Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1905 — WHAT IT IS TO BE FORTY. [ARTICLE]

WHAT IT IS TO BE FORTY.

To dlaoover a streak of grey hair in your beard. * And a thinness of crop where the upland Is cleared; To note how you take to your slippers and gown And hug to the fire when you get home from town; Ah, that's what It is to be forty. To find that your shadow has portlier grown; That your voice has a practical, business-like tone; That your vision is tricky, which once was so bright. And a hint of a wrinkle is coming to light; Ah, that's what it is to be forty. A sleigh ride, a party, a dance, or a dine — Why, of course, you’ll be present, you never decline; But, alas! there's no invite. You ore are not young folks, you see; You're no longer a peach, but a crabapple tree; Ah, that's what It is to be forty. A daughter that grows like a lilly, a queen, And that blooms like a rose In a garden of green; A dapper young clerk in an ice cream saloon, Both a dude and a dunce is to carry her otf soon; And a boy that Is ten and a pride of your eye Is caught smoking vile cigarettes on the sly; Ah. that’s what it is to be forty. At twenty a man dreams of power and of fame; At thirty his fire has a soberer time; At forty his dreams and his visions are o'er. And he knows and feels as he ne’er did before That a man is a fool till he's forty Chicago Record Herald.