Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-02-29
How to Clear the Cobwebs Out Of the
Brain-Keen Exhileration.

HOW TO clear the CODWeDs Uut OF Tie
Brain-Keen Exhileration.
Nowadays, elderly men, in greeting
one another, are very fond of the
phrase, GLOW do you do, old boy ~
1t is a good sign that the title is so
popular. There has been too much
foolish discussion in books of physi0l-
ogy rs to the date at which one ceases
to be a boy and becomes a man.
Dates can never settle the question.
1t is settled by the far more pertinent
query, how long in life can you con-
tinue to enjoy dancing, rowing, run
ming, swimming, coasting, etcl Now,
careful investigation establishes the
fact that the American of to-day can
keep his keen interest in these things
just about twenty years longer than
their fathers did. Fifty years ago
the average man Of forty-fve was
ashamed of not looking old. Cuta-
way coats and derby hats would have
seemed as uniting for such stage
of existence as the motley garb of a
harlequin. If he did not stand on
his dignity and abjure childish sports
he felt he would lose all authority
over his children. One dash with
them on double runner down hill
side would, he believed, finish him
forever in their eyes. So, of course,
the boy dies young in him.
What change of scene is witness
ed to-day, particularly in the newly
settled sections Of the country. Let
any one take, for example, winter
run out to the great northwest, and
see what is going on in the cities of
st. Paul and Minneapolis. No mat
ter what his age, inevitably will he
fall in with some middle-aged judge
or colonel who will say: 81 want you
to 60 out with me tonight to the to-
boggan slide; it's grand fun, tell
you" So out he goes, and in due
time finds himself on the very edge of
a dizzy precipice of glare ice. The
first invitation to 90 down he declines
as respectfully as he would the invita-
ton from a maniac to jump off Bunk
er Hill monument with him. Soon,
however, the contagion grows irresist-
BILE. The judges wife and the colon
sls aunt tell him what a glorious SEN
'ation it. is, and, almost before he
knows it, he is Oh the toboggan and
like rifle bullet through
Empty space. Losing his breath for
. moment, he RECEIVERS it as the tobog-
IAN strikes the level ice of the lake
It the bottom, and then, as he flies
lcross the smooth moonlit surface, the
10Y of 10 leaps to life in him once
more, and he will not believe he is a
lay older. Then, when at last the
,arty gets back home again, exhiler-
ted with the wild motion, the laugh.
err, the glowing exercise of the pull
Up hill and the exposure to fine
of zero or under, he says:
This is the way to clear the cobwebs
'ut Of the brain and get into fine
trim against tomorrow
The glory of the boy is that he
likes fun, and woe be to the man who
eases to like it, or, at any rate, to
eel that his own capacity for keen
xhileration is dead and gone. AS .
he cares of life increase, and the spir-
Is begin to flag, then comes the time
1hen some external stimulous should I
70 on hand. No old fellow can do
he thing alone. He would be asham- |
d, moreover, to go out with a troupe
f schoolboys, and be treated, perhaps ]
S the bald headed prophet was, with
ut single bear to call upon for re-
ress. No, he must have grown up
eople to enjoy the fun with him.
live him such for company, set his
lood tingling with the wintry air
nd the lightning swift motion, light
p the scene with the brilliant colors
f the dresses of the toboggan club,
nd fifteen minutes will be enough to
ersuade him that the age at which I
ne boy need degenerate into the hum
rum, dried up, old man must lie
,mewhere far out of sight of Co.