The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-12-12
TRY TO "FADE" WE'LL.
It's Easy if You Are Kind, Broad
minded and Tranquil

that she had chosen a certain upholstering
material because it would fade well,
wondered at the phrase, and thought it
must be one OF those mysterious remarks 4
that grown persons were always making. B
How could anything fade well? Fading
could be nothing but ugliness-sere houghs,
grass dry and dead, flowers hanging with
cred on the stalk. But maturity
teaches us that things do fade i'll or well,
ard some of those whose early promise is !
the prettiest are the most unpleaslng IN
their decline, while others gain with years
grace and harmony akin to beauty.
OF mans handiwork It is only the really
good that stands the test Of years
triumphantly the paintings mellowing
with time, musical instruments gaining in
depth Of tone, fine old furniture of which
the wood seems TO grow richer in color and
grain. The house built upon noble lines
cannot be degraded by shabbiness; even i'll
its decay, it IS still beautiful ruin. The
mean and cheap building, after its first
superficial smartness has worn off, becomes
speedily the piteous thing which Victor |
Hugo described as "a new ruin The
grandmother who chose fabric with an /
eye to the way in which il would grow old |
! had an intuitive knowledge of tints and
knew that some color combinations blur |
and dim tremendously, whereas there are
others which merely grow to look dusty
and fade
As for men and women. we need only to
remember the companions of our youth
who never developed into real friends,
because, with years, characteristics of hard
ness or meannesS or self-seeklng made
themselves Enthusiastically apparent. The
high spirits that belong to the morn
ing of life rendered them pleasant enough
paymates; but when the mask OF youth
had fallen away they became positively re-
pellent They did not fade we'll a dis
agreeable young person we can excuse, be
cause We feel that he may not vet have
come to terms with life After all, youth
is difficult period, during which we suffer
from the attempt to adjust our ideals to
the worlds rule of thumb. But for the
unpleasant elderly person there is no
hope. Tie Is irreclaimable and will r@nain
fixed in his unlovely ways for the reu.a:a-
der OF his existence.
4 trait which makes maturity and old
age especially unadmlrable is want OF
, sympathy with the young arising, one
sometimes fancies, from a subeonscious
jealousy OF their vigor and elasticity. As
novelist has written: There are two
kinds OF youth There Is the youth Of
young years, which fades and disappears
altogether, and there is the youth of ma
ture. which is abiding, or which, at most,
shrivels and dies as rose leaves wither,
touched with faint color still and fragrant
to the last. Such natures never
bDi, Nv, 10. NJ
reason that neither jealousy nor vain
regret have blighted or blunted their
" sensibilitics Their minds remain hospi-
table to all that is beautiful and melodiou~
Thus hundred channels are opened
! through which enjoyment flows; and the
4 consciousness Of SELF and its increasing
limitations Is lost in the interest OF life
spectacle
In Father Prout's translation OF the old
t remaunt Of "Grseledis," we find a remind
:, er OF the simple charm of goodness and it
power to create and preserve love and
List to my ballad, for twas made eXpressc
happiness through the years:
Damses. for you;
Better to be beyond all lovelinesse)
s Loyal and true.
Fadcth fair face, bright beauty bloc,
+, awhile,
d Soon to departe;
Goodness abydcth aye. and gentle smyl.
Is Gaineth the hearte
l. Goodness abydeth aye-her smile is felt
Though beauty fail.
. Thence. too, spring serenity Of min,
and happy acceptance of hfe's manifesto
= tons. An egolst would perhaps be angere,
!, by the thought, "Save ourselves, there j
i but little fees that comes not back, bu
the poet found consolation in the redaC
ton that these things remain, ever
=. though we come and 90 on our rail MOI
4: tally. Some others also are glad TO thln)
q" that there will always be roses and sunset
and songs Of birds so long as the wor
Il shall last. Fading well, the latter year
o Of these tranquil souls seem as a calm
le bright season, when many OF the flower
e. OF Spring and Summer bloom again sweet
nc i'll the midst OF the Autumnal coloring 0
II the forest. There is peculiar clearnes
lis and freshness in the ar--a peculiar glor
IL IN the sunlight, before day fades into darb
X ness and silence And il the night bc long
Ill to the walker in that loneliest hour Jus
y before dawn, there is always "the mornln
IS star Of memory to remind the doubtin
% heart of that fairer star of hope whic
shall rise on other shores than ours.-NeN
Orleans Times Picayune