Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — YOUTH AND LIFE. [ARTICLE]

YOUTH AND LIFE.

What would the world be if by chance Youth held it futile to advance, Futile to dream of loftier days Than those it sees, of sweeter ways Beyond its common paths, of flights Beyond the measure of its nights? Ah, then the heart of youth would beat With little of its passionate heat, And hope would move in weary wise, With ligtless soul and unlit eyes. But youth Is mighty with desire, Untiring in its faith and fire, And enters where the seasoned mind Filters and darkly looks behind; Where tottering age bends low and weeps, Finding no profit where it reaps. If youth were not as youth must be— Strong with the strength of earth and sea, Strong with the glory of the stars, Defiant of any will that bars The long road winding to its goal— Then life would be a cruel whole. But look—there’s promise in the bow That arches with prismatic glow The heaven of youth.that heaven which lies Wide as the world-begetting skies. There's promise in the spring-time flood Of youth’s tumultuous, thrilling blood; And there is burning, brightening life Amid the clashing steel of strife. Ah, days of youth, they speed too fast— But they are matchless while they last. —GEORGE MONTGOMERY, in Harper’s Weekly.