The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-12-20
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From the New York Sim I

From the New York SUM-
The effect of the different occupa-
uons on the average health and length
OF life OF those engaged in them is al
ways an interesting study. In what
Trades and professions are the condi-
utlons such as To conduce to longevity,
ana In what ones are they of a sort to
shorten the years of those who pursue
them?
During the thirty-four years and eight
months from May /, 1913, to Dec. 81,
1877, there died in the State of Massa-
chusetts 1916 men of over 20 years
OF age, whose occupations were speci-
ned In the registry of their decease.
The average age at which they died was
about 81 years. The number is so great
and the period covered is SO long that,
by the study of the classification of the
employments of those dead, we can get
fair idea of the comparative ages at
which men in different occupations,
and In an ordinarily healthy COM
munity, are swept away by death.
OF all who died, the farmers, or cul-
tivators of the earth, attained the high
est average age, about 65t years, and
they made up more than fifth of the
total number. 1t is obvious why farm
ers, as a class, not only in this country,
but in others also, should live to ripe
age. Though their work is hard mt
some seasons, it is rarely driving labor,
OF the kind to exhaust both nervous
and muscular strength, and it keeps
them in the open air. They are usually
free from the cares and anxieties about
making living which harass men in
cities, and they pass through life mt a
steady, even jog SO that, though many
OF them have a wretched diet, they are
not carried to the graveyard, as ~ rule,
until their heads are grey.
Another thing which contributes to
the long lives of Massachusetts farmers
especially is the strict temperance of
the great part of them, so far as alcoholic
beverages are concerned. In the old
days good deal of Medford rum was
consumed in the agricultural counties of
Massachusetts and other New England
States. A barrel of that seductive drink
was always on tap at the country store,
and when farmer laid in his sugar
and tea he was likely to fill up his rum
Jug also, but nowadays hard cider is the
strongest drink in which the majority
of the farmers indulge. We must, how
ever, bear in mind that the farming
population of New England and most of
our more thickly settled Northern States
comprise just that class of the popula-
ton which is naturally adapted to long
life. The adventurous spirits, the en-
terprising, the weakGngs, and the dis
sipated are not only averse to agricult-
ural pursuits, and so make haste to leave
the farm behind them, but they are also
ill-ftted to stand the rough labor and
the monotony of farm life. AS con-
sequence, those who remain to till the
soil are a selected lot of men who fit
into the groove made for them; and
that helps to prolong their years.
The class next to the farmers in the
average of life is that called "active me-
chanics abroad" such as brickmakers,
masons, tanners, millwrights,
Triggers, calkers, skaters, and stonecutters;
but the average age of the 10000 of
them who died in Massachusetts, during
the period mentioned was much below
that of the farmers. 1t was only
about 52a years, little over year
more than the average age of all
the classes together. OF all these
trades the ship carpenters
showed the highest age-more than So
and the skaters, who pursued danger
Gus calling, the lowest-about 40. The
average age of all the others of these
trades, except the stonecutters and the
was about 81, and above
the average of all the classes.
Next to the active mechanics abroad
come the professional men, whose aver
age age at death was over 81. OF this
class the longest lived were the Judges
and Justices, proverbially celebrated for
their great years. They lived on the
average to about CAT years, and led
al the trades and professions in the
matter of longevity, except the farm
ers, over 60, and those denominated
as gentlemen, 6S, the highest average
age attained by any of the classes. The
deaths in only six different occupations
we're at an age on an average above 60.
They were, first, the gentlemen, 68;
second, the farmers, 65; third, the
Judges, Ga; fourth, the lighthouse
keepers, nearly CO; fifth, the basket
81; and sixth, the pilots,
over 60.
Clergymen are the longYt-lived men
in some countries, but in Massachusetts,
they fell below all these six classes, the
average age of the LOO of them who
lied during the thirty-four years being
only little above 90. OF the profess
,ional men those set down as students
lied at the earliest age, the average being
only about %. Next to the ministers
came the professors, well over 81 years
The lawyers, about So years; then
the physicians, over 50 years; then the
public officers, about 55. Sheriffs, con-
stables, and policemen died at the aver
age age of SO, while editors and report
srs, harassed with the duty of supply
ng the public with opinions and infor-
nation, we're gathered into the tomb be-
'ore they had completed their 47th !
year. The lives of comedians were also
short, hardly reaching 80 years on the
average, and dentists, for what reason
we know not, were cut down at an aver
zoe age of 40 The artists also died
,arly, their average age being A years.
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