Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-10-27
PAST AND PRESENT.

less prattlc about the superior
health, the strength and wisdom
Of our great grandfathers and
great grandmothers. IT is a COM
mon thing to hear old people, who
ought to have better sense, talk
ing about the good old times and
tho higher mental and physical
ability Of those who lived long
ago. While we have great res
pect for the old folks, living and
dead, VIC must not shut our oycs TO
tho reality. The truth is tbat poo
pie live longer now than they ever
did. The medical profession
knows moro now than ever it did:
and we could put into the field 70
day a bigger army Of contcnori--
ans than our grandEathcrs could in
the good old days when they were
young.
Moreover, old people now aic
much moro vigorous than the old
people Of times past. Our people
are growing larger and stronger.
1t is not SO very many years since
the American woman Was a slight
delicate creature; now she is trll
and portly. The numbers of si,-
gularly tall and well proportioned
young men and women 10 be snon
in the stteets of Now York today
astonish the old fellows who Jc--
member the boys and girls OF forty
and fifty years ago. Some pei-
sons imagine that this increase
in size is confined to the children
of our foreign born citizens: bnt
this is a great mistake, for the in
crease growth is general. Cor
tainly the mixture of races may
have something to do with it, but.
whatever may be the cause, il is q
fact plainly to be seen by any ob-
server.
The greatest known fcats Of
physical strength and endurance
are recorded to the credit Of the
young mon of this age; and, in
deed, it is hardly too much to as
scrt that the greatest runners, the
greatest walkers, tho greatest
jumpers, the greatest swimmers,
the greatest oarsmcn, the greatest
weight liftcrs, the greatest gym
nasts, tho greatest boxers, the
greatest fencers and the heaviest
mon that ever lived arc among
the living to day. There seems
to be a universal increase in tho
growth Of humanity. Tho height,
the chest measurement md the
weight of the soldiers of the i'm
mensc armies Of Europe Of the
present time arc at least as great
as they were among the picked
mon Of the much smaller Euro
pean armies Of fifty years past,
clearly showing that the average
man OF to day is as big and as
strong as hcpickcd up man oflong
ago.
The fact starcs us in the face
that the grown up sons and
daughters Of the old people of
this country arc, as a rule, bigger
and stronger than their fathers and
mothers were. An ordinary sized
Engllshman finds considerable
difficulty in sqcezing himself into
the armor Of one Of tho Norman
conqucrors Of this country; but
what could one of our Western
farmers do with it? Certainly he
could pick it up and look at it, but
that is all.
We have great respect for the
memory of our grandfathcrs and
great-grandfathers, as well as for
our grandmothcrs and great
grandmothers, but we cannot af-
ford to delude ourselves withideas
and notions that facts and figures
set aside. People arc inclined to
overestimate the measure of wis
dom and ability of the grand old
fellows of days gone by. 1t is an
amiable fault, but still fault; be-
cause the truth is not Nov
York Sim.