The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-07-09
MEN AND WOMEN mo LONGER
so YOUNG" AT RELIGIOUS
SERVICE
DIR. OstrOm Pays Tribute to the Sweet.
ness and Dignity of Age. "The
Cream of Life" and the Open
Door to the Land of Rest

\ When the shadows lengthen anC
fall eastward from the setting sun
when the orb of life flames in serene
beauty through the gathering twilight
when the strife and noise of the morn
ing and noon Of life are hushed, anG
still small voices are heard beyond the
horizon of mortality; when memories
are revived without ripening and an
ticipations cheer the faultering step
toward the brighter, restful land;
when Faith and Hope walk forward
with the aged man and woman to-
ward the line from whence the sun
passes his light to other worlds--it is
then that Age is reborn in the Youth
of Eternity. Youth follows birth,
maturity follows youth and age fol-
lows maturity-inexorible as the
fight of time. But nature provides
its compensations. The rest at even
tide is as sweet as the conquests of
the morning were exhilarating. To
( be not afraid and pass on, to 20 for
ward with confidence, to close the eyes
without sigh--such is the mental at
titude which nature and religion bring
to the aged.
These thoughts were suggested
yesterday to an observer as he looked
over the audience of several hundred
aged people who gathered yesterday
afternoon in the tabernacle to listen
to a special address by Henry Ostrom.
There was no sadness apparent
there. If the aged men and women
did not move as lively as young peo-
pie, it was not because their spirits
were sad. They laughed the laughter
that belongs to spirits unconquered by
the years. They dropped tears from
eyes from which parents once kissed
away the tears of youthful ills. The
tenants Of aged bodies were young al
though the mortal habiliments show
ed signs Of the stress of years.
The meeting was bright and cheer
full, and Mr.. Ostrom evidei rare
tact in his manner of speak. to the
aged. He did not console wi Y them
He did not weep with them. He did
not warn them to beware the coming
of the fateful day. Rather, he eulo-
gized the dignities and delights of old
age, made serene by the consciousness
of a life well spent and of rewards
well earned. To him old age was "the
cream of life the span when the in
tellect and spirit best harmonic with
the great plan of Cod
The Twenty-third Psalm, "The
Lord is My Shepherd was the text
of the afternoon.
BLESSED is the man with comfort
ing religion" Mr.. Ostrom continued.
He saw in it the cure for all ills and
the removal of the pain from the ap-
proach OF death.
Mr.. Ostrom then turned his .atten-
tion directly to the hundreds of aged
men and women grouped before him.
He said the gathering of old people
was the greatest throng of the aged
he had ever seen. The young people
were not present to swell the crowd
and nearly all those present belonged
in the class of mot so young"
"Old age is the cream of life" was
his declaration. He said it was not
such burden to be deaf, for then one
did not hear what was bad; to be blind,
for one did not see that which was
better not seen; not to be able to talk,
for speech was too full elsewhere; not
to walk, for there were enough "gad-
abouts." All infrmities were touch
ed upon and alleviating benefits ex-
hibited for each of them.