Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-22
KEEPING UP 1.-THE Boy"
How to Clear tho Cobwsbs Out Of TN
Brain-Keen Exhilaration.

How to Clear tho Cobwsbs Out az tho
Brain-Keen Exhilaration.
Nowadays, elderly men, In greeting one
another, are very fond Of the phrase, "How
do you do, old boy!" 1t is good sign that
the title is so popular. There has been too
much foolish discussion in books OF physl-
ology as to the date at which one ceases to be
boy and becomes . man. Dates can never
settle the question It is settled by the far
more pertinent query, how long in life can
you continue to enjoy dancing, rowing, rum
ming, swimming coastins, stc.l Now, care
full investigation establishes the fact that the
American Of today can keep up his keen in
tersst IN these things Just about twenty years
longer than the fathers did Fifty years ago
the average man Of As was ashamsd OF not
looking old. Getaway coats and derby hats
would have seemed as uniting for such a
stage OF existence as the motley garb OF .
harlequin. II he did not stand on his dig
nifty aud abjurs childish sports be felt be
would lose all authority over his children.
One dash with them on double runner down
q hillside would, he believed, finish him for
ever in their eyes So, Of course, the boy
dies young In him
What change Of scene Is witnessed to
day, particularly in the newer sections Of the
country. Let any one take, for example, a
winter run out TO the great northwest, and
see what is going on in cities like st. Paul
and Minneapolis No matter what his age,
inevitably will he fall in with soma middle
aged judge or colonel who will say: 81 want
you to 60 out with me tonight to tho tobog
gan slide; it's grand fun, tell you" So out
be goes, and in due time finds himself on the
very edge Of dizzy precipics of glare ice.
The first invitation to 60 down he declines as
respectfully as he would an invitation from
maniac to jump or Bunker Hill monument
with him Soon, however, the contagion
grows irresistible. The Judges wife and the
coloners aunt toll him what glorious ssnsa-
ton it is, and, almost before be knows It, he
is ON the tobo2gan and whining like rife
bullet through empty space. Losing his
breath for moment, he RECEIVERS it as the
toboggan strikes the level Ice Of the lake at
the bottom, and then, n hs dies across the
smooth moonlit surface, tho boy Of 10
leaps to life In him once more, and he will
not believe he 10 . day older. Then, when
at last the party gets back homo again, ex-
hilaratsd with the wild motion, the laugh
ter, the glowing exercise of the pull up hill
and the exposure 10 ins temperature OF
zero or under, no says: This Is the way to
clear tho cobwsbs out Of the brain and get
into fine working trim against tomorrow"
The glory Of the boy is that he likes fun,
and WOO be to the man who ceases to like it,
or at any rate, to feel that his own capacity
for keen exhilsration is dead and gone. As
the cares Of life increase, and the spirits be-
gin to flag, then comes tho time whom some
external stimulus should Be on hand. No
old fellow can do the thing alone He would
be ashamed, moreover, 20 60 out with troop
Of schoolboys, and be trsssed, perhaps, rs the
bald headed prophet YVES, without q single
bear on duty to call upon for redress. No,
he must have grown mp people 10 enjoy the
fun with him. Give him such for company,
set his blood tinsling with the wintry air
and tho lightning swift motion, hight up tho
scene with the brilliant eolorS Of the dresses
OF tho toboggsn club, and nftssn minutes will
be enough to persuade him that the age at
which the boy need degenerate into the hum
drum, dried up, old man must lie somewhere
far out Of sight Of 60.-BOston Herald