The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-01
Longevity as a Measure Of Happiness.

During his last expedition in Central
Asia, Professor Vambery managed to
interview the Emir of Samarcand-a sort
of Mohammedan prince-cardinal and
primate of the Eastern Sunnites AS
Imam of the local lyceum the Emir ap-
peared to take natural interest in the
progress of European science, but, when
his guest expatiated on the material
prosperity of the Western Giaours, he
interrupted him with less expected ques-
ton.
"The happiest people on earth, You
call them? What age do they generally
attain to-" Vambery seems to have re-
turned an evasive reply, though he adj
mits that the query was not altogether
irrelevant, at least from the standpoint
of an Oriental who values existence for
its own sake. But, even in the less I'M
pretending West, longevity is not bad
criterion of happiness. Misfortune
kills; Nature takes care to shorten life
of misery-for reasons of her own, too,
for, in q somewhat reconcile (but here
essentially sense, the survival of the hap
piest is also the survival of the fittest.
The progress of knowledge tends to cir
cumscribe the realm of accident, and
with it the belief in the existence of I'M
merited evils. In spite of prenatal in
fuences and unprecalculable mishaps, the
management of the individual is the
most important factor in the sum total OF
veal or woe. If we could see ourselves
as Omniscience sees us, We would proba-
bly, recognize our worst troubles as the
works of our own hands, and thus rec
ognize them now with sufficient clear
ness to be half ashamed Of them. Most
men nowadays dislike to confess their
bad luck. We have ceased to ascribe
diseases to the malice of capri
cious demons, and even in Spain
the commander of beaten army
would hesitate to plead astrological
excuses. Polycrates held thata plucky
man can bias the stars, and the popular
worship of success may be founded on an
instructive perception Of a similar truth.
Sultan Achmed went too far in his habit
of strangling his defeated Pashas, but
the world in general agrees with him
that there must be something wrong
about generally unsuccessful man.
After two or three decided defeats the
partisans of popular leader will give
him up for lost, and after series of
disasters the damaged man himself gener-
ally begins to share their opinion and
iooses heart, or, as the ancients expressed
it, admits the decree of fate. e., his
own inability to prevail in the struggle
for existence; and it is curious howswift-
ly physical collapse often follows upon
such a giving way of the moral supports.
The storms of every political, social, and
financial crisis extingliishes hundreds OF
life flames; lost hope is a fatal Though
a silent and sometimes an unconfessed
and unsuspected) disease. Good luck, on
the other hand, tends to prolong life; the
longevity of pensioners and sinecurists is
almost proyerbial, and there are men
who continue to live in defiance of all bio
logical probabilities, merely because
existence somehow Or other has become
desirable, as liberal supply of external
oxygen will nourish lamp in default of
inner oil. At the beginning of the
Franco-Prussian war, King William and
his chancellor and staff-oflicers were al
ready gray headed veterans, and it is no
accident that they are allaliye yet; while
nearly all the ministers and marshals OF
the exploded empire have followed their
leader; weary Of life and tired of but
toning and unbuttoning," as a captain OF
II. NJ. s., explained his suicide:-Dr.
Feli1 L. Osacaid, in Popular Science
Monthly.