Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1884 — Old Age. [ARTICLE]

Old Age.

On the whole I think we old folks had better giVe up the idea of taking pleasure altogetherp but happiness is not denied us,' and in some respects is easier of attainment than when we were young. There are at least no false joys. Unless a man is a bora fool he knows, after fifty, the worthlessness of all pretense. He does not wear tight boots or 1 cultivate the nobility. He is content with his own position, and has learnt that an ounce of comfort is worth a pound of swelldom. He Inis no more illusions, at all events of the material kind. He knows what he likes, and sticks to it. He has no Curiosities about strange sherries. He is quite sure as to whether the sea agrees with him, and that moving after dinner does not. He may not “know himself ” in a philosophical sense, but he is admirably posted up in that subject for all practical pnrposes. The ~ accuracy of his views in this direction does not necessarily imply selfishness or even egotisin; it is merely the fruit of long experience. Of course there are old men who think of nothing but themselves; but if v you consult their contemporaries you will find that the habit began with them some time ago.Selfish or not, old age is certainly inclined to be tender hearted as regards little children; I don’t mean rude, mischievous brats, whom nobody really likes but their mothers, but nice children. I have seen the tenderest friendships existing between April and November, the overtures for which have always come, of course, from the latter, from the six'with the nought to the six without it; and I am inclined to think that children’s happiness is shared by old people more than by those less mature. This not, as some cynic may say, because we ourselves * are nearing second childhood; it arises from the far-back recollection of our own youth (itself sufficient to inspire tenderness), and from the reflection, born of the fullness of our years, that it is well for these little ones to gather the roses while they may. On the other hand, we do not “go a-wooing in our boys” with quite the gusto that has been imputed to us; it reminds us of our own vanished pleasures; and besides, it generally ends in our having to them (what, by the by, they seldom make for us) an allowance. Next to the young, as the years creep upon ourselves, we love and admire what is old. As a rule, though there are rare exceptions—Victor Hugo—like old men, who hail every new invention as heaven-born, and behold in every gleam of promise the Sunrise there are no such true conservatives as we old men. Change is abhorrent to us, even to the finding of our slippers on one side of the fireplace instead of the other. We cling to cld customs and old manners, to old books, old servants, and old friends. These last fit ns like old boots, and are as welcome, and, if lost (for they are never worn out), are as difficult to replace. Never did the great London sage give a wiser piece of advice to us than to make friends with younger men, lest, being suffered by the cruel kindness of fate to survive our contemporaries, we should find ourselves without friends at all. Old men have parts to play as regards their juniors, if they will. Some of us have power, some influence, some riches, and all of us who have not misused our lives some sympathy with those who need it. To us come "the young with their confidences, their aspirations, their requests, that for various reasons cannot be made to those on whom they have nearer claims, The young inventor brings his project, the maiden her tender secret, the bashful poet his lay. At the lowest we can encourage and put our experience at their service. If such help as we can render cannot be called a pleasure, it is only because the satisfaction we derive from it is so serene and lofty as to merit a higher name.— Anon,