Morris tribune., 1882-09-28
Longevity as ii Nlcas.rc ofHappi.
moss

Popular Science Monthly.
DARN! the last expedition to Central
Asia, Professor Nltnbnry managed to in
tcrvicw the Emir OF SAmarrauJ-a sort
ofMohammndan prince cardinal and pri-
mate of the EusternS, n :cs. rs Imam
ofthe local lyccum tn .nirappelreI to
take 4 natural interest IN the progress Of
European science, but, when his guest
expatiated on the ma crial prosperity of
the Western Gi;lour-, he INTERRUPTED him
with less expected question.
THE happiest people on earth, YOU
call them? WHAT age 90 they generally
attain to?" Nambery seems to have re-
turned an evasive reply, though he ad-
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
cr1 erion of happiness. Misfortune kills;
nature takes care 10 shorten q life OF
miSery.-for reason of her own, too, for,
in a somewhat reconcile (but here essen
iaD since, the survival of the tittest.
The progress of knowledge tends to
circumscribe. the realm of accident, and
with the belief IN the unmerited evils.
In spite of parental Influences and I'M
precalcu'able mislaps, the management
of the individual is the most important
factor IN the sum total Of veal or woe
If Av ujUld See ourselves . uninotrnrc
O. sees us, We, wonsd probably recognize
our worst troubles as the work of our
own hands, and we thus recognize them
now with sufficient clearneSs 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 capricious de mons, and even in
Spain the commander ola beaten army
would hesitate to plead astrological eN-
cuses Polvcrates held that plucky
man can bias the stars, and the popular
worship OF success may be founded on
an instructive perception of a similar
truth. Sultan Acllmed went too far in
Lis habit of strangling his defeated
rashns, but the world in general agrees
with HIM that there must be something
VIZ ong about generally unsuccessful
man. After two or three decided defeats
the partisans of a popular leader will
give him up for lost, and tfter a series
OF disasters the damaged man himself
generally begins to share their opinion
and loses heart, or as the ancients ex-
prescott, admits the decree OF fate-i e.,
his own inability to prevail in the strug-
gle for existence; and it is curious how
swiftly a physical collapse often follows
upon such a giving away of the normal
supports. The storms of every political,
social, and financial crisis extinguish
hundreds of lite homes; lost hope lisa ia
tai Uhougha silent and sometimes AMI I'M
confessed and unsuspected) disease.
Good luck, on the otter hand, tends to
prolong life; the longevity of pensioners
and sinecurists is lmost proverbial, and
there are men who continue to live in
defiance of all biological probabilities,
merely because existence somehow or
other has become desirable, as liberal
supply # external oxygen will nourish
q lamp in de ault of the inner oil. At
the beginning of the Franco Prussan
war, King William and his chancellor
and staff officers were already gray, head
ed veterans, and it is n oaccidenl that
they are all alive yet; while nearly all he
ministers and marshals of the exploded
empire have followed their leader
WEARY of life and tired of buttoning and
unbuttoning,' as a captain of H. M. s.
explained his suicide.