OLD AGE

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 8292, 30 November 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

OLD AGE

(Gentleman's Magazine.) To say that all men desire old age and yet that most of tihem grum : bTe> when it comes sounds like the answer to a conundrum. It is rather a truth which the moralist carefully studies and relegates to the proper position in his system. Doubtless Methuselah philosophised on old age when himself nine hundred years old, made the ordinary good resolutions which the old always dp, and was surprised when sixty-nine years afterwards the end came. So slowly does age creep over us that it is something of a shock to find ourselves even at the beginning of old age. Our faculties appear as sound as ever, our taste for life and its varied occupations and pleasures as keen, our schemes and hopes as eagerly cherished, but there is a scarcely perceptible langour in the framie, the limbs are stiffer than they used to 'be, slight shades of silver and gray show themselves in the hair. Even then no one suspects old age. At length a man hears .somie one say irreverently of him, "Old So-and-so" said, or did, such and such a thing. Then there can be no doubt. The shades -are beginning to deepen. It- is as well to look into matters, learn in what spirit old age must 'be welcoued, and what prospects a reasonabie man has of finishing the work he has set. himself to accomplish in this world.

No moralist whether in ancient or recent times, has dwelt so beautifully and with so much common sense upon old age as Cicero. Every scholar remembers his famous aphorisms with regard to it: "Naturam optiman ducem tanquam Deum sequimur," and again, "Aptissima omnino sunt arma senectutis artes exercitat-ion-esque virtutum." Theology reserves her teachings naturally for the pulpit, and warns off men from expecting the future in this world, a time which may never be granted. Serious thoughts spring forth with a religious man in due order, like the full-blown rose from its bud. The ordinary man. however, is wise if he makes betimes a gradual preparation, even in worldly matters, for old age. Settled habits must be cautiously laid aside. A nuah, for instance, who has been wont all his life to read more or less late into the night should innovate slowly. Any change may affect the digestion or the power of sleep. Outdoor sports, again, must be carefully indulged. It may be a question, save with a strong man, whether ib were not safer to give up hunting and shooting;—at least to prosecute them with much discretion. The proper sports for an old man are golf and fishing, and even the latter recreation must be used with fitting caution. It may seriously affect the heart, if it does not directly cause gout and rheumatism. A sensible person will relax his bodily efforts and be contented with less exercise t-Sat he required in earlier life; gradually dissociate yourself from, but dot not wholly banish, the favorite amusements of manhood —such seems the best advice to give with regard to this aspect of old age. Cicero sums up the four disabilities of old age; that it calls us away from active life, makes the frame weaker, deprives us of almost all our pleasures, and is but a step distant at any time from death. A man of the world would still dread these accompaniments of advanced life, but Christian teaching possesses a sure defence against their power. Nowadays a mam. decries old age Deoause it leaves him alone in tihe world, relatives and friends having gradually fallen off from him. Loss of memory, too, oppresses a man, especially if he be a scohlar. In other respects old age has brought him judgment, sympathy, and love. Home pleasures, and especially those diesrived from a flower-garden, as opposed to the only garden Cicero or "Virgil's Corycian old man knew much of—a kitchen garden—are always grateful to old age. Oalm and illumined like a Lapland nigiht is the model old man's ending. Envy, hatred, and other disturbing passions are conspicuously absent. He has schooled himself into peace and submission, and at threescore years and ten death comes to him as a friend.