The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1930 THE LESSONS OF A REQUIEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1022, 12 July 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1930 THE LESSONS OF A REQUIEM

THERE was nothing that was not beautiful in the religious ceremonial farewell to the late Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward the other day. And everything was impressive and inspiring. Representatives of all creeds in the civic assembly of mourners at the Wellington Basilica were touched with exquisite emotion, and made all the better for their solemn experience. They were given a noble opportunity to acquire memorable lessons on the use and purpose of life, the achievements of a statesman and, best of all, the solace of an abiding faith. Two outstanding lessons enriched the dignity and national value of the historic occasion. One of these was the youthful ardour that had marked the final political triumph of the dead administrator who, in his seventy-third year, had conquered the Dominion electorate and inspired men half his age with new hope and determination to achieve something worth while in their country’s affairs. The other was the vigour of the principal celebrant at the Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass—Archbishop Redwood, who delivered the panegyric on the notable life of the departed. “Unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years,” the veteran prelate of the Roman Catholic Church “was a commanding and impressive figure.” Let ardent youth and anxious old men think of that rare picture of alert activity and clear thinking power, and resolve to face the future with courage and unconquerable confidence! In the departing and remaining presence of these examples of matured youthfulness in achievement and service, one might "•ell aslc if there is any such thing as old age? Perhaps it-were better at least not to give an answer too impulsively, lest youth, with all its life and adventure before it, should be tempted to speak unkindly of doddering elders, while prematurely old men might he inclined much too readily to yearn for a return of the romance and glory of their youthful years. The question recently has been engaging the attention of philosophers and preachers in the Old World, where, due possibly to harder conditions of life than those generally experienced in this country, interest in the subject has been quickened by observance of the eager manner in which middle-aged men and women not only try to keep youthful, but actually and actively set the pace these days. As Sir Philip Gibbs, more of a sentimental observer than a sage, lias phrased it: “It is middle age which has most mental energy, most interest in the affairs of life, most staying power, and most enthusiasm for a game or a job.” Can it he true lliat, outside of sport and high adventure, youth is languid and leisurely, depending on its long view that there is plenty of time ahead to get things done? In any case the British nation lias been asked to believe that middle age alone is in n hurry—“to make the most of another spring, to walk toward another sunset, to set out on another adventure, to finish a good job, or to patch up a had one, because time does not stand still on 1 lie other side of fifty.” One imagines that many clever youths, particularly those who write smart hooks which are really not worth reading and will last no longer than a commercial catalogue of bargains, will retort that it, is because so many middleaged and elderly men in authority are in a desperate hurry that they stumble so frequently into difficulty and political error. It may he said confidently, however, that in the sphere of muddled politics enthusiastic youthful administrators have been no better in achievement than the elder statesmen. Here and there, indeed, experience has proved extravagantly that the young men have been a great deal worse in administrative effort. Of course, the great mistake both youth and its elders always make about middle age is the common belief that there is something inevitably dull and dreary about the middle distance in life. It has been said that if a man has not acquired wisdom at fifty, lie will remain and die a fool; also that any man of forty who cannot be his own physician, knowing perfectly what is good and what is had for himself, is altogether foolish. No doubt that is an exaggeration; if not, an amazingly large number of middle-aged men are paying physicians a lot of money for foolishness. *

It is beyond question that a foolish past lias given wise lessons for the new generation. Ten years of dependence on paternal governments over the greater part of the world has weakened the moral fibre of many people. In some countries youth as well as age has to rely on bounties and pensions for the necessaries of life. Young men clamour at tlie doors of Parliaments for assistance, and, in their social misery, mock the ardent spirit of sturdy, independent pioneers who kept youthful in an exercise of courage and adventurous enterprise. Whether the fault is with youth or age does not matter a great deal. It exists and persists. Surely it is time for yputh also to he in a hurry to set out on adventure and make good jobs rather than beg for easy billets, as if old age had overtaken them unawares at the beginning of life. No wonder an upright prelate, only nine years short of a century of active life and useful service, should have called upon his countrymen to imitate the optimistic faith and progressive activity and enterprise of a statesman whose mortal body will he laid away tomorrow, hut whose memory will live on.