The Loneliness of Age by Washington Morse

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 2, 1903

The Loneliness of Age

By Washington Morse

WASHINGTON MORSE

How few think of the loneliness of age, and treat with tenderness and consideration those who have outlived their generation, and whose early companions and friends have been taken from them. Unable to engage in the activities of life, they are no longer brought into contact and sympathy with those around them, and no tie of common interest and mutual dependence binds them together. They necessarily to a great extent live in a world of their own, with which those around them are not familiar.

Their thoughts dwell largely upon the scenes of the past and the companions of other years, who long ago passed away. Lover and friends have been taken from them, and their acquaintances laid in the grave. The forms they admired and loved are gone, the eyes that looked into theirs with the tenderest affection are sightless, and the voices that cheered their souls have long been silent. Their early world of hope and joy has become a desolation, and they sit in silence, contemplating the ruin that has been wrought, only waiting till the shadows are a little longer grown, hoping to pass on to the reunion that awaits them, and the glad greetings of those they love. Who would not do what he can to cheer the loneliness of the aged, to smooth their pathway and comfort them in their declining years?