Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1910 — The Tragedy of Age [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Tragedy of Age

(SfllMQ HOSE of us who have been privileged to read “The w Life of an Empress’’ can. scarcely have laid down] the book without having reflected with sadness onthej mighty' changes that age Is likely to) bring, especially to the once brilliant} and admired who In old age, alas!) appear faded, worn and well-nigh for-| gotten. I Contrast the picture of tie beautiful! Eugenie In the front of the book with} the one on the last pages, and one} can read with an approach to ae4 curacy the intervening events, stamping their impress on the altered coua| tenance and whole general appear-! ance. The charming woman In evening} dress, gay, courted, the cynosure of al| eyes permitted to behold her lovely ness, with drooping eyes and queenly) mien, shoulders that slope perfectly! and possessed withal of regal aspect—4 this picture, we say, bears but little) likeness to the pathetic one of later years, with its sad features?* stooping} shoulders and sable-clad figure. Reading the eventful story of the life, one cannot but feel profound pity) for this woman of so checkered a ca) reer. Once at the head of a brilliant) court, admired, flattered, sought andl followed, she reveled in the pomp andl luxury, the homage and adulation of! the buoyant, vivacious throng. Theni came the terrible disaster that left! her a stricken, childless mother. Internal disturbance, wrecked position! and Ultimate expulsion from court cir-t cles, the death of the emperor and) downfall of all earthly prospects of success or fame brought poignant anti! abiding sense of sorrow and defeat : With youth departed, title gone andl erectness of figure vanished, one of her earlier, friends, after meeting her; wrote In his diary: “At once recognized the Countess del Plerrefonds. With the help of her| long ebony stick she walked over to a parapet overhanging the sea. She leaned upon It and steadily gazed tK>J ward a point . . . where the contours of Corsica could be discerned; Her mind apparently traveled back to the origin and downfall of the family) with which fate had go strangely) linked her. “ ’ “As the cumbersome barouche drove away, I recalled the whole past—the Tuileries, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Saint-Cloud, Compiegne, Fontaine bleau, the Imperial Chaise, the Hundred Guards, and, above all, the supreme power and the dazzling beauty of this woman—of all this nothing re malned!” - % tfe, Early Vanity Without Profit. And this melancholy chronicle is but one that might be told of countless cases, not so prominent or wide ly known, but where ambition, pridel of place and brightly alluring proei pects have, by some sad irony of fatej been dashed to the ground, leaving! disappointment, desolation and ruined! prospects to eat like a cruel canker into heart and soul. The pensive eyes, with their mournful droop, giving one, as it were, heart-broken gaze, the heavfly draped! figure, shrouded midst unrelieved fall® and folds of somber crape, tell all too plainly the story of a lonely and desolate old age. It is said she sits about in some ofl the beautiful, picturesque gardenol brooding, silent and secluded, dreaming, apparently, all by herself, on joys! and triumphs forever past. There sit in lonely places today men and women who have seen "each earthly hope decay"; poor and weak and old, they yet have laid hold on eternal riches, and despite the devastating trials and sorrows of life, they are looking forward instead of backward. It is true that it is given to but few to have so illustrious ai past to dwell upon as the ex-empress! of France can recall, but the grandeur of the past only emphasizes for her the quiet and the dearth of her waning day*.

The Need of All.

After all, rich or poor, high or lowj we all stand In unmistakable need of the light of a “glowing eastern gate** as age tells its unmistakable story on face and hair and stooping frame. Every lengthened life holds its own tragedies. They may have been of n simple nature, yet hard enough they have generally been for the ones whohave had to hear them. But, let every mournful yesterday point to a glad tomorrow, for by the grace erf God all past defeats may point to coming vio torles. This is no idle speculation, fori we have the promise of the scriptures, that for the believer in Christ our light afflictions, which are (compare** tively) but for a moment, work for usi a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at, the things that are seen, or that have been seen, but at the precious and* beautiful things that are eternal.