Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-15
OLD-TIME STATESMEN.
A Very Large Number of Them
 Were Young Men.
fine Remarkably Youthful Set of Men Known as the 's Fathers of the Repub- lie "-Education in tho Days of
 Our Revered Ancestors.

The ' fathers of the Republic" were not the sexagenarians and septuagenarians of their era, writes Edward P. Clark in the Chicago Amertcd. On the contrary, they were, as rule, are markedly youthful set of men. It is the wigs, queues and knee brooches" which have caused the misappre- hcnsion. The pictures in the school history show White-haired men who bear every ap- pcaranco of being well up in years,' and the child inStinctiveIy thinks of them as old. Almost superhuman wisdom was re- Quircd to discharge their almost impossible task, and 1t consequently seems as though they must have possessed the requisite wisdom and experience of the world. If the question were asked which of the two bod ies, the convention of 17SS or the United States Senate of 1SSS, showed the highest average of age doubtless nine persons out of every ten would answer that the framers Ot the constitution were much the older.
 Forty-one deputies from the various States subscribed their names to the con- stltution on the 17th day of September, 17S7. The birthdays of all but four arc known. Of these thirty-seven there were but five who were as old as sixty, and, in truth, one of these five did not complete his sixtieth year until the month after the convention dissolved The Ncstor of that body was BeE jamin Franklin, who was more than elghty-one when 1t met. Roger Sherman came next in seniority, at siXty-six. Then followed two members each in their sixty fourth year, and the deputy who was just turning sixty. But only one-sixth of the whole number were entitled to be called old men.
 Turn now to the other extreme. Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, lacked several months of being ? when the convention met; William Jackson, of Pennsylvania, was but 2S; Charles PincEney, of South Carolina, only %; Alexander Hamilton, of New York, was but few months past 30; Rufus King, of Massachusetts, 32; Gouver- neuer Morris, of New York, 35, and James Madison, of Virginia, 36. Twelve of the thirty seven were under 40, and twenty less than 45 years old. A full third were thus within the class which, in speaking of age nowadays we call young men. The average age of the whole number fell just inside of 45 years.
 It would be q waste of space to argue that the young men of the convention did their full share of the work. It is enough to have cited the great names just mentioned and to add that the committee to which the lnstru- ment was referred for final revision con sisted of Johnson, aged 60; Hamilton, 30;
 
 King, B. Bancroft calls Madison 'the chief author of the constitution" Hamil- tons work III the FederdliSt is conceded to have been the most potent agency in com mendIng the instrument to the country and securing its adoption. Marshall, then only 33, furnished tho powerful assistance with out which Madison could not have secured the narrow majority by which their State was persuaded to accept it.
 The Constitutional convention was not unique as a field for youthful achievement. Jefferson had been only B years old when he wrote the "Dcclaration of Independ- ence." Hamilton was made Secretary of the Treasury by Washington and began his great career as inancier at the age of B. At the same time King, who had become carpet-bagger" to New York-since he represented Massachusetts in tho Constitu- tiOnal convention was elected United States Senator at 34. Thirty had been fixed as the minimum age for Senators, and halfof those first elected were between 30 and 35. A few years later Henry Clay came to the Senate, and was admitted without thought that he was not eHgible-thc fact beng that he did not reach the age of 30 until moro than three months later.
 No limit of age for the judiciary was fixed in the constitution, but if there be any place in the Government where maturity is de- manded it is on the bench of the Supreme Court. Washington appointed as one of the early Justices, James Ircdcll, who was but 39 years old; John Adams gave place to BushrOd Washington at 36, and Jefferson named William Johnson at only 32 This was simply the adoption of the Federal Government of the same principle which the States had applied to the choice of Judges. John Jay, who was made first Chief Justice of the United States at 43, had been appointed Chief Justice of New York when but 31. Iredel had been judge of the superior court of North Carolina when only g.
 The truth is that what we have come to consider the especial era of old men was really the most remarkable period in our history for young men. They enjoyed chance q century ago such as young men havo never had since the civil war broke down temporarily some of the barriers against youth in public life, but the con- trolling forces were wielded by men whose average age was number of years greater than that of their gpandfathersf who held sway during the revolutionary period.
 The youngest man in the United States Senate to-day-Kenna, of West Virginia was 35 years old when he took his seat, and nobody so young had been in the body for long period before his appearance. He is HOW 4U duu uOOOuy GlSc III Iu6 UOuy Ol 70 members is so young, although, as we have seen, one-third of the Constitutional con- vention were under 40. More than half of the body, it has been shown, were less than 45 years old; only tWenty-Onc of the present seventy-siX Senators, or but trifie over quarter, were less than 45 years old when they entered the chamber The average age of the Senate to-day is 5S years, against an average of only 45 years for the convention of 17S7.
 "Slow-going," we are wont to call the ways of the eighteenth century; Ga fast age' is the common description of our own period. Both expressions are misleading. Our conservative ancestors rushed their boys through college during thelr teens; two members of the Constitutional conven- ton had graduated at IS, one at F and three at 16. New York College will not ad- init boy until he has completed his 18th year, and the average age of graduation at both Harvard and Yale is between 9 and g years.
 Read and Tremb1es