The Loneliness of Age

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 4, 1886

The Loneliness of Age.

The loneliness of age! How few think of this and treat with due 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. Their views and tastes have naturally grown apart. They share but little in common with others. The future of this life has nothing to inspire their ambition or excite their hopes. What calls forth the energies of others has no inspiration for them. They necessarily, to a great extent, live in a world of their own, with which those around them are not familiar. The communings of their hearts are with the scenes of the past and the companions of other years, that have long since passed away. Lover and friend have been taken from them, and their acquaintance laid in darkness. 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 and stirred 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. They have but little to interest them in this world. They are

“Only waiting till the shadows Are a little longer grown,”

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 age, to smooth their pathway, and to comfort them in their declining years!—Methodist Recorder.