El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-03

rich Us"
OTHING is more apparent than
~ that our years are passing by.
4 One Inv one they are being num-
bered with the past. To those Of US
who love life. this becomes serious
thought. and at times I'VE find our
selves foolishly wishing we. were boys
or girls again. 1 say toolIsnly WISH
ing, for it is a foolish WlSh, ITS Pc
cause it is impossible anu any 'o 80 ~
cause we have once Travelled the peril
Gus pathway of childhood ana youth;
and though we have SuSLdIHeu sumo
bruises and carry some sCdI - q re-
suit of the conflicts through "Ilcu We
have passed, yet we N.Y. T3oSIyS 80
hOrrid pitfalls into when many nay e
plunged who started ire uLluei CIR
cumstances as prOpitious, or more 50
perhaps than we, and IOI one 40 tiOI
care to try it over again, 4OI Lo1hlIL5
back see some dangerous preclplces
over which my pathway leo ana L
shudder even now when tnlIlk now
a single misstep might nave pIecIpl-
tated me into everlasting rum. NJ
do not care to try it over again, IN
less I were permitted to go back and
start with my present store OF Know
ledge and experience. In that case l
would be willing to try, for tnlnk
could make some Improvement anu
correct some mistakes.
what the Years Have Taken.
But what have our passing years
robbed US of First of the freshness
and beauty Of childhood In one OF the
homes which I visited upon a certain
occasion I saw upon the wall IN q
gilded frame a picture of innocent
childhood [ asked the old gray-halred
sire who sat beside me whose the PIC
ture was and he laughlngly replied,
ssTf's mine" 1t was taken when he was
ONLY six months old, and as ] noted the
contrast between the cherub face of
the boy in the picture and the Wrlnkled
and haggard face OF the old man VINO
sat beside me L thought to myself, 1t
is true that our passing years are rob-
bling US of the freshness and beauty OF
our childhood. This to most Of US be-
comes a serious thought. We love the
beautiful and welcome those conditions
which tend to perpetuate it; but though
science has sought out many 1nven-
lions and expended millions of dollars
in anti-wrinl1le compounds, yet It has
never succeeded in preventing the
cruel plOwshaTe of time fUrrowing the
face, life's winters frOsting the hair,
nor the mystic smoke of age dimmlng
the eye. No truer utterance was ever
made by prophet, priest or king than
that made by the old prophet Isalan'
when he said: I'VE all do fade as a
leaf"
The Greater Loss.
But our passing years not only rob
US of the freshness and beauty, but
also of the innocence and purity of
our childhood All we, like Adam, have
had our experience in the Eden of
innocence and purity, but our passing
years have separated between them
and US until we bear but little resem-
blance to our former selves. The eX-
perience of Leonardo Da Vinci in using
the same subject for painting both the
face of Christ and of Judas, could be
duplicated in thousands of cases today.
ceived the idea Of painting his Won
derful picture of the la2t supper he
sought some time for a model for
painting the face of the Savior. he
wanted a young man whose features
bore marks of purity, and after an eX-
tended search he finally chose a young
man who was chorister in the cathe-
dral The young E1an had noble face,
his demeanor was above reproach and
Da Ninci used him as model Tor paint
ing the face of Christ. Shortly after
the young man went to Rome to study
music; but the temptations Of the
great city were too much for him. He
was led to drink and through drink
to the commission Of many other sins
and in a remarkably short time he be-
came a veritable Outcast.
While the young man was thus en-
gaged Da Vinci was working away at
his picture. One after another of the
Apostles were painted until at last
he came to Judas IscariOL and the
question Of selecting some one to pose
as a model for the betrayer confronted
him. In the estimation Of Da Vinci,
this must be some one whose features
bore unmistakable evidence of GRIM
inality, for none other would do jus
tice to one so wicked as Judas. After
travelling from city to city in search of
such a character he finally came to
Milan, and passing along the street
he caught sight of what he conceived
to be the most degraded character he
had ever met. Da Vinci hired him to
sit before him while he sketched his
features to represent the person of
Judas in that memorable picture; but
imagine his surprise when later he