Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-04-09
Past and Present.

There is a good deal of harmless pratt
tie about the superior health, the
strength and the wisdom Of our great
grandfathers and great-grandmothers.
It is common thing to hear old peo-
pie, who ought to haze better sense,
talking about the good old times and
the higher mental and physical ability
of those who lived long ago. While we
have great respect for the old folks, liv-
ing and dead, we must not shut our eyes
to the reality. The truth is that people
live longer now than ever they did.
The medical profession knows more now
than ever it did, and We could put into
the field to-day a bigger army of cente-
narians than our grandfathers could IN
the good old days when they were young.
Moreover, old people now are much
more vigorous than the old people OF
times past. Our people are growing
larger and stronger. It is not so very
many years since the American woman
was slight, delicate creature; now she
is tall and portly. The numbers of sin
gularly tall and well-proportioned young
men and women to be seen in the streets
of New York to-day astonish the old
fellows who remember the boys and
girls of forty or fifty years ago. Some
persons imagine that this increase in
size is confined to children of our for
eign-born citizens; but this is great
mistake, Tor the increase in growth IS
general. Certainly the mixture OF races
may have something to do with it, but,
whatever be the cause, it is fact plain
ly to be seen by any observer.
The greatest known feats Of physical
strength and endurance are recorded to
the credit of TIE young men of this age
and, indeed, it's hardly too much to as
sert that the greatest runners, the great
est walkers, the greatest jumpers, the
greatest swimmers, the greatest oars
men, the greatest weight-lifters, the
greatest boxers, the greatest fencers and
the heaviest men that ever lived are
among the living of to-day. There
seems to be universal increase in the
growth of humanity The height, the
chest measurement and the weight of
the soldiers Of the immense armies of
Europe Of the present time are at least
as great as they were among the picked
men of the much smaller European
armies Of fifty years past, clearly show
ing that the average man of to-day is as
big and as strong as the picked man of
long ago. The fact stares us in the face
that the grown-up sons and daughters
of the old people of this country are. as
a rule, bigger and stronger than their
fathers were. An ordinary-sized En-
glishman finds considerable difficulty in
squeezing himself into the armor of one
of the Norman conquerors of his coun-
try, but what could one Of our Western
farmers dowith it? Certainly ne could
pick it up and look at it, but that is ali.
We have great respect for the memo
ry of our grandfathers and great-grand-
fathers, as well as for our grandmothers
and great grandmothers, but we cannot
afford to delude ourselves with ideas and
notions that facts and figures set aside.
People are inclined to over estimate the
measure of wisdom and ability of the
grand old fellows of days gone by. It
is ain amiable fault, but still fault; be-
cause the truth is not so.-NeaO York
Sun.