Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1838-09-08
NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN.

on. which f,rcihiT illustrates, by reference to :
wcil-aatilen icatrd facts, that is nerer tool
old to leara. - a ~ ssssa;,
Socrates, at an extreme old age, learnt TO play
OH misicai instruments This would look ride
uluus 70: sorrc Of the rich old men in city.
especially if they should .akei into their heads
Il, thsum q guitar under lady window, which
Socrates did not do, but only learnt TO play upon
some instrument OF his time, not guitar, Tor the
purpose of resisting The tear OF old age.
Cato, a. eighty years oil age. thought proper to
learn the Greek language. Many Of our young
a, thirty AMI forty have forgotten even the alpha
bet Of Ian = IA ge the knowledge OF which
, cessary 20 enter college. \ hns comment upon
ti,sr loye of letters, tIuly.
Pu:arci. when between seventy and esnty,
commenced The study of the Latin. Many of
orr ,oane lawyers rot thirty years oil age think
HAT aiei prius. sciss fae;as, &c. English OK
pressons; and if You tell then that a kno~Icdge /
OF the Ltiin would make them appear a little more |
respectable in their profession. they Will reply !
,hot they too old to think of learning.
! Brcacio thirty years of age when he com !
mcuccd his studies in polite litcrntare. Yet he |
became one of the three great masters of the Tus-
eau dialect, Dante and Pctrarca being the other |
two.-Ihcrc arc many among US ten years young t
or than Boccacio Who dying of canii and re-
greet they not educated 10 taste for liicre-
! iure, bat now they too old.
Sir Henry Speinan neglected the sciences in
his youth. but commenced the study of them
when he was between fifty and sixty ofage.
After this time he became the most learned anti
qnarian and lawyer. Oar young begin to
think Of laying their seniors the shelf when
they have reached sixty years of age. How diff
ferens the present estimate put upon experience
from that which charac tefzed Il certain period of
the Grecan republic, when n man was not allow
ed to open his mouth in caucusses or political
| meetings who under forty years of age!
, Colbert, the famous French Minister, at sixty
# jtaNr
= How many Of our coLlege-lcarat men have
looked into their classics since their graduation?
. Dr.. johnson applied himself to the Dutch Ian
If guage but few years before his death Most OF
o our merchants and lawyers of twenty five, thirty,
J., and forty years ofage, obliged to apply to n
teacher to translate business letter written in
y the French language, which might be learnt in
The tenth part OF the time required for tho Datch
G. and all because they too old to learn
,r Ludovico Menaidesco, at the great age of one
e hundred and fifteen, wrote the memoirs Of his own
5 times. singular exertion noticed by Voitaire,
% who was himself one of the most remarkable
st stances of the progress of age in new studies.
Ie Ogilby, the translator Of Homer and Virgil,
al was unacquainted With Latin and Greek till he
=, past fifty.
ii Franklin did not fully commence his ph;losoph-
lcal pursuits till he had reached his fifteth year
10 How many among us of thirty, forty. and fifty
who read nothing but newspapers, for The OF
,o taste for natural philosophy? Bat they too
n old to learn.
n Accorso. great lawyer, being asked why he
A. beg the st dy of law late, answered that. in
G. deed, he began i, late, bat he shoaid therefore
re master it sooner. This agrees with theory
" that healthy old age gives d man the power ofac
h, comp.ishing Il difficult study in much less time
or than would be necessary To of half his years.
r., Dryden, in his sixtv-c,ghth year, commence e,
r. the translation of the lliad and his pleasing
NJ productions were written iii his old age.
=, We could GO and cite thousands uf example
al Of men who commenced stti, and struc
10 into entirely pursuit, either for lvcli
- hood or amusement, Mt an advanced age. BIT CIV
,st cry QUO ''hi'ai WIN 'i'o 1"eihPny VI u's"'
cb guished men will recollect individual case
!, enough to convince him that none but the sic
~ aud indolent will ever say, am too old to sta
dy.