Norwich bulletin., 1915-12-11
Sunday Morning Talk
sIDEsTEPPINe THE DEAD LINE.

A fear haunting many a life is that of being laid prematurely on the shelf Before countless thousands of workers in office, shop, or factory looms the dismal prospect of inevitable displace- ment by successors with younger hands and nimbler brains In these days of highly organized, competitive business, and of overcrOwded profess sions, with everything run at high pressure, youth is at a premium. The limits of the period of highest eff cienCy are sharply marked. Workers survey gray hairs, or note their own failing powers with a shudder. as being prophetic of the day when their work shall be taken from them and their names no longer adorn the pay roll.
 It might as we'll be admitted that there i5 such a thing, in most OccuDa- tiOns, as a dead line In the case of thousands of workers there comes a point after which all movement is down hill. They reach and pass the crest of their powers. While many of course, never know the experience many others know it comparatively early.
 For illustration of such an approach to the dead line one need not walk 10 blocks, or possibly even, leave the chair in which he himself is sitting <AlIS OIle IS D6COLillllS OlU WnO gets the notion that he is no longer able to laugh, or play games,-or tramp. or cross the back yard without OVershOes
 or be out after S.3O D. m. or read a real book through. or do a hundred other things that we ordinarily assO- ciate with youth and vigOr. One is
 becoming old who acts old. no matter which birthday comes next The very ordered regularity of ones life may
 become peril at this point. There is | ., by rule, that he fall into a 'rut which
 differs from grave only in it's depth D He comes to be regarded by others
 in thought. if not spoken of in word, l as a dead one.'
 How now shall we give the lie to
 pr. Osler, and avoid that odious line that he stretched across human careers, to cross which is oblivion? .? Certain practical consideration occur at once. First, of course, the human
 machine must be kept in repair, since no one can be long efficient whose body is liable to play off on him. Regular exercise, a bath daily - the colder the better three simple and
 wholesome meals, abstinence from drugs and stimulants. eight hours of
 go far toward sending one to his work
 with powers at their maximum. It is the mind. however, that is of cnleL importance. It must be kept active and occupied with variety of wholesome interests. If thought has long run in narrow or sordid grooves, the channels must be broadened and sweetened. One must fight mental staleness as he would the plague Gladstone never grew old, and was
 doing as good work at so as at 40 because he had refused to vegetate Oliver Wendell Holmes was never an old man, retaining the buoyancy of youth in his later years simply De-
 cause he so sigEally eXemplified the truth of his own words: Tt is faith in something, an enthusiasm for some thing that makes life worth living" The dead line has no terrors for cACSe Tyho, straight on through youth
 maturity and age preserve an inquir- ing mind, an eager and expectant heart. For such forward looking spirits each new day brings fresh sup plies of vigor and of grace. They full
 fl the beautiful promise of the Scriptures as they still bring forth
 fruit in old age" Out of personal ex- perience they can match tfre testimony of Julia Ward Howe, who, at the age of 90 could say: "The deeper I drink of the cup of life the sweeter it grows the sugar all at the bottom
 THE PARSON.