JULY 1, 1914 



Yesterday I happened to meet a man who 

 pretty much all his life had been the pink 

 of neatness. He is now over 80 years old. 

 I was surprised to see some spots on his 

 f'lothing- that I think were made by dropping 

 his food. Then 1 glanced down at my own 

 vest and pants; and (I am sorry to say it) 

 there were some stains there also. A spotless 

 clean napkin is by my plate at every meal. 

 By the way, perhaps I might confess that 

 one reason why it ?s so "spotlessly clean" is 

 because I do not use it. I am either too 

 busy or else I forget ; but I am going to try 

 hard from this day on to use that napkin 

 and keep my clothing clean in other ways, 

 so I shall not worry the good wife. Old men 

 are very apt to become careless. They 

 neglect going to the barber's. Did you ever 

 notice how much neater and brighter some 

 old gentleman looks after an expert barber 

 has fixed him up? Well, I have decided T 

 must go to the barber's oftener. I will try 

 to use that good-sized nice clean napkin, 

 and wash ray hands more frequently, and T 

 will spend more time in cleaning my feet 

 after I have been out in the muddy garden. 

 I will use the broom that stands by the door- 

 way of my sun parlor oftener so as to save 

 the dear wife the trouble of following after 

 me. I will try to have my places of work 

 more decent and in order than I have done. 

 If by some blunder or mishap the children 

 or gi-andchildren make a mes? of my work 

 I will try to avoid complaining. 



There is a bright sweet " little toddler " 

 who especially likes to share my apples and 

 grapefruit at about five o'clock every after- 

 noon, and lately she is quite fond of being 

 with me out in the garden; but she seems 

 almost sure to put her little chubby foot on 

 a sesame plant or a fall-bearing strawberry 

 that I am trying to nurse back to life. Shall 

 I go and tell " Carrie Belle " that I can not 

 have her little girl blundering around in my 

 garden? God forbid. I will tell you what 

 I am going to try to do. Perhaps I have 

 done it already. I have said out loud, "May 

 the Lord be praised for the brightness that 

 Carrie Belle has already shed over my life 

 since God gave her to us; and may the Lord 

 be praised tliat this bright little prattler, 

 another edition of Carrie Belle, has learned 

 to love — perhaps just a little — the cranky 

 old grandpa, even if he does scold her some- 

 times for stepping on his precious plants." 

 Does not that beautiful little text fit in right 

 here — " Ye are of more value than many 

 sparrows "? 



Now, dear friends, all of you who think 

 that you are growing old, and perhaps have 

 been afraid you might be a burden some- 

 times on the younger and busy world, shall 



we not, each and all of us, try a little harder 

 to hold fast to the Bible promises? Shall 

 we not try a little harder to be easy to get 

 along with — easier to let go of old things 

 and to take up with new things? Shall we 

 not be more careful about criticising the 

 younger ones who make so much of baseball 

 games, summer outings, county fairs, Fourth 

 of July, possibly circuses and animal shows 

 — things we no longer care for? Of course, 

 it is not incumbent on us to go to these great 

 gatherings unless we choose; but let us try 

 to learn wisdom from the past. 



The book I have spoken about — " Old 

 Ag'e Deferred " — puts strong emphasis on 

 the imjDortance of eating sparingly when 

 you are obliged to give up severe manual 

 labor; and it agrees almost exactly with 

 Terry in saying that old people who have 

 given up heavy bodily labor should eat but 

 little meat or none at all. Dr. Lorand rec- 

 ommends milk very strongly for old people, 

 xs it is ready for the stomach and bowels 

 without being" obliged to chew it " everlast- 

 ingly;" and I do think many old people 

 would not only live longer but hold their 

 powers much better if they would eat only 

 two hearty meals a day, and, say, apples or 

 some fruit that seems to agree with them 

 for a light supper. 



Now, once more, who is there among you 

 who is not only going to strive for a good 

 old age, if God so wills it, and at the same 

 time hold our reasoning powers, and, above 

 all, our religion, so that we may be of some 

 use to the Avorld instead of a hindrance, up 

 tc the last? 



Just recently I spoke of the boy who 

 came so near drowning, and said that, if he 

 gi-ew up to be a cigarette fiend or a victim 

 of intemperance, saving him from drowning 

 would amount to but little or nothing. In 

 fact, he had better have died an honest and 

 innocent boy rather than to have become a 

 criminal. Let us now apply this same rea- 

 soning to old age. We are talking about 

 living to be a hundred years old; but, seri- 

 ously, what is the use or what does it amount 

 to if we keep on living a life of uselessness 

 or imbecility — a burden to our relatives and 

 to the public? God forbid that I should 

 teach or insist on any thing of the kind. We 

 had better be dead and out of the way than 

 to live a life of useless self-indulgence. But, 

 may God be praised that we have quite a 

 number of examples of old men and women 

 who have been a blessing to the world, even 

 to the last moment of a good ripe old age. 

 I would suggest Benjamin Franklin, 84; 

 W. E. Gladstone, 89; Cornaro, who wrote a 

 valuable book when he was ninety years 

 old. Terry has been particularly strong in 



