Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1872-10-17
Too Fast.

IIiOlltH may De FcckOIleu eq uaI &c
five years of actual living, ther
may the present generation BIZ
said to have attained that extern
sion of life, to gain which princes
lavished treasures, and philoso-
pliers wasted years in attempt
ing to acquire. We do not now
believe that man can renew his
youth by potent drugs. We
no longer seek for the fabulous
"elixir of life"-the genuine
aqua Uitoe may be obtained for a
dime a drink, and is not, accord
ing to the Maine Law men, at all
promotive of longevity. But in
ventiye science has achieved for
us what philosophy failed to do.
If it has not prolonged the dura-
ton of mans life, it has enabled
him to crowd more of existence
into the brief space allotted to
him. Affairs that once required a
week to transact, cannow be ac-
complished in a day, and pleas
ures which once half the world
sighed for in vain, are now with
in the reach of all. A man can
live as much in one year as his
grandfather did in ten-if he
has money to live withal. h
And upon the whole, is not
the question GLOW much have
you lived?' as pertinent in the
computation of life as GLOW long
have you lived?" The world at
large thinkss so, obviously: hence
the ruling passion of the age for
"fastness." cart is long and
life is fieeting," says Mr.. Long
fellow, enteringinto the spiritof
the times: and might have added
that it was getting fieeter and
feeter every day, until painting
Time was back rctreating, out
of order and i'll dismay. The
fact is, a man can see the whole
world in twelve months, and, be-
fore he is one-and-twenty, sigh
that there are no more worlds
within his reach, and chide lag
gard science, that has not yet
placed at his disposal the means
of traversing the solar system,
and examining the laws, man
ners, and customs established
in each Of the inhabited planets
forming friendships and OPEN
Ing correspondence with the for
eigners located in infinite space.
Well! let him have a little pa
.ience, aud he shall see what he ,
shall see. |
In a short time, at our pres
.nt rate Of progress, it will be-
come a question Of serious con-
ideration-"What is TO be done
Eith the old people?" And |
what, indeed, will there be left
or the old folks to do, when the
occupations and Offices hitherto |
acred to age are seiz-
I'd upon by impatient youth?
Time was when an Office, forex-
ample, was filed by men who !
lad passed the prime oflife, and
we're supposed to have gained
wisdom with experience; but
now, all needful wisdom can be
acquired as twenty-five, and the
honors Of exalted |
station be seized upon, and all
heir glory exhausted, at thirty.
The easy posts and petty SIM
scures, such as doorkeepers in
Congress, &c, once attainable
,nly at an advanced period Of |
ife-a kind of pension reserved |
or worthy senility-can now
Dc filled by rapid juveniles in
heir teens. Seniority is practi-
;ally an abolished fact, The
seven stages into which
Shakespear divided life can be
accomplished by that time when
he business Of life used to be
fairly entered upon, and the fl
aal phase Of the clean and slip
pered paRtalQop" fully develop
ed in the third decade Of years,
The greater mart of a lifetime