The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1904, Page 14

14 THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. busy eady th with are com- ine-up The ring . n 2 Perha n and le would som it through or p: of the players would stand back and help guard the goal and not try to I > a goal every he ring, but another nlaver time they got near ould pass it on and let better position slide it on to another. But no. E v girl wants to make a blazes away whenever the ring. As a matter of s have not been playing team long enough Yo appreciate the of team work. When they get ted it is a case of every fellow for d the hindmost get a stroke the excitement it sometimes that two or more sticks get r of the ring at the sam1 ng it to the floor. Then the feree's whistle sounds Held Sve iy stops and it is up to the ere y which two sticks were in ring fi and these two players put the ring in play again, no other player being allowed within six feet of them 1 excitement it also some- s s that a girl's foot some- s handier thing to send rin an the stick, and here goes the whistle again: Fe The r a foul is a free shot for the de, the shot being made rom any point on the quarter line, with the goal protected only by the ' STRENUOUS YOUTH TO | By Rev. E. J. Hardy, M. A. t was the fash- mak youth, and toleratiomr Scotch ex- und that it was not t otch- for t yeuths should be until they ¥ th year, because that is they attain their * ty In the young members , but they were could make a eing a young to have In th: senior- used to b ho had lest all nerve ¢ ended regiments. coming to th id ately by an ex- man had n a cavalry vears of age r that v lead y-fiv copal be who would once bishops. M emeration 10 be ung e which we would all like “What would you give for ng fop asked Talley- ed wvld diplomatist My faith, I would to as foolish!™ ing to feel f that incurable disease, old « make the same sacrifice. Bow to the Inevitable. we need not elaborate a proof ch at present have those it boy and 114 is a be 3ut the sunny days of youth are the ! ays, or that the vigor and s susness of young men are most sable, because no one denies these things. What some will think much harder to prove is that there is a a happiness in old age if the right way. When ssed to Dr. Johnson a old age, the doctor thundered out: “What, would you have decrepitude?” Whether 1 it or not, if we do not die you e shall have the ex- per of old age, but it depends ver uch upon the way in which we spend the beginning and middle of our live whether old age is, or is not, in rccompanied by decrepitude. poet Rogers, who was often com- our case The piimented on being a fine old man, used acidly to reply: “There is no such thing, sir, as a fine old man.” Well, but to say the least, there are others, and it is the duty of every one to try and grow old gracefully. To grow old is natural; being natural it is beau- tiful, and if we grumble at it we miss the lesson it would teach. When peo- ple asked Leontinus, the teacher of Isocrates, who reached the age of 107, why he remained so long in this lite, he answered, “Because I have nothing whereof I can accuse my old age.” Sometimes old age, when it is free from great infirmities, trials and pri- vati , is the most tranquil, and, per- hap, on the whole the happiest period of life. The passions and ambitions of othersdays have passed. Time has allayed animosities and subdued asperities of character. St. Martin’ ummer lights with a pale but beauti- ful gleam the brief November day. It it to feel in oneself and to in others the sourness of im- mature and unripe youth disappear- ing with the advance of years. Just before he died the American poet, Walt Whitman, said, “As I grow older 1 am more and more ready to take the good there is in men and authors, without concerning myself about the bad.” It is only poor wine that grows sour with age. White hairs, which have been called “the flowers of the cemetery,” may not of themselves always inspire respect, but they cannot fail to do so when they point to a long life that has been well spent. Here in China, where the writer is now living, old age is much venerated and it is considered a compliment to inquire after your “honorable teeth,” the conventionable phrase employed in asking people their age. The Chinese admire a long beard and estimate age by the length of it, because social usage only allows a man to grow old when hc is a grandfather, or at least 45 years old. “What is your honorable age?” a Chinaman asks when introduced to a new acquaintance. “My insignificant years do not number more than thirty,” m be the modest reply. “Oh!” it is polite to exclaim in a tone of great surprise, “I should have taken you to be forty at the very least.”” And the other, even if a woman, will blush with pleasure at the insinuated flattery. The respect which the Chinese pay to their parents, and to old people generally, is one of the things in which they differ with advantage from ourselves. Chi- nese children have not to be reminded that a parent is, after all, one of God's creatures. The Chinese never speak of old fogies, or make parents feel that they have over stayed their welcome in the world. In speaking to a parent a child is taught to avoid all reference to old age, and every boy has held up to him as an example the conduct of Laon Laitze. This worthy fearing that the recognition by his parents of the fact that he was seventy years old would remind them of their own great age . used to dress himself in a child’s frock and play about the room like an infant. At the end of a beautiful summer, when the evenings begin to ‘“close in” and there are signs of approaching winter, we feel very sorry; but when winter does actually come we find that it is not without its good things, and we accept it cheerfully. In the same way we should accept old age, and not kick against it and then we shall find that it has blessings and that it need not by any means be a winter of diseontent. 0Old age cannot be called an evil when it is taken as Miss Mitford, the au- thoress of “Our Village,” took it. She retained her good temper, her enjoy- ment of the simple commonplace pleas- ures of life, and her literary tastes, with such a liveliness of spirit and such a tenderness of heart that it seemed as if time could not touch her, and that, notwithstanding her seventy years, she could not grow old. She Gymnasium Suit From the Olympie Arms Co. 2 . took as keen an interest as ever in the new poet, the new painter, the new flower. There are some people who are only too ready to grow old. Instead of this we should try to keep young in thought and sympathy. This is a very different thing from trying to play the role of youth after decay has taken hold of us, and decrepitude set in, It is a sad sight to see an old lady, wrinkled and withered, dressing, talking and acting like a very young one. Old boys dis- guise this foible a little better, but they are equally ridiculous. ‘When people said to Diogenes, “You are an old man, and should rest for the remainder of your life.” “Why so?" he replled; “suppose I had run a long dis- tance, ought I to stop when I was near the end and not rather press on?” People are quite right in these days of struggle to leave off money-making ‘Wwhen they have got enough, and give the younger generation a chance. In every town and parish, however, there is much work needing to be done by some one, that would save the old from the pains and ugly effects of idleness, and remunerate them largely though not in material coin. If the mpan who does not play whist or golf is prepar- ing for a miserable old age for himself, this is much more true of him who has no hobby. Some people profess to wish for a sudden death, by which it is to be supposed that they do not mean an unprepared death. goal tender, the other players forming a lane at a distance of six feet on either side. There are half a dozen command- ments, the breaking of any of which constitutes a foul. Here they are: Thou shalt not kick or otherwise strike the ring except with the stick, be goal tender, who may - foot to stop or kick the ring when it is between the goal posts. Thou shalt not rush the ring, which means advance it by keeping the stick continuously in the center or against the side. Thou shalt not cross-check thy neighbor, which is to say run between her and the ring, unless you are so much quicker than she is that you can shoot the ring before the collision takes place. Thou shalt not tackle or hold up an opponent. Thou shalt not shoulder, trip, strike, kick or in any way batter or bruise thy neighbor, whether on your own or the other side. Thou shalt not raise thy stick above the elbow. That the game is less rough than basket ball is an advantage or disad- vantage, according to whether you are a player or a play mother, a play- er's doctor or a player's father. Dr. J. M. Voorhees, the originator of the game, is physical instructor of the Pratt Institute in New York. He believes his game has come to stay and that it will have a distinctive place among gymnasium games. Of and advantages, he will probably always be more of a recreative than a com- petitive game, although the Pratt team has already been challenged to play a fonship game with =& team. Philadel “The game has a special value in educational training, a thing that is lacking in basket ball It develops rapid reactlor ful movement, ac- curacy and ju takes judg- ment to gaug, h which the ring tr acy as well as good control of the muscles to put the stick three-inch hole to send tl “Ring well adapt- ed to womer nen. It is now be- ing played in gir olleges, and I ex- pect it to be popular in the Young Men's Christian Association gymna: ums, where basket ball has failen into disfavor beca sionals have worked them on the teams Ring hockey Is an amateu game, fok it lacl ational fea- tures that a “When 1 sixty fee t The game wa sted to Dr. V - hees by an accidental occurren: the gymnasium. A class of fr with wands in hand ready to fall into dri caught sight of a rubber tire that had fallen 1 1 an firon dumbbell on the floor. e boys began driving the ring about room, and as Dr. Vo hees watched them he saw the possibi ity of a new game based on the general principles of field h , changed to cke suit the limited space of a gymnasium. He figured out a ring of flexible rub- ber, five inches in dia ter, with a three-inch opening through the center with beveled sides, and a stick with a convex end that would prevent the ring from being lifted from the floor. He then worked out a set of rules and— there you are. | GRACEFUL OLD AGE Author of “How to Be Happy Though Married.” XN [ | | -+ Most of us, however, would prefer a short period of waiting, as did one of the captains of Charles V of Spain. ‘When old and infirm he asked the Em- peror to discharge him from public ser- vice because “there ought to be a pause between the tumult of life and the day of death.” The best thing is neither to love our lives nor to hate them, but to live what we live well and not be anx ious either way as to their duration. We know several old people who are quite willing to leave life, but who are contented to wait as long as they are of any use. And they are of use. They sympathize with and give the benefit of their exverience to the young, and they teach to all a lesson of cheerful resignation. After the day is over the sun seems sometimes to hang for haif an hour in the horizon, as if to show how glorious it can be. So God lets some people, when their duty in this world is done, hang in the West, so to speak, that men may look upon them and see how beautiful is the ending of a well-spent life. A friend told the writer recently that the last days on earth of his aged father quite aston- ished him, so happily and peacefully were they spent. Having made his will and arranged all his business he said, “I am just waiting,” with as much sat- isfaction as a schoolboy says, “I am going home.” This reminds us of some words of the authoress of “Uncle Tom's Cabi quoted in her biography: 1 feel about all things now as I do about the things that happen in a hotel after my trunk is packed to go home. I may be vexed and annoyed, but what of it! I am going home scon.” * When asked what age he was a man answered “The right sidg of eighty.” “I thought you were more <than eighty?” said the inquirer. “Yes; I am beyond it,” he replied, “and that is the right side, for I am nearer my eternal rest.” If we cannot help growing old in years, at least we can all try to grow old gracefully. “Do you think I'm a fool, sir?” thundered a flery Scotch laird to his new footman. “Weel, sir,” replied the canny Scot, “I'm not long here and cannot ken yet.” If we ought not/to call a man happy till he dies, it is equally premature to call him wise till we see how he manages his old age. One is not growing old gracefully who becomes slovenly in dress, acquires odd tricks, makes disagreeable noises, praises and thinks of nothing but the past. From an old fogy like this the young, not unnaturally, keep away. Querulousness ,and pessimism should always be fought against. The old have had their good things, and Instead of expecting much now they should be ready to jump for joy If nothing ails them. The way to grow old wisely 1s the way of self-control, the way of sympathy and the way of unselfishness. The grand essentials of happiness In every stage of life, but particularly in the last, are having something to do, something to love and something ta hope for. Le Let those ve now who never loved before, who always loved now love the more. In Cicero’s famous discourse om old age the dialogue opens with the request which a young man mak to Cato to tell him how it is that he finds old age so pleasant while to it is a burden. He first a generally, that it is true that to many old men age is a wretched condition, and one which is deservedly contemptible as well as wretched® And he gives ir stances both from history and from his own observation of living men—but he says that this is not the fault or de- fect of nature, but of the men them- selves, And if old age is p and if ke is at all thy (as he de- sires to be) of the name of v ise, which his friends wont to give aim, it is because he has always obeyed the laws of nature, and submitted to her guid- ance as to that of a god. It is not likely that she, who has brought us well through ail the stages of life, should, like an indolent poet, fail in the last act. All things must have an end, and for man to be dissaiisfled when the fruit is ripe is, like the giants, to war with the gods. When a certain French woman, $0 years old, was running over the catalogue of her ailments, her physician at last said to her, “What would you have, madam? I cannot make you young again!" Or- dinary practitioners cannot do this, but there are four famous doctors who, if they cannot make us young can give us an old age not osty but kindly. Their names are Temperance, Exercise, Good Alr and Early Hours. Many peo- ple do not believe in these physicians, because they are cheap, unaffected and truthful; but when they are obeyed old age stays away far longer, and when it does come it is far less burdensome. sant to himself,