The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1912-01-19
SATURDAY NIGHT
SERMONS
.WSM3, BY
= @SAiuEk
WPURVISDl


wnLN YOUR HAIR IS TURNING GRAY.
Text. with io>s ihs vAl satisfy hils."
-Ps. sci, 16
Easter Sunday morning. 1912. Poncs
de Leon discovered Florida. He wns
searching for the fountain OF eternat
youth. Foolish fellow! Heaven ~ the
only land Of eternal youth. Mean
white we try TO hold youth, like health
after Il has gone. Ever stand at thu
cosmetic counter cf the great arus or
department stors7 Irs moro q TRACE
dy than a comedy. And the actoxv
are not feminine, but human. Thss
man with nervous hasts buying tho
hair dye isn't vain. He's only forty
6ve, but he has a vito and children 70
support and edueAts. Hts firm Ia cIIt-
ting down expenses and laying OF the
old men OF flfty." He has shaved or
his mustache and will gradually dys
his hair. Old age 6 haunting
specter. 1t terrorlres moro than fe~r
Of death. Life has three TRACE
dies-birth, death aud old age. Mort
people do not want to become Old.
Gray hair wrinkles. end Of earning
capacity, cane or crutch. pain burden
TO ungrateful son or impatient daugh~
ter, bring longing for the black
chariot that will not stop at your door
because you Wish for II. Backward.
turn backward. o time. in thy night."
Is the prayer. Bnt even God capnos
turn back the universe and give us
yesterday. The soul must sit on the
western porch and wait for the twi-
light and evening star-and after that
the dark!
Facing the inevitable.
We must not, dare not, surrender to
the years Don't haul down your fag
too soon. Don't quit your days work
at 3 o'clock. Says Fannie Crosby at
ninety three, 81 do not intend to grow
old" Says Sarah Bcrnhardt at-whRt
age does she confess? 1T Is for me 10
laugh at age" Whether the great
Christian song writer or the gay
French actress, both have the secret,
Il will not grow old" Mind and char
acter are the two great exceptions to
the law of age and decay, for 1t is not
snow on the head, but in the heart,
that gives old age. woman Is as
old as she looks, a man as old as he
feels. Titan at 100 was at his gTea test
painting, while Louis III. OF Hungary
died of old age at twenty. When you
admit you are old you are. In my
profession no man Is wanted beyond
forty, and at fifty he has crossed the
ministerial dead line" And the
church is paying the penalty. or
course If minister stops studying, tiee
up his knowledge in bundles ana
says, II am DONE" he is done. When
the pastor OF the First Congregational
church in Boston died in 1863 the
church decided IL would call a young
man, and it elected Mr.. Davenport Of
New Haven, then seventy years old
The Great Secret.
God has made our spirits immortal.
Age of spirit Is voluntary thing,
matter OF mental habit Men and wo-
men grow old by thinking themselves
old. They drop anchor with no inten-
tion OF putting out to sea again; then
energies decline and interests fade.
The tragedy OF old age lies chiefly in
closing the doors. shutting the win
dows. barring the house against new
faces. new ideas, new enthuSiasms.
When the years begin to multiply one
must fasten back the shutters, leave
the latchstring out. Don't get soure't
and imbittered at the world. 1t win
only tost!e you to one side and jeer at
you. Keep in the swim. Don't gel out
OF step. There's nowhere TO 70 bnt
into a chimney corner, where you win
die long before your burial. Don't get
the attitude of protest against new
things. Conditions have changed.
methods have improved. the world Is
growing. and you must grow with it
or die. Join in that world progress
even though that progress seems un.
real to you.
Keeping Rssss Fresh.
Watch your personal appearance.
The slovenly, slouchy old person nnds
the world drawing away Its garments
from him. Brush your teeth. Keep
hair and your beard trimmed It's an
easy and quick process from gentle
man to tramp. Brush your shoes;
dress for dinner. There's an uDa,ter-
able. unexplainable connection be
tween the external and the internal
And the world is nightly impressed
by the external. You've done double
ternally, and you've impressed the
ternally. and you've impressed the
world externally. | know man Of
ninety who is the charm OF his neigh
borhood. In middle age he stored his
mind with literature and current
events. He still discusses important
events in town, In nation, in church.
At an age when most men are
peevish and cynical he Is surrounded
by young people listening TO his remi-
niscences and discussion of the worlds
progress. And here is the great Sc
cret-colors do not fade. The per
cepuons become duller. but colors are
colors still. Get 1t? Life isn't staIe:
it's fresh. 1t isn't dull: it glows.
Some day you will reach the last hill
top. From there you'll view the land
NJ nrOmiaa IL ltfa has haap aH.af