Part 9

These silver hairs stole softly on, Like flakes of falling snow, That wrap the green earth lovingly, When autumn breezes blow.

Each silver hair, each wrinkle there, Records some good deed done; Some flower she cast along the way, Some spark from love’s bright sun.

How bright she always made her home! It seemed as if the floor Was always flecked with spots of sun, And barred with brightness o’er.

The very falling of her step Made music as she went; A loving song was on her lip, The song of full content.

And now, in later years, her word Has been a blessed thing In many a home, where glad she saw Her children’s children spring.

Her widowed life has happy been, With brightness born of heaven; So pearl and gold in drapery fold The sunset couch at even.

O gently fold the weary hands That toiled so long and well; The spirit rose to angel bands, When off earth’s mantle fell.

She’s safe within her Father’s house, Where many mansions be; O pray that thus such rest may come, Dear heart, to thee and me!

ANONYMOUS.

THE CONSOLATIONS OF AGE.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF ZSCHOKKE’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

From all I have narrated concerning my good and evil days, some may infer that I have been on the whole a favorite of fortune; that I may very well be philosophic, and maintain a rosy good-humor, since, with the exception of a few self-torments of the fancy, I have seldom or never experienced a misfortune. But indeed I have met with what men usually style great misfortunes, or evils, though I never so named them. Like every mortal, I have had my share of what is called human misery. The weight of a sudden load has sometimes, for a moment, staggered me and pressed me down, as is the case with others. But, with renewed buoyancy of spirit, I have soon risen again, and borne the burden allotted to me, without discontent. Nay, more than this, though some may shake their heads incredulously, it is a fact that worldly suffering has often not been disagreeable to me. It has weaned me from placing my trust in transitory things. It has shown me the degree of strength and self-reliance I could retain, even at that period of life when the passions reign. I am fully convinced that there is no evil in the world but sin. Nothing but consciousness of guilt spins a dark thread, which reaches through the web of all our days, even unto the grave. God is not the author of calamity, but only man, by his weakness, his over-estimate of pompous vanities, and the selfish nurture of his appetites. He weeps like a child because he cannot have his own way, and even at seventy years of age is not yet a man. He bewails himself, because God does not mind him. Yet every outward misfortune is in truth as worthy a gift of God as outward success.

In common with others, I have met with ingratitude from many; but it did not disquiet me; because what I had done for them was not done for thanks. Friends have deceived me, but it did not make me angry with them; for I saw that I had only deceived myself with regard to them. I have endured misapprehension and persecution with composure, being aware of the unavoidable diversity of opinions, and of the passions thereby excited. I have borne the crosses of poverty without a murmur; for experience had taught me that outward poverty often brings inward wealth. I have lost a moderate property, which I had acquired by toil, but such losses did not imbitter me for a single day; they only taught me to work and spare. I have been the happy father of happy children. Twelve sons and one daughter I have counted; and I have had to sit, with a bleeding heart, at the death-bed of four of those sons. As they drew their last breath, I felt that divine sorrow which transforms the inner man. My spirit rested on the Father of the universe, and it was well with me. My dead ones were not parted from me. Those who remained behind drew the more closely to one another, while eagerly looking toward those who had gone before them to other mansions of the Great Father. It was our custom to think of the deceased as still living in the midst of us. We were wont to talk about their little adventures, their amusing sallies, and the noble traits of their characters. Everything noteworthy concerning them, as well as what related to the living members of the family, was recorded by the children in a chronicle they kept in the form of a newspaper, and was thus preserved from oblivion. Death is something festal, great, like all the manifestations of God here below. The death of my children hallowed me; it lifted me more and more out of the shows of earth, into the divine. It purified my thoughts and feelings. I wept, as a child of the dust must do; but in spirit I was calm and cheerful, because I knew to whom I and mine belonged.

At the beginning of old age, I could indeed call myself a happy man. On my seventieth birthday, I felt as if I were standing on a mountain height, at whose foot the ocean of eternity was audibly rushing; while behind me, life, with its deserts and flower-gardens, its sunny days and its stormy days, spread out green, wild, and beautiful. Formerly, when I read or heard of the joylessness of age, I was filled with sadness; but I now wondered that it presented so much that was agreeable. The more the world diminished and grew dark, the less I felt the loss of it; for the dawn of the next world grew ever clearer and clearer.

Thus rejoicing in God, and with him, I advance into the winter of life, beyond which no spring awaits me on this planet. The twilight of my existence on earth is shining round me; but the world floats therein in a rosy light, more beautiful than the dawn of life. Others may look back with homesickness to the lost paradise of childhood. That paradise was never mine. I wandered about, an orphan, unloved, and forsaken of all but God. I thank him for this allotment; for it taught me to build my paradise within. The solemn evening is at hand, and it is welcome. I repent not that I have lived. Others, in their autumn, can survey and count up their collected harvests. This I cannot. I have scattered seed, but whither the wind has carried it I know not. The good-will alone was mine. God’s hand decided concerning the success of my labor. Many an unproductive seed I have sown; but I do not, on that account, complain either of myself or of Heaven. Fortune has lavished on me no golden treasures; but contented with what my industry has acquired, and my economy has preserved, I enjoy that noble independence at which I have always aimed; and out of the little I possess I have been sometimes able to afford assistance to others who were less fortunate.

AN healthy old fellow, that is not a fool, is the happiest creature living. It is at that time of life only men enjoy their faculties with pleasure and satisfaction. It is then we have nothing to manage, as the phrase is; we speak the downright truth; and whether the rest of the world will give us the privilege, or not, we have so little to ask of them, that we can take it.--STEELE.

THE OLD MAN DREAMS.

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

O for one hour of youthful joy! Give me back my twentieth spring! I’d rather laugh a bright-haired boy, Than reign a gray-beard king!

Off with the wrinkled spoils of age! Away with learning’s crown! Tear out life’s wisdom-written page, And dash its trophies down!

One moment let my life-blood stream From boyhood’s fount of fame! Give me one giddy, reeling dream Of life all love and flame!

My listening angel heard the prayer, And, calmly smiling, said, “If I but touch thy silvered hair, Thy hasty wish hath sped.

“But is there nothing in thy track To bid thee fondly stay, While the swift seasons hurry back To find the wished-for day?”

Ah, truest soul of womankind! Without thee, what were life? One bliss I cannot leave behind: I’ll take--my--precious--wife!

The angel took a sapphire pen And wrote in rainbow dew, “The man would be a boy again, And be a husband too!”

“And is there nothing yet unsaid, Before the change appears? Remember, all their gifts have fled With those dissolving years!”

Why, yes; for memory would recall My fond paternal joys; I could not bear to leave them all: I’ll take--my--girl--and--boys!

The smiling angel dropped his pen,-- “Why, this will never do; The man would be a boy again, And be a father too!”