THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 47

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR, No. 211. By Duncan Wright, Dunedin. IS A MAN TOO OLD AT SIXTY? But an old age eerene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night, Shall lead thee to thy grave. —Wordsworth. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."—Old Testament. I have lived long enough; my way of life la fallen into the- scar and yellow leaf; And that which should accompany old age, As honour, lovo, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but in their eiead, Curses, not loud, but deep, rnouih-hououx, breath, Which the poor heart would fain, deny, but dare not. —Shakespeare. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that ewira on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory, But far beyond my depth; my high-blown prid© At length broke under me, and now has left me, \veary and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me. —Shakespeare, "lirng Henry VIII." A BREEZY SPEECH. Some people with good memories may recall the somewhat striking speech of his Honor Mr Justice Gordon, at Adelaide, on the question "Is a Man Too Old at fciixty':" 1 know quite well what men of 60 say to the silly question; but meanwhile we will quote his Honor on the point. The fact that he was a distinguished jurist lends piquancy to his utterances. Sir John remarked that a famous physican, Dr Osier, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, had declared that at 60 a man was practically done for, as far as the active business of life was concerned. Again, he noted that at the Supreme Court a man begged to be excused from serving solely on the ground that he was over 60. This gentleman was pleasantly ridiculed by the learned Chief Justice—the youngest of the judges, who, at 74, was working as hard as ho had when he was 40. It seemed to be time that the absurb notion that a man should put himself on the scrap-heap after 60 was universally scouted. No doubt that — Treads more soft than ere did midnight thief That slides his hand under the miser's pillow And carries off his prize sprang a surprise upon most men when the clock of life struck 60. But that was not the first surprise the creeping tihief had given them. The Fikst Grey Hair. ''Many of them remember, for instance, the particular morning when, in the act of brushing thinning locks, they called out to the partner of their joys and sorrows : 'My dear, I have found a grey hair.' "Even that was a little chilling. But one moment's reflection brightened him up, because 'he remembered the fact that an enormous portion of the best work ot the world had been done, and was being done, by men over 60. The Pope of Rome personally controlled the work of the great Roman Catholic Church when over 75. General Booth was active when over 80. In his own profession Lord Halsbury, at 84, had projected and personally supervised a monumental work on the Laws of England. Lord Macnaughten, one of the greatest lawyers of the age, delivered brilliant judgments in the House of Lords and Privy Council when over 80. In the army, Field-marshal Lord Roberts was 68 when he took command in South Africa. Field-marshall von Moltke at 70 was chief strategist in the great Franco-Prussian war. The Duke of Wellington, after years of fighting, was well over 60 when he (from 1828 to 1830) was head of the British Cabinet. In art Titian painted portraits in his 99th year, and G. F. Watts finished his great painting "The Court of Death" when he was over 80. Lord Tennyson was over 80 when he wrote some of his finest poetry. Goethe finished 'Faust' at 82. In philosophy Herbert Spencer was active at 80. In fiction Meredith, Victor Hugo, Dumas, and many others were writing at 80. In statesmanship both Bismarck and Gladstone were at the head of affairs in their respective countries when they were well over 70. In architecture Sir Christopher Wren at 80 designed plans for Marlborough House. In surgery Lord Lister at 80 was able to deliver public addresses. In science Lord Kelvin's magnificant intellect was as clear as ever at 85. At 90 Alfred Russel Wallace published a monumental work."

Though old, lie still retained) His manly sense and energy of mind. Virtuous nnd wise lie was, but not, severe; He still remembered that be once was young; His easy presence cGieck'd no decent joy. Him even the dissolute admired; for ho A graceful looseness when he pleased put on, And, laughing, could instruct. —Armstrong. Threads Worth Holding. "At 60 (continues Sir John) the battle between courage and despair, which comes once at least to every sensitive mind, has, in the lives of most men, been fought, and the enemy vanquished. The sexagenarian has, or ought to have, settled his 7>hilosophy of life" and death, because it was a mistake to put off thinking about your soul till you had lost your hair and teeth. At 60 a man finds that after all there are threads of life worth holding. They were not always the threads he would have picked when he was young. Some of them, indeed, scarcely showed during youth at all. Such were the tender memories of the dead whom they had loved long since and lost awhile.' A Tragic Mistake. "When the man of <") looked back upon the woof of his life, it was the silken threads of kindness which shone most brightly. As he came nearer to the turnstiles of night, and realised that he could

take nothing more of the world's gear tlu-ough the turnpike than his mother brought over the toll-bridge, he began to recognise that the threads of self-interest were too often rotten strands. He saw that all that he could finally possess was what he had given away. And then, if ho was a wise man, he would cheerfully gird himself for the opportunities which remained for work and service. The lives of the great men he had mentioned showed that it was a tragic mistake for the man of 60 to sit down and think his useful life was over. Nobler far the spirit of Lord Tennyson's Ulysses, who sang :

Old ago hath yet his honour and his toll, Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done. "It had been happily said that Alexander the Great need not have wept for more worlds to conquer if only ho had been a little wiser and a little less self-conceited. He did not know it all. There were plenty of worlds to conquer that his royal sway had never reached—worlds above him, beyond him, and within himi. The feeling that there was nothing left that was worth while, that one had Known and tasted all life had to offer, was usually the conclusion of ignorance and selfishness. There were always cups of happiness undrained, grains yet ungarnered, blessings yet to be gathered, if they would but look for them. Time would treat them very much as they treated it. As a rule they would get out of life just what they put into it. If they wanted to make their life short, be idle. Monotony and indolent content were thieves of time. The secret of longevity lay not in years, but in keeping up an active interest in life. Many of them knew the famous lines : Wo live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

Keep Young and Keep Goixg. "Therefore he said to al] healthy sexagenarians (ones over 60) : 'Keep your activities stimulated by service to your fellowmen, and you will keep young. Do not lose your interest in life.' " The man's not old who plucks a bloom, And halts to hear a song. A truly breezy, wholesome speech. Happy the lad of 17. or the man of 70, Who can quietly and modestly sing : My bark is wafted to the strand By breath divine; And on the helm there- rests a hand Other than mine. One Who was known in storms to sail, I have on board; Above the roaring of the gale I have my Lord!. He holdi3 me when the billows smite; I shall not fall. If sharp, 'tis abort; if long, 'tis light— He tempers all. Safe to the land! safe to the land! The end is this; And then with Him go hand in hand Far into bli&sl DK JOHN GUMMING, whom I have seen and- heard, has also what may be called a breezy message for those, both men and women, who are growing- old : "Unless our hearts are filled with the joy that the Gospel imparts, our life must become gloomier the longer that it lasts. Do not those who have reached the middle of life and look back on the march they have left behind notice that the procession of those who are no longer with us grows longer every day; and scenes that made the heart bound and set the feelings all on fire 20 years ago now cease to produce the least effect when repeated, and even radient with more than their former brilliancy ? Do we not find that, try as we like, we cannot recall the romance of childhood, or rekindle the dying embers of departed youth, or restore to the canvas the bright colours that have faded and are gone for ever? But here lies the charm of Christianity—here_ is the preciousness of the Gospel of Christ, that as natural joys ebb away and are spent, heavenly ones rush into forsaken channels. As the past ceases to impress, the future and the heavenly begins to shower down new and better pleasures. "Old age without religion loses two worlds at once; the world that has past is gone, and it has no future world to go to; but old age inspired by living religion only exchanges the old world, that is ready to perish, for the new, the brighter and 'more glorious world that begins to burst upon it. "Of all beings upon earth, we pity an old man without living religion. We pity the young who have not that which can sanctify their joy; but still more do we pity the old who'se-hearts are the dry and empty channels of streams that have evaporated, and are not replenished with the livinrr waters that flow from the fountain of God and of the Lamb. Thus we see how precious religion is, even if for no other reason than that it takes the place of those joys that have withered, and cheers us as we go down the other side of the hill towards the valley of the shadow of death; so that, as the pleasures of memory fade, the pleasures of a sure hope shall become brighter every day." Massinger asks : What is age But the holy place of life,_ chapel of ease For all men's wearied miseries? And to rob That of her ornament, it is accursed As from a priest to steal a holy vestment; Ay, and convert it to a. sinfid covering. And now let us have a cheery song by Lady Nairn in her 78th year : "Would you be young again? So would not I. One tear to memory given, Onward I'd hie. Life's dark flood forded o'er, All but rest on shore; Say! would you plunge once more With home so nigh? If you might, would you now Retrace your way?— "Wander through stormy wilds, Faint and astray? Night's gloomy watches spread, Morning all beaming red, Hope's smiles around us ehed, Heavenward away I

Whore, then, are thoso dear once, Our joy and our delight?— Dear and mow doa.r,' though now Hidden from sight. Where they rejoice- to be, There is the land for me. Fly, Time, fly speedily; Come light and lifel