Evening star., 1921-01-16

bodies. Adam Smith. his Wealth OF
Nations the foundation OF modern
political science. Between fifty and
sixty Plato and Aristotle gave their
principal creations to the world. Be-
tween fifty and sixty Kant wrote the
Critique of Pure Reason. Bacon, tho
'Novanum Organum.' and Locke. the
Essay on the Human Understandings
each of these three great works being
veritable pillars of modern learning
and progress.
Between fifty and sixty were writ.
ten Bunyan's Holy War and the
second part of Pilgrims Progress
Roswelfs Life Of Johnson. De Foes
Robinson Cruso.' Dante's Divine
conmsG,:, Comedy; MiI,on,s Paradise Lost
part of Cervantes' Don Quixote' tho
second pa- being written after sixty:
La Eohtsine's Fables. Gullivers Trav-
els. all treasures that will enrich
The average age of the Chief Justices
OF the Supreme Court of the United
states. perhaps the greatest legal
tribunal on earth, is nearer seventy
than sixty. Marshall having concluded
his prodigious labors of more than
three decades at eighty. Taney at
eighty-eight. Waite at seventy-two,
Fuller at seventy-seven, and White.
still presiding over that august body
today. at seventy-five. II is safe to
say that the average age at which
all the more than fifty associate JUS
tees who have occupied the Supreme
Bench since its organization were
still in the full exercise of their func-
tions is nearer siNty-five than sixty.
X *
Such is a partial list of the acieve-
ments of men who have passed the
half-century mark Eliminate these
achievements and you would blot out
most of the worlds advancement.
Were we to go still further. and
erase the deeds of the infants be-
tween forty and fifty. We would de-
stroy about all trat remains of human
progress. We would have TO elimi
nate the printing press OF Gutenberg.
the discoveries in electricity Of Frank
lin and Galvani. Priestley's discovery
of oxygen. the smallpox preventives
OF Jenner. Harveys discovery of the
circulation of the blood. La Sales
discovery of the Mississippi. Besse-
mers process for the manufacture OF
steel, Watts steam engine. Stephen
sons railways. the military feats of
Grant and Sherman and Cromwell and
Nelson, Rlackstone's Commentaries
on the Principles of English Law. the ,
services of Washington in the Ameri-
can revolution.
I'm science. music. art and literature
We "oulu W ilt oul dlIlloSl dll the Sur
viving contributions to human en-
lightenment. among these the concep-
tions of Herschel and Won Raer. the
compositions of Liszt and Sphor. the
creations of Dore and Rubens. and
Blake. many of the masterpieces of
Macaulay, Carlyle. Petrarch, Pope.
Dickens. Chateaubriand, Lessing.
Spurgeon. Dumas. Millman. Motley
and Gray.
There has been of late too much Of
a disposition to neglect and disregard
the old. l would not deprecate the
encouragement of young men and
women. they have "A high and effec-
tive mission to fulfill: but the old need
encouragement as we'll; affection and
solicitude are as welcome to their
twilight years as to the radiant
hours of the young. Beneath gray
locks may blaze the fires of genius:
perhaps a gentle word may wake in
feeble eyes the vision of an eagle.
Society. in its fatuous adulation of
mere youth, is falling into serious
error. Such an attitude is contra
diction of the truth of history.
violation of all the teachings Of ex-
perience. There are advantages of
which age alone may boast. The pas
sions that lashed the early years now
lie obedient at the feet of reason. The
impulses that stirred the youthful
soul to violence and sin are sleeping
in the cradle of a mature philosophy.
No more does anger break in curses
on the lips or envy hiss its shameful
whispers. Revenge no longer prompts
the uplifted arm: on the venerable
countenance there broods prophetic
peace
"The weaknesses of men and gov
ernments stand out in startling con-
trast with the ideals experience alone
develops and age alone may under
stand. Contemplation imparts a glory
to the furrowed brow as. in the silent
sunset of a noble life the storms and
follies of the world become mere dis
tant echoes. Society must learn again
that services of unmeasured value
may be rendered by the old. II must
learn again that in neElecting the
old ii is wasting one of its most valu-
able assets. 1t: is the general COM
plaint OF students of human institu-
tions that each generation repeats in
large measure the blunders Of for
mer ones: that if each generation
could begin at the exact point in
knowledge and experience where the
other left off. the progress of the
world would be wonderfully accel-
Grated. This complaint would have
far smaller basis if We but learned
to heed and love and glorify our older
men and women. And. after all, old
age is but fiction; there is no old
age of the SOUL