| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 17 |
Page 5 |
The old, and those who are growing old, should never feel fro a moment that their work, even their best work, is done, when they can no longer march and keep step in the columns with youth and strong manhood. The work of the later and riper years is just as important as that of the earlier years. It is not the same work, but it is no less essential in the world. “Young men for action, old men for counsel,” said the great philosopher. The life that one may live in the quieter time, when the rush and the strife are left behind, may be even more lovely, more Christlike, more helpful, than was the life of the more exciting, stirring time that is gone.
It may mean more results, in real fruitage, though lacking in stir and noise. Here is a parable of a beautiful old age:
“Yon is the apple tree,
Joints all shrunk like an old man’s knee,
Gaping trunk half eaten away,
Crumbling visibly day by day;
Branches dead or dying fast,
Topmost limb like a splintered mast;
Yet behold in the prime of May,
How it blooms in the sweet old way!
“Heart of it brave and warm,
Spite of many a wintry storm,
Throbbing still with the deep desire,
Burning still with the eager fire,
Striving still with the zeal and truth,
Of the gladsome morning days of youth;
Still to do and to be, forsooth,
Something worthy of Him who care
Summer or winter failed it ne’er,—
This is motive for you and me,
When we grow old like the apple tree.”
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