Growing Older

When the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was well along in years, his hair was white but he was still a vigorous man. Someone asked him why this was so.

The poet pointed to an apple tree in bloom and said, "That tree is very old, but I never saw prettier blossoms on it that it now bears. That tree grows new wood each year. Like that apple tree, I try to grow a little new wood each year."