The Washington herald., 1920-02-23

| tence when she gave up the thing
in life that made life worth while,
when she ceased to have any objec-
tive in living. and became one OF
those who hold their hands and wait
for death.
The tonic she needed. and without
which she would surely die. was
work, the interest of work, and the
knowledge that she was still ac-
compiishing something in the world.
Not one of you who read these
lines but can duplicate these cases
hundred times over out of your
own experience. 1t is a matter OF
common knowledge how soon a
mans funeral follows his retirement
from business, or else how childish
and senile he becomes. You have
noticed how surely mother begins to
fail as soon as he goes to live with
Mary or John.
And. everybody says that old Mr..
Smith and old Mrs. Jones must have
been much feebler than they seemed.
and how good. and kind, and wise IL
was in their children to make them
give up their work and take life
easier. and nobody dreams. least OF
all their children, that the old peo-
pie have been literally slain by their
sons and daughters devotion.
For old people are like old trees
that have stuck their roots deep
transplanted. They wither and die If
you take them away from their old
environments.
For this reason an old woman Is
happier and better off in her small
house, without a single convenience
in il. and in the obscure village IN
which she has spent her life than
she will be in her sons Fifth avenue
palace with servants to wait upon
her and every possible luxury at her
command. No society can be brill
! liant enough to interest her as much
as the gossip of her own neighbors.
| No play as thrilling to her as the
meeting of the missionary society to
which she has belonged for fifty
years, and at whose festivals she
always contributes the prize cake.
! Moreover. mother in her own
( home is a parsonage. She is free
and independent and monarch of
all she surveys: whereas, in her
daughters or her sons home she
has no authority, and is but a
guest, welcome or unwelcome ac-
/ cOTulnR TO lnt hilu VI an ln-ldW
that luck has foisted upon her.
And the old man who dies in
! harness will not only die less soon
| but happier than he will as an
| idler. No job is such hard work as
killing time. That is why few sur
vive it unless they get accustomed
to loafing early in life. 1t takes a
natural talent for laziness that
| few Americans possess to enable
one to get any fun out of doing
nothing.
To old man who remains in
business has something to think
about. somewhere to go, something
definite to do, and even If he comes
home tired and worn out, he is bet
ter off than he would have been
had he spent his days in the ex-
hausting occupation of trying to
make work for himself, or thinking
about the state of his liver. or en-
gagged in that most melancholy
pursuit of attempting to learn how
to play after the play time of life
has passed.
There comes to all people a
psychology hour when they begin
to get elderly. when they are
tempted to give up. They are
tired. and their children say,
Come to us and let us take care
of you. You have worked enough. "
But it is a mistake to give up. II
they do they are always sorry for
it. For in little while they get
what Prof. James called their sec
ond wind. and they are good for
many more years of useful work
and independence.
So / say to every old man. Keep
on with your business. Slack up a
little IL you like, but keep the
reins in your own hand, and don't
turn it over to the boys. nor sell
it out" And I say to every old
woman. Don't give up your own
home and go to live with your
children. Visit them as much as
You like, but have your own home
to come back to. some place where
y3u are mistress"
Don't give up living. old dears,
while you are still alive.
Don't climb into the grave until
the coroner has sat upon the re-
mains and pronounced you per-
manently dead"
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