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قراءة كتاب Lures of Life

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‏اللغة: English
Lures of Life

Lures of Life

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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LURES OF LIFE

LURES OF LIFE

BY

JOSEPH LUCAS

AUTHOR OF "OUR VILLA IN ITALY"

T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD.
ADELPHI TERRACE, LONDON

First published . . . . January, 1919.
Second Impression . . . . June, 1919.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

  1. THE LURE OF LIFE'S AFTERGLOW

  2. THE LURE OF HAPPINESS

  3. THE LURE OF SELF-DENIAL

  4. THE LURE OF MAGIC WORDS

  5. THE LURE OF AN OLD TUSCAN GARDEN

  6. THE LURE OF THE MONTELUPO PLATE

  7. THE LURE OF PLUCK

  8. THE LURE OF OLD FURNITURE

  9. THE LURE OF PERSONALITY

  10. THE LURE OF NICE PEOPLE

  11. THE LURE OF THE NEW DEMOCRACY

  12. JESUS CHRIST THE LURE OF THE AGES

  13. THE LURE OF THE LIVING WORD

  14. THE LURE OF THE EUCHARIST

LURES OF LIFE

I

THE LURE OF LIFE'S AFTERGLOW

A friend put me in remembrance that I had a birthday recently. Birthday emotion with an old man is an extinct crater. When I was young a coming birthday set my pulse throbbing to mad music weeks beforehand; it filled me with delightful anticipations. Romance gathered round the happy event. Our thoughts tripped capriciously along the primrose paths of the future. I felt myself preordained to greatness. The hoarded treasure held in bond for me was surely there awaiting delivery, and Time the magician's wand would wave its largesse into my outstretched eager hands, and, clothed in honour, I should ride prosperously all the days of my life.

To the youngster starting on the grand tour of life, the journey is a splendid venture. The cup held to the lips overflows with rich, ripe, sparkling liquor; every draught of it is nectar, exhilarating the spirits, expanding the experience, and discoursing music on every chord of the harp of a thousand strings. It is superb doing, riding life on a flowing tide when the warm south wind blows, and the air is redolent with aromatic spices, when driftwood floats from distant climes, and shore-birds sail in the central blue signalling that the Land of Heart's Desire will soon be reached. Truly youth takes life with a zest of its own.

Yes, the birthday is a happy day to the young. You rejoice that you are a year older and of added consequence and stature in the world of men, and a step nearer realizing the daydreams sweetly dreamed in school, when the magic of life filled you with wonder and awe. Birthday joy increases immensely until the period of ecstatic joy crowns all, when you score twenty-one years and write yourself down a man. You are no longer a flower in the bud worn in anybody's buttonhole, but a well-developed plant on your own root growing in the open. When you get twice twenty-one birthday joy cloys on your palate, and you begin to resent the intrusion of the natal day as an unwelcome guest that you have seen too often. He reminds you that you are growing old and growing older. Your friends may crown the day with roses and toast you at the evening dinner in your best champagne let loose for the occasion, but the obvious remains, and your response to their unblushing flattery is not gushing as of yore. You tire of birthday greetings and birthday festivities; your vivacity flags; your digestion suffers. The thoughts that adorn the occasion are chiefly reminiscent, for the horizon of the future is narrowing down and leaves less space for Fancy in which to fly her kite.

When I had covered my half-century a curious feeling like an electric shock chased along every fibre of my being on facing the cold, hard fact for the first time; I had grown old, and done it surreptitiously. Time glides smoothly, silently, swiftly, and startled as from a deep sleep, one marvels at the hot haste of the rolling years. You dread nearing the vortex of the great unknown to which we all inevitably steer, and finally sink beneath its swirling surface. The outlook is disturbing. Can't you put down the brake and gentle the pace? Will no opiate drug Time into forgetfulness? You try the rejuvenating influences of Mrs. Allen's Hair Restorer, but nothing happens. The bald spot on the crown of your head increases in baldness and shining splendour. The longer you watch it, the larger it grows. Time

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