned unto the days Of the years OF
the life of his fathers in the days of
, their pilgrimage.
\ Old people are disposed to protest
: that in some way or other they are
\ Iyoung. They say they are no older
than they feel, and things like that.
! They do not IKE to accept the evil
dence that seems good in the eyes of
younger people; they may even say
\ they are prematurely gray, and they
1 may have some way of accounting for
all the signs Of age which obtrude
themselves and challenge explanation
! They are prone to believe they can
heal themselves; and they make con-
, test against all the ills of the flesh
In some other month or year they will
4 have better sight, or better hearing, or
\ a return of suppleness of limb such as
they once had. Time passes, and they
fall asleep -.-nds say they seemed
so we'll only yesterday and today they
, are gone. The old deceive themselves
\ and they deceive those who are of
! their family.
1t is known out of all experience
that there is no year of lie secure
from death. There is struggle to set
! the hour of it, but no prophet has yet
appeared to fix the time.
\ Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wither at the north
winds breath,
And stars to set-but all,
Thou hast all seasons for thine own,
o Death.
"As for man, his days are as grass:
as a flower of the field, SO he flourish
eth. For the wind passeth over it, and
it is gone; and the place thereof shall
know it no more'
1t is a very great mercy that people
who have lived long do not know in
what hour they shall be called; but
they cannot very we'll help thinking
the time may be near.
"The days of our years are three
score years and ten; and if by reason
lof strength they be four score years, |
yet is there strength labour and sor-
row; for it is soon cut off and we fly
away"
Nearly everybody is familiar with |
the saying out of "a prayer of Moses |
the man of God" preserved as one of
the most pathetic and beautiful of the
psalms So it is generally agreed that
if one has lived to the age of 70 he has
lived his allotted time, and that if he
shall last longer it is by reason of
strength; but at 20 it is of common
report that he has come into old age. I
To the young man, the man just COM
ling into his strength, the age of 70
appears like very old age; and to the
man of 40 or SO the allotted age ap-
pears far off. But when one has come
to three score and ten the way back,
even to the earliest recollection of
childhood, seems not far.
A disadvantage of being old is that
it appears to be the general purpose
of mankind to see that the fact does
not escape the mind of the aged. The
preacher, if he is not himself DID, is
RI in inn uyG
should do before they are 70 and have
reached the age of incapacity and
stand shrinking at the jumping off
place. The young reporter mentions
the old man with emphasis on his
years; and even men of go do not
escape from suggestion bearing hard
on the feebleness of age. The old
man is likely to hear from himself
wherever he goes; and sometimes he
hears that his life must be a burden.
And yet half score or full score of
der is that even the young travelling
that way with the speed of years
should reckon the distance far.
Another disadvantage of being old
comes of the separations that follow
fast. One friend after another is
called away, and younger people are
busy with their own affairs, making
their friends and choosing comrades;
and so it may seem to the one old that
soon there will be no one left on his i,
list of friends. 1t seems that death is
very busy, and with each recurring
death of one long known there is the .
melancholy intrusion of the thought
that the day of ones own going cannot
be far away. One who is old must
|argue with himself. He must put
away suggestion, lest he be convinced
that desire to stay is an offense to the
ls-,s~