Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-07-11
THE PHILOSOPHY OF LONGEVITY.
HOW to Live Long-D0es it Pay TO he.
come . Centonarian:

From the London Standard
There IS much in modern life that tends to
shorten existence and to diminish the proba-
oliify that q man or woman will reach 90, to
say nothing of 100. We lead more exciting and
more wearing lives. 1t is in vain that person
mas splendid constitution TO begin WITH wears
flannel, or the equivalent of flannel, next to his
skin, dwells In warm, dry house, and eats and
drinks everything that is good and wholesome,
II at the same time he habitually overtaxes his
strength, looks upon his muscles rs mere ma
chinery, to be driven at high pressure, and
ruthlessly calls upon his nerves to squander
their reserve power when every other source of
energy is exhausted. Men or women who
intend to be centenarians in these days
must combine something OF the old mode of life
Ihey must, while awaiting themselves of all the
scientific discoveries and sanitary appliances OF
the age, Initiate their grandsires in tie steady
ana tranquil habits that prevailed before the
Invention of locomotives and the telegraph.
ihey mast have their eight hours of sleep regu.
larry; they must have intervals Of repose and
vacancy in the daytime; they must spend a
goodly portion of their waking hours in the
open air. Nor will that suffice: there will have
70 oe regularity in the hours of their meals ana
discipline In the ordering Of the dishes OF which
the meals are composed. We cannot believe
heavy dinner every night Of his lie at O'Clock.
champagne in abundance, and Bordeaux or
,bnrEnndy adA6stu,n, are very delightful things,
Of Of, their hundredth birthday. Neither,
with such an end in view, would the
or a doctor be sane enterprise. In order to
reach that distant goal there must be a train
ing. Most of all there must prevail in the exist
unraftled calm; Neither generous passions nor
lance The pulse must never be driven up be-
yond certain point, either by work, by anx-
1ety, by fear, or by hope. At the same time
enable person to live to 100. There Is such a
thing as rusting out as well as wearing out: If
not consume the wax with sufficient rapidity.
and goes out for want Of adequate combustion.
L is SO, no doubt, with the human body and the
To make yourself miserable at 40 In the
wretched ambition to add a few worthless years
to your score after you have turned 10 Or 80 is
surely poor spirited sort OF game. To spend
ones life feeling ones pulse, looking at ones
tongue, and asking ones self if one is treating
1t is to live i'm hospital, or, at any rate. In
Urinary. Still, there are some persons who are
congenitally cautious, congenitally cold, con-
Centrally calm. 1t is their nature to take
things quietly. never to be in hurry, never to
excite themselves. They are ontent 10 sit i'll
an easy chair for so many hours, read an agree
riage for so many hours when the weather is
favorable for so many hours, and to regulate
their 1n existence by clockwork. They may live to
100, they may live to loo, but in truth they
nave not lived at all. The man who really gets
the best that can be got out of life is the man
who, with fairly good constitution to begin
with, is ready to squander it at any moment and
on every occasion in a sufficient cause He keeps
no account OF profit and loss with his vital
energy; he sees work to do, and he does it; he
sees pleasure to be enjoyed, and he enjoys 1t.
He is alive all his life save when he sleeps; and
he wakes from each fresh slumber looking the
world cheerfully and courageously in the face,
and ready and even eager to be a combatant
when there is good honest fight and a runner
when there Is good, honorable race afoot. He
may not live to be 100, but he may we'll live to
be 20, IS, or even 80. He may have a career. If
not so conspicuous, yet as active, as varied
and as restless as that, say, of Mr.. Gladstone,
and yet not be really old when time registers
him among the aged. Better so years of
Europe than a cycle of Cathay;' and better 20
years of uncalculated activity than the slow
pulse and measured step of the circunlspect
snail that creeps surely on to 100 We are not
denouncing centenarians The are like angels
visits, few and far between. and they are too
rare not to be welcomed. Moreover we doubt
not that they deserve their length of years.
But 1t would be misfortune if is was ever
thong Int an object of life to live very long. The
object Of life is to live, live generously, live
bravely. AS Shakespeare says, 'Ripeness Is all'