GRACEFUL OLD AGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 18

GRACEFUL OLD AGE.

REUNION AT PITT ST. CHXJHCH.

"Tho reunion of groups of pioneers and old folk seems to be the order of the day," said the Rev. E. D. Patcliett, addressing the annual gathering of old folks in the Pitt Street Church this afternoon. "My experience of such gatherings, both here and in other centres, has led me to place very high value upon them. If youth must be served, old age must not be forgotten. There is a certain distinction and dignity belonging to tlie latter end of a welllived life that is reflected in the features of those who have left the three-score-and-ten mark far behind them. This is seen in the photographs of many of the pioneers which appear in the illustrated columns of our papers. No one can look upon those well-lined but finely modelled faces without long thoughts of respect and admiration. The fact that the Press so marks them out for distinction is an indication o f the high honour with which the world now regards old age. This is quite a different attitude from that of the not too distant past, when to bo old was to be tossed aside unwanted and unloved."

In the course of his address, Mr. Patcliett elaborated the idea that to grow old hopefully was to grov okl gracefully.