Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-05-11
Duration OF Life.

The average Of lite Of man 10 civilized So
ciety Is about thirty three and a third years.
This Is called q generation. making three 10 a
century. But there are certain localities and GER
tain communities Of people where this average
is considerably extended. The mountaineer lives
longer than the lovlander; the farmer than the
artisan; The traveller than the sedentary; the
temperate than the self indulgent; the Just than
tue dishonest. The wicked shall not live out
half his days is the announcement of Divinity.
The philosophy of this Is found in the fact that
the moral character has a strong power over the
ply steal; q power much more controlling than
u generally imagined. The true man conducts
himself in the light of Bible precepts; is temper
ate in all thin Is; is slow TO anger and on his
grave is written: He went about doing good. 2"
10 these three things are the great elements of
human health: the restraint OF the appetites, the
control of the passions, and that highest type Of
physical exercise, going about doing good"
1t is said OF the eminent Quaker philanthropy
let. Joseph John Quincy, that the labor and pains
he took to 20 and see personally the objects of
his contemplated charities, SO that none of them
should be unworthily bestowed, was of itself al
most the labor of one man, and he attended to
his immense banking business besides; in fact he
did too much. and died at sixty. The average
length of human life, of all countries, at this
age OF the world, is about twenty eight years.
One-quarter Of all who die do not reach the age
OF seven; one-half die before reaching seventeen
and yet the average Of life OF Friends" in
Great Britain and Ireland, 1860, was nearly fifty
sI years, just double the average life of other
people. Surely this is n strong inducenent for
all to practice for themselves, and to inculcate it
upon their children day by day. that simplicity OF
habit, that quietness Of demeanor, that restraint
of temper, that control of the sppetites and pro
pensities, and that orderly, systematic and even
mode Of life. which Friends" discipline incul
Gates, and which are demonstrably the means OF
50 largely increasing the average of human ex-
istence.
Reasoning from the analogy OF the animal
creation, mankind should live nearly a hundred
years; that law seeming to be, that life should be
i've times the length of the period of growth:
at .least, the general observation is. that the
longer persons are growing the longer they live
-other things being equal. Naturalists say, a
dos grows 2 years, and lives > years; an OK grows
a years, and lives 10; a horse grows D years, and
lives %: a camel grows 5 years. aud lives 40; q
man grows 20 years, and should live 100.
But the sad fact is, that only one man for
every thousand reaches one hundred years. Still
1t is encouraging 10 know that the scieSce of
life, as revealed by the Investigations of the
PSYCHOLOGISTS and the teachings of educated med
ical men, Is steadily extending the period of hu-
man existence.
The distinguished historian, Macaulay. states
that, IN le65. one person in twenty died each
year; in 1856, out - forty persons. only Quo
died. Dupin says, that from 1716 to 1913; the
duration of lite in France, increased ~ffty-two
days annually. for in 1850 the mortality was one
in twenty nine; in ls49 one in forty. The rich
men in France live forty two years on an ave
rage; the poor only thirty. Those who are"well
to do in the world live about eleven years long
er than those who have to work from day to day
for Il living. Remunerative labor and the diff
fusion of the knowledge of the la of life among
the masses, with temperance and thrift, are the
great means of adding to human health and life;
but the more important ingredient-hsppiness-
is only to be found in daily loving, ~obeyiug and
serving Hin who giveth all things richly to
enjoy."-Hall'sJ Journal of Health.