The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-07-01

The Boston Advertiser publishes Q table
showing the number Of graduates Of Har-
vsrd College between 1901 and 1855 who
survived to the fiftieth year after their
graduation. Tho whole number Of gradu-
ates during this period was i.saS. OF whom
GA. or S6T psr cent, arc known to have sur
vived into or beyond the iftieth year. The
class Of 1917. In which were men With great
power Of work and great intellectual aotiv-
ity, like 0sORaA BANCROFT. OALnB CusH-
mo. and SIDNEY BARrLnfT. heads the List
with atty per cent. Of survivors The class
Of 1s2a Is ct the foot OF the list with II 90 per
cent. Il 10 interesting TO note that the
classes OF 1911 and 1872 both OF which pro-
duoed more than their proportion OF distin.
Ruished men, stand third and seventh re-
spectively on the list. Two members of the
former class are still living. seventy-two
years after taking their degrees.
Tho average age Of Harvard graduate
when he received his bachelors degree was
certainly not less than twenty during the
time covered by the Advertisers table. A
few boys were graduated at sixteen. like
ALEXANDRA H. EVERETT, or at seventeen.
like EDWARD EVERETT. But such cases
were exceptional. The average age at gradu-
alton was undoubtedly considerably less
than 1t has been In recent years, but 1t is
safe to put 1t ct twenty for the first third Of
this century. Fifty years aftcr graduation
the youngest member Of tho class would DO
sixty-six or sixty-soven years old. few
mOmbers Of tho class would be sevonty-dve
or older. and tho average age would be
about seventy. Out Of 1888 men. then, GA
lived to be Mt least seventy years Of age.
Many OF them survived into tho eighties,
and come into the nineties; but the signif-
canoe Of tho figures does not lie In tho fact
that few graduates lived to an advanced
age, but that such o remarkable proportion
OF them reached threescore and ten.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth GEN.
turtles the proportion seems to have been as
largo. Tho average age at graduation, how
ever, was probably less than 1t has been at
any time during the present century. and
there was less opportunity to shorten life by
idleness or dissipation. In the seventeenth
century there were two classes, and In tho
eighteenth three, q majority Of which sur
vived till the flftieth year after graduation.
Contrary to the general impression, the
persons who studied the hardest In college.
and who may fairly be supposed to have
kept up certain amount OF intellectual OK
ertion during tho rest OF their lives, seem to
have been especially long-lived. Between 1777
and 1888 flfty-seven men were graduated with
tho highest honors. Twenty-Five Of the fifty
seven survived to tho hftieth year. Twelve
Of tho twenty-five survived to the sfxtieth
year. JOSIAH QUINCY, who was necessarily
busy as a politician. scholar, educator, and
man OF affairs, survived to the seventy-fourth
year after graduation. 1t may be added that
all but six OF the graduates who have re-
ceived the highest honors since 1888 were
living In 1880.
Most Of the men who were graduated be-
tween 1900 and 1893 were men Of sedentary
pursuits. clergymen, lawyers. doctors,
teachers, and writer's. They lived by intel
lectual labor and they lived long. Those Of
them who did the most intellectual labor
lived the longest. 1t Is probable that thoy
took less exercise than men OF similar ocou.
pations take to-day. Training in gymnas-
tics was not as common or as easily
procurable then as 1t nowis. 1t is doubtful II
tho graduate Of 1888 was physically as well
fitted to stand tho wear and tear Of life as
tho graduate OF 1888.
Notwithstanding their inferior physical
training. more than third OF tho graduates
in the first third OF this century lived TO be old
men. Hard study and hard work. instead OF
shortening, heightened their lives. Nor is
their case exceptional. 1t may be doubted il
any man who worked In tho right way ever
died of work. Steady intellectual labor. as
tho record OF these Harvard graduates shows,
is an effectual preventative OF life.