THOUGHTS ON OLD AGE.

In him

THE old man is the pontiff of the past, nor does this prevent him. from being the seer of the future. The clergyman represents the priesthood of eternity; the old man that of time. experience delivers oracles and prophecies; and repeatedly, in those imperfect states of society where the offices of priest and magistrate are combined, it has rested with the ancients of the people to maintain and perpetuate the beneficent and saving conception of right and of eternity.

The aged are Christ's poor; their wrinkles are their rags; they warm themselves in the sunbeams; they beg their daily bread.

The gods ordained the blindness of Tiresias, that he might live more with themselves than with men. Old age is a species of blindness with reference to the outward world. It would seem as if the eye grew dim and the ear less sensitive to earthly sounds, that the contemplation might be more profound and the attention more fully given to the voice within. God succeeds to all the relinquished desires and suppressed transports of the old, and opens to them more and more of the interior life.

The silence which pervades the being renders the slightest sound audible. The eye is quick and practised; for experience is a second sight, showing what shall be in what has been.

The old man is a sentinel on the outpost of life. Sleep flies his eyelids. The watch he keeps is solemn as a knight's vigil.

With singular goodness God has rendered a disposition to sleeplessness nearly universal with the old. Life is worth more than sleep. God would fain multiply the attainments of the aged; and since time presses, He gives them an increasing share in the watchfulness which the Scripture places between prayer and alms. "Watch and pray," saith our Lord. This means of sanctification is easy to the old, but little suited to the young.

"Youth is the loveliest flower on earth," says an old Breton song. Old age, let me add, is the most savoury fruit. The ripe fruit is sweeter than the green.

Misfortune discovers to youth the nothingness of life; it reveals to age the happiness of heaven. The coldest Christians consecrate the morning and evening to God. So infancy and old age are especially under His patronage.

Thus, like the cross of Calvary, the old man is midway between heaven and earth, held to the one by his duties, to the other by

THOUGHTS ON OLD AGE.

his hopes. He believes, because he has proved all things, and only the truth of the gospel has remained at the bottom of the crucible.

Old age is life on its holy Saturday-the eve of the glorious resurrection-the morrow of all the distractions of earth and the sufferings of the cross.

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies. The law of contrasts is one of the laws of beauty. Under the conditions of our climate, shadow gives light its worth; sternness enhances mildness; solemnity, splendour. Varying proportions of size support and subserve one another. Different flavours give zest to one another. Nothing could vanish from the earth without leaving a void. Hierarchy-even in age is one of God's beautiful and harmonious thoughts, and he loses no opportunity of illustrating it in His works.

"In

In the pride of its strength, youth claims long life as a right, and rejects the idea of growing old. Strange to say, it is not honour that old age excites; it is contempt. Does the feeling attach to old age itself, or to the manner of growing old? our day," said M. de Chateaubriand, "people are old, but they are no longer venerable." This remark, perhaps, contains the whole secret of the slightest respect of youth for age.

We devour our years somewhat as a school-boy does the cherries in his basket-taking first the finest, then the good, then the tolerable, and finally enjoying those which we at first refused. Why should not old age be the ninth book of the sybil, for which we pay the price of the nine, and which is worth them all? Time is the shower of Danæ. Each drop is golden.

Christianity has been applied as a palliative to all ills; but there is one on which its transforming power has very seldom been tried, and that is old age. Almshouses have been built for the old, and pains taken to provide them shelter and lodging; but some effort is also needed to reconcile them to their condition, and reveal to them its resources. Life grows darker as we go on, till only one pure light is left shining on it, and that is faith. Old age, like solitude and sorrow, has its revelations.

From a worldly point of view, old age is a misfortune; and like all misfortunes, should be borne with dignity. It asks a staff, but not a crutch. Humanly speaking, old age is a disgrace; for a certain sense of shame undoubtedly accompanies it. It has a kind of inferiority; for it is timid. According to the world, it is a series of degradations. Time is its direct and natural enemy; and those who acknowledge the supreme authority of time become the executors of its judgment against age. In God, on the contrary, time is no more; and since eternity has already begun for old age, its last foe

ELEPHANTS IN A QUICKSAND.

is slain. Age would indeed be humiliating if, as the body decays, the soul did not gain in dignity; but as princes rise in rank as they approach the throne, so the old man mounts the steps of eternity by successive promotions.

It has been remarked, with great justice, that morality in individuals is grander in proportion as they are able to sacrifice the present to the future. Thus, the sensualist, blinded by passion, is carried away by the impulse of the moment. He yields to his fierce appetites as thoughtlessly as the Caribbean, who abandons his couch in the morning without reflecting that he will need it at night; while the moral man develops his plans, and by his own laborious effort attains the proposed end. When the end is worthy, the enlightened man takes no account of time. He can trade on long credit, and sometimes without even knowing that he is eternal, he can be patient.

One great cause of regret for old age is, that our Lord has not sanctified this period of life by passing through it. It is the sole age to which He has not bequeathed His example. The teachings of His childhood, silent though they be, are none the less instinctive. Still the gospel develops them but slightly. Only His middle life is, as one may say, in light; as if to teach us that, as children, we must hasten to become men, and later, to become saints.-Madame Swetchine.

ELEPHANTS IN A QUICKSAND.

On the banks of the river Ganges, says a military journalist, there are many quicksands, and during our expedition a somewhat distressing scene happened. An elephant incautiously came within the vortex of one; first one foot sank, then. another; and in endeavouring to extricate himself matters became worse; at last no portion of either of his legs was visible, and the bystanders had given up the poor animal as lost. Being, fortunately, unusually powerful, he three several times, with what appeared almost supernatural strength, drew a foot from the closely-clinging earth, placing it where, by sounding with his trunk, he found the most solidity. Not until after three attempts did the ground bear his pressure, when he gradually released himself. During the whole period of his troubles his cries were exceedingly dolorous, and might have been heard for two miles. His grunts, when they were at an end, were equally indicative of satisfaction. The internal application of a bottle of strong spirits soon dissipated

MERCANTILE INTEGRITY.

trembling, and restored his equanimity. Many unfortunate elephants are lost in these treacherous sands, when large quantities of grass or branches of trees are not at hand to form available support for them. After a certain time the poor beast becomes powerless, and the owner can only look with sorrow at the gradual disappearance of his noble animal, and lament the pecuniary loss he suffers, for all human aid is futile. They have been known to be twelve hours in sinking.

MERCANTILE INTEGRITY.

THE late Samuel Brown, Esq., a merchant of Boston, America, President of the Union Bank, and the owner of "Brown's" wharf, and of a large amount of real estate now the property of the Boston Gas Light Company, is still remembered by the older citizens. When the elder Quincy was mayor, with his wonderful sagacity he saw the necessity of moving the almshouse and the house of correction (then on Leverett Street) to South Boston. Mr. Brown owned a very large vacant estate where the buildings now stand, and Mr. Quincy called upon him and stated his purpose to induce the city government to remove the institutions to South Boston, and asked the price of the estate referred to. The reply was, 30,000 dollars. Mr. Quincy said 'that would do; and asked thirty days refusal and a bond of it, in order to persuade the city council to agree to the measure. Mr. Brown replied that he should give no bond, as he said his word was his bond always. The mayor took his word; and in twenty-eight days he obtained the proper authority, and again waited on Mr. Brown, saying that he had come to complete the sale of that land.

"What land?" said Mr. Brown.

"Why, the South Boston land we spoke of," said the Mayor. "At what price, sir?" asked the former.

"Thirty thousand dollars," replied the latter, "the price agreed upon.

"Did I say that amount, sir?"

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Well," said Mr. Brown, "since you were here I have been offered 60,000 dollars cash for it, and you can't expect me to sell it for 30,000 dollars to the city."

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"I do," replied Mr. Quincy, "because you agreed to."

"But you, being an interested party, can't be a witness. Have you any other witness or proof; and do you ask me to refuse 60,000 dollars for the land, and sell it to the city for 30,000 dollars."

"I do."

"You have no bond for it, have you, Mr. Quincy?"

"None, sir, whatever," replied the Mayor, stretching himself up with great dignity-" none whatever but your word; and that, you said, was your bond."

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And," replied Mr. Brown, stretching himself with equal dignity, so it is. My word is my bond; and for 30,000 dollars the land is yours."

And so it was.

The buildings were erected upon that estate, and there they stand, a monument to Mr. Samuel Brown's mercantile integrity.

To-day that land is worth millions of dollars to the city. Can any person but feel proud of this instance of sterling integrity? In those times 30,000 dollars was a fortune; but the world could not bid high enough to bribe Samuel Brown to a mean action.

BRAIN EXHAUSTION.

DR. RADCLIFFE, in a recent lecture, has given very sensible advice to those overworked people who are suffering from exhaustion of the brain, that fruitful source of disease at the present day. The leading symptoms of this distressing malady are loss of memory, depression of spirits, increased or lessened sleepiness, unusual irritability, epileptiform condition of the nerves, and sometimes transitory coma. The doctor advises all patients afflicted in the manner described to preserve a happy medium in the matter of diet and mental labour. He says the patient should not eat heartily, as excess of food tends to develop the disease. He opposes the train-diet system, as there is danger of starving the nerve tissues by excluding hydrocarbons from food. In the same manner with work. The patient should neither work more than is natural under the circumstances, nor should he rest entirely from brain-work, for, in many cases cerebral exhaustion is intensified by the brain lying fallow. In case of undue sleeplessness, the head should lie low on thé pillow; if there is undue sleepiness, it should be kept high. Thus, if the over-taxed brain