Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1909 — A Sermon to the Retired. [ARTICLE]

A Sermon to the Retired.

By a Layman. This is entitled a sermon because it is so serious that the name seems appropriate. Its object Is to create : or revive a generous feeling towards all. It is intended to reanimate the I enthusiasm of youth to the honor of | old age and the benefit of both old and young. Its consideration Is I humanitarian; its idea* is, Christian; :it is based on those fundamental ; emotions of the heart to which have 1 been due every che: ished deed of history and evei y undertaking in which j the heart takes pride and comfo: t, so that, humanitarian or Christian, whichever the reader may be, this will appeal to the nobler sentiments of the heart. A few years ago a doctor named Osier created a sensation by d. coring or being charged with declaring that all men over sixty years of age should be chloroformed as they were useless thereafter. 1 He figured It on a dollar and cents basis. His deaeration was so preposterous that it evoked the indignation of all who were blessed with hearts other than those of the lower animals. Their respect for the aged because of what they had done for those who were young, crushed the inhuman attitude of the “Scientist”’ and elicited proof that many men preformed the grratest deeds of their lives after tl ey were sixty. There are many masterpieces of the intellect credited to men past sixty and the champion walking record of the world was established last year by a man sixty-nine years old. No, age dees not necessarily disutilize a person; if the heart is young, so is the person, Age is not a reason why anyone should withdraw himself from the progress of humanity. If it is a reason for people to cfceiish in their hearts a love for and a desire to help the younger ones, to leave behind them an exemplary, benevolent impression of their lives. It is natural for virile young hearts to ■ reverence old age and they are wounded when thtre is nothing to old age upon which to bestow their reverence. From childhood up the veneration of our grandfathers and our grandmothers has been instilled in us. The love is so pure and noble that it is too sweet to be crowded out of the heart or to be confined for want of something to devote It to. —People ht their -oldage can take an active, or at least a sympathetic, interest in the welfare of humanity as_ long as their heartbeat continues. It is all the nobler on their part if they do a kind turn for the younger gsne atlon, even if it does the older no pai ticular good from a selfish, standpoint. For many years Rensselaer has endeavored to seek a way in which it could grow beyond the present limits of its development .which have shackled its progress for years. At last a feasible plan has been found and has been pushed with patiictic vigor by the younger generation and has been aided by some of the representative old people—those whose interest in the city’s welfare has been | kept keen despite the years of their retirement from active participation in the city’s affairs. It is desired now that more retired people who have an abundance to keep them iu comfort the rest of their days, come forward and manifest their appreciation of the progressiveness and hustle of the younger generation, as manifested by the enthusiastic manner in which it has endeavored to make a Greater Rensselaer of the Rensselaer they left them, by giving as much aid to the cause as they feel they can. No loftier example could be set by the wealthy retired of our city than a good donation from them to the fund, the Commercial Club is endeavoring to raise for the betterment of all and not' of a few. But when it Is known that for every amount given something in return is received which will Increase in value far la excess of the amount given, It Is regrettable. Indeed, if our retired people, whose lives have been spent in Renssleaer, do not, after thinking over the matter, show their loyalty to the community in which their lot has been cast and in which they have prospered. It seemes incredible that age should cause to grow cold the interest and the love which every human heart surely must cherish for the spot on earth where It earned its reward by struggle, patience and sacrifice. It would be discreditable If It did. It is earnestly hoped that our older citizens, who are able and who have not yet done so, shall show their approval of the way In which the young* er generation has so courageously attempted to further glorify the elty

which the older generation by hard work and privation established. Is not the immunity upon which you have expended so much effort to develop and which has served you so well in return, worthy of your assmauce now? Come forward, ye old r heads, and show that your love for your town And community has not grown old with yourselves. You could not do anything more becoming to adorable old age than to give what influence you can In bettering the conditions of your children and others of the younger generation which has followed you in assuming the care cf the city of your creation. Come forward; let nothing prevent you.