The weekly clarion., 1873-07-10

how he managed to resist the inroads O
fine so long. A man of hundred anC
twelve. to whom, when young, we pu
this question, replied:
Il didn't manage it, my boy; | never
thought about it, but went on living anC
doing what | had to do, just as every
body else does.
But everybody else does not live as
long as you have lived"
T" No, because their constitutions don't
hold out so we'll"
9 But didn't you DO something to make
your constitution hold out p
q Not that | know of; | minded my
business and lived quite like other folks.
TWO CONFLICTING ENGLISH CASES.
Walter Savage Landor used to relate
an anecdote of one Of our judges, which
belongs to the present subject. Beng on
circuit. two old men were brought before
him as witnesses and, according to Gus
tom. he began to chat with them, among
other things, about their age, for the
purpose Of giving moral lesson to the
Young barrlsters.
" Well, my good man." said he to one
witness, g how old may you be
About eighty-seven, my lord.
81 dare say, now, you have lived d
very sober life p
= Yes, my lord; | haven't been tipsy
for the last sixty years.
There" cried his lordship, turning to
the gentlemen Of the bar, you see what
a fine thing sobriety Is The witness
looks as though he would live twenty
years more"
The barristers nodded assent. In his
turn another witness came forward who
looked particularly hale and robust.
And how old are you, friend?' in
quired the judge.
:" Ninety-five, my lord, was the reply.
- Ninetv-five! I'll answer for it, you
have led a sober life, haven't YOU"
Witness hung his head and answered,
q don't like to say afore all these gentle
men"
Never mind; speak out"
Well, then, my lord, | haven't gone
to bed sober for the last seventy years.
At this his lordship looked rather
blank and the bar smiled. The Judge
then said, % We will proceed with the
case, gentlemen.
To have a good chance for longevity,
an originally good constitutional that Is,
q sound internal mechanism--is OF I'M
mense advantage, though to this primary
excellence we must needs add careful
ness in the art Of living. Even phlloso-
ply does not wear men out, unless when
heir constitutions are naturally weak.
Eoltaire, who at his birth was put into
quart pot, could never by any other mode
Of life than the one he chose have tioated
On to eighty-four; whereas no one was
surprised to see Theophrastus toddling
about the Agora at a hundred and seven,
)r Democritus enjoying his last laugh at
Abdera when time had wreathed his
brow with the laurels of hundred years. |
The lives of such men, always active, /
md therefore always pleasant, may be
as worth more than a Thousand +
years Of such vapid and worthless exist /
.nce as those of the Yoghis, even though /
t should be true that they sometimes /
.eckon up two hundred anniversaries of
heir birthdays. They do nothing to /
ldorn or soften human life, but instead,
yrovel in self-torture and the hideous I
qualification of vanity rs long AS they de
form the earth.
If there be a secret of long life, it is /
nature only that holds possession of it. /
Man neither knows nor can know how it I
AN be fabricated but when the germ of I
ongevitv has been conceived in the /
rame it may either be suffered to spring /
Up, flourish, bear fruit, and then, IN
obedience to the hidden law which origi I
nally gave it force, decay and become eX-
met when that force has been expended, |
II, by perversely counteracting the de-
igns Of nature, be cut short in its career, I
% that the vitality originally meant To
,ndure possibly for Il hundred and eighty
i've years may at any intermediate stage
oe forcibly quenched. Like clocks, the
of our frames may be wound
Up for this or that length of time, and go
N ticking for that period, if left to it
elf; but it is no doubt possible to put Il
poke in the works, and stop them by
ice or folly, whenever our madness may
prompt us to such a deed. 1t Is within
very ones experience that hundreds of
heir acquaintance with good chances Of
ongevity have literally thrown away
heir lives through sheer perversity of
onduct. They would die, and their wish
las been gratifed.