The mirror., 1912-04-18
Odds and Ends
w. C. Van D.
Old Age

10 Tic young HAL Olu aye ls q
hideous nightmare. a something OF
which he seldom thinks at all, but OF
which, when he does, he only vague
ly realizes that some day he too
will be like that old doddering
, grandpa; and then he thinks, what
in the world do old folks do for en-
joyment? how is it possible that a
person so old can think that life is
still worth living?" He knows or
rather thinks he knows that he
doesn't ever want to be an old man.
He even assures himself that he
would rather not be at all than grow
to be like that. 1t must be awful!
and with a careless laugh he dis
misses the unwelcome subject from
his mind.
To the middle-aged. the prospects
look almost quite as dreary; old
men are in the way. How is it pos
sible that an old man can retain his
vigor of thought and be of value in
the business world? Old men, the
middle aged man thinks, should
step aside from the business life and
allow themselves to be relegated to
the storeroom like other worn out
furniture. In fact the middle aged
mans opinion of the aged is more
intolerant than the young boys.
To the middle-aged the old man is
not playmate to be treated with
tolerant yet loving patronage, he
becomes a something that is in the
way, a something to be kindly if
possible, yet always firmly pushed
into the background; a something,
that with the middle aged mans in
creasing realization that he must
himself soon become, he breads and
subconsciously hates. The old man
to him is like skeleton at the feast. |
Yes, surely! hatred and subcon-
scious fear subtly mingle in the mid
dle-aged mans thoughts of the aged. !
And yet, strange, though it may |
seem to these others, the old mans
life is full of pleasures, pleasures
that these others do not ever dream
exist, and the old man, from a |
world of his own, looks with equal |
Indifference on the prattling toler- |
ance Of the child and the petulent |
remonstrances of the middle aged. |
To him alone are known the pleas
ures of contemplation, the secret of |
living not only In the past of him.
self but in the lives of others who
have left written memory of them
selves. To the aged alone is known
the full enjoyment of the cosy cor
ner of the room and the un-shiny I
place in the garden or the park.
To the aged alone is known the
pleasure of laying aside the work of
life and realizing that it never has
to be begun again. 10 the aged
alone is known the littleness and
the worthlessness of the many things
that these others are so ceaselessly
striving for. The aged alone are
able to form just estimate of the
things worth while of which per-
haps the greatest are content and
absence of desire. He sees as
through a magnifying glass the
struggles and the longings, the petty
articles and the wretched shams
He hears the clash of battle in the
business world and he smiles serene
ly as he thinks what-he and
he alone knows the value of a kindly
clasp as we'll as the treachery that
may lurk behind smiling face or
smooth address, He sits as i'll the i
theatre of the Gods and looks on life
as on a play that interests but can
not touch him. And how mistaken
are they who think the aged man
has nothing to look farward to. He
knows that very soon llfe's fiitfull