, 1863-03-28
NO. Is.
Change of Habits the Cause of Death.


A man may change his mode of life as long as
he is on the youthful side of middle life; the mer4
idian line once passed. all such radical change is
attended with the peril of death. Have you new
er noticed in burying grounds or in the necrolog-
cal columns of newspapers how often husband
follows wife or wife husband, with brief interval
of time between their departure, when they have
long lived together? The age worn constitution
is unable to react against the. bereavement and to
adapt itself to the new circumstances in which it
is placed. The usual form in which death in
vades the body of these aged persons demon
stra.es this truth, eor they die either of apopexy
or of paralysis of the brain. The mind shrink
ing nstinctively from death, exerts all its power
of recovery to rally after the blow received the
exertion is too much for it, It's shattered by the
very attempt. There used to be an old diplomat
st in Paris-Count de Lowenhelm, from Swe-
lented the court Of Stockholm
near the Tuieres for nigh fifty years He was
well-preserved old man, an habitual frequenter
of the grand opera and French comedy, going
constantly into society, and never absent from
single court ball The Crimean war gave unu-
sual Importance to the diplomatic relation of the
two courts and it became necessary to appoint a
more active man to the Swedish legation The
old minister seemed to grow older every hour af-
ter the newspaper recorded the appointment Of
his successor. He roamed about the lobbies of
the grand opera and the French comedy like
person lost in the woods. He went to Stock
holm, and fell dead of appoplexy few days af-
ter his arrival. His letters of recall were his
death-warrant.
Have you never heard the vulgar remark that
the builder of house dies almost as soon as the
house is completed? The observation has some
foundation in truth, but the cause of the effect is
not ''uck;" it is the very inability of the mind to
react against old habits lost. Men rarely build
houses until they have amassed something like
independence of fortune in other words, they
are generally in the afternoon of life, and they
build the house for harbor from the cares of
business, where they may twirl their thumbs and
"enjoy life by depressing themselves With idle
ness. AS long as the house is building all goes
well; lney uOH HISS lue hOSSuI slOp Ut COuut-
ing room. There is the brcklayer to be scolded,
and the carpenter to be overlooked, and discus
sions to be held with the.architect, and money to
be paid OUT in fine, there is something to think
about, something to worry over, something to fret
about it is the old round of life in miniature if
you will, but still it is the old round which has
been paced for forty years. But when the house
is complete, when the last coat of paint has dried,
and the last chip Las been removed, and the bit
of mortar taken away, when the owner has moth
ing to do but to enjoy his fine house and his af(
fluent fortune, then comes the vacuum-nothing
to do The old man finds years have not changed
his mind as much as they have changed his body,
and the toy tires the old man even sooner than it
tired the child There is no correlation between
building a house and death, but there is a close
connection between age and change in lfe.---
SpiT1dion.