GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY.
By Editor
VERY often have we heard this expression used; but if "much has been written" on the subject it has not been our good fortune to see it. The article copied below is an editorial in the N. Y. Independent. It contains so many good and suggestive thoughts that we wish to do our part in its circulation. As we are turning the corner of our three-score years the subject is one of peculiar interest to us. As we read this we feel to pray in the words of David; "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth; and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also even unto old age and gray hairs, forsake me not." We cannot imagine a condition more deplorable than that of being forsaken of God in old age; of grieving God's spirit and fretting our graces away, when they ought to be perfecting under the experience of our years, and our declining days be those of quiet trust and peaceful serenity. As all are "growing old," we invite a careful reading of the article by all:— "Very much has been written on the beauty of growing old graciously, and very much on the ugliness of a peevish old age. Doubtless, the most difficult thing for an old man to do—which requires more grace than anything else—is to see himself gradually replaced by younger men, who take the burdens which he would still like to bear and, perhaps, thinks himself still able to bear. Our admiration especially goes out to those who are willing, when required, to take a subordinate199place in their advancing years, and still work in such a position as cheerfully as of old. It is that one thing that makes the memory of John Quincy Adams dear—that he was willing, after being President, to serve faithfully in the lower house of Congress; and his district appreciated it and were faithful to him till his death. We remember many cases in which men in high educational positions—presidents of great colleges—have, at the age of seventy, put their resignation in the hands of the trustees, not willing to become, unconsciously to themselves, a burden where they had been a strength. "Ministers probably have especial occasion to show the beauty of growing old graciously. The most of them live to grow old; and the time comes when, without their own knowledge, perhaps, they become unable to meet the requirements of their position. A younger man is wanted—perhaps as colleague, perhaps as successor. It is beautiful and gracious, we say, to show so much self-distrust as to be ready, without feeling that an injury has been done, to retire and make room gracefully for another. Old men, near Heaven, called to be saints very soon, often show a temper of another calling when they hear their age complained of. We know very well that there may be an unreasonable call for young men, that experience and wisdom are often slighted; but, on the other hand, an old man may overestimate his own wisdom and the value of his own experience. The younger man may be better fitted for the new age. It is not every man that has kept his heart young and in sympathy with the young. Above all, the peace of a church is of more importance than the place of any man, old or young, and no man has a right to resist a general feeling that he has outlived his influence. He should rather be quick to allow that it may be so. "An unpleasant, but not very flagrant case of this failure to accept graciously what is inevitable when God blesses us with old age, is afforded in the case of a distinguished, aged professor in a theological seminary of the Southern Presbyterian Church. It became necessary to close the seminary, for lack of support. This worthy and honored professor opposed the suspension earnestly in the last meeting of the Southern General Assembly, and especially the proposition that he should be retired as emeritus professor on a small salary. In an address, delivered with faltering, yet energetic tones, and with the frequent need of calling for milk to strengthen him, he protested against his transfer from the active duties of his chair to this honorary position. But it was necessary to do it, and the only anxiety of the members of the Assembly was to know whether he would accept the position and support, which were offered with the kindest expressions of esteem. After the adjournment of the Assembly, the clerk of the board of directors wrote him of his retention as emeritus professor, but got no response. Six weeks later he wrote again, and requested an answer. The professor (his name is not necessary) now replied, without one word of thanks, mentioning that the action was taken without his consent, and concluding as follows:— "'Consequently, nothing remains for me to do but to stand in my lot, accept the position in which I am thus placed, receive the sum thus promised toward the support of myself and family, and adapt myself to my new and difficult circumstances. This I now do, being shut up to this course by the manifest providence of God toward me.'" "As we give elsewhere the example of a most eminent American naturalist as one to be followed, so we mention this as one to be avoided. We may reasonably expect, as Cicero says in an essay which all people should read that feel age approaching, that the 'captious and irritable disposition incident to this season of life will be much softened and subdued in a mind actuated by high moral principle and improved by liberal accomplishments.'"