The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-10
DR.. HOLMES ESSAY ON OLD AGE.
The Venerable Poet Tells About Some
Old People De Knows.

recent number of the Atlantic
Monthly a series of articles he began in
March, 1883, entitled lover the Teacups. {"
The su Ject Of Dr.. Holmes essay is 'Old
Age subject which he thinks he is pc
culiarly fitted TO treat. Sixty years ago
last June the octogeuarian poet graduated
from Harvard College, and fifty-nine other
young men graduated at the same time In
speak, z of this event, in connection with
tie subject of his essay, DR.. holmes SAYS:
OF the fifty-Aine graduates ten only are
living, or were at the last accounts; one in
SIX, very nearly. In the first decaie after
graduation, when we were between 20 and
80 years old, we lost three members-about
one In twenty; between the ages Of 81 and
40 eight died-One in seven of thoss the de-
ca Ie began with; from Al to 50, only two
or one IN twenty-five; fro 80 to 90. eight
or one In six; from 90 to 40, fif,een-or
two out of every five; from 40 to 50.
twelve-oc one in two. The greatly in
creased mortality which began with the
fifth decade went on steadily increasing.
At 90 we come within range of the rifle
pits" to borrow an expression from my
friend Weir Mitchell.
Our eminent clasSmate, the late Prof
benjamin Peirce, showed by numerical
comparison that the men of superior
ability outlasted the average of their fello =
graduates. He himself lived little beyond
his threeScor9 a I'D ten years. James Free
man CLARKE almost reached the age of So
The sixth decade br 1ugnt the fatal year for
Benjamin Rob ms Curtis, the great law
yer, wno was one of the judges of the SUI
preme court Of the United States; for the
very able Chief Justice of Mas &C lusett,
George Tyler Bigelow; and for that famous
wit and electric center of social life.
George I. Davis. AT tae last annual din
ner every effort was made to bring all the
survivors of the class together. Six of the
ten living members were there-six old mel
in the place of the t irty or forty class
m ties wno surrounded the long, oval tab 9
in 1859, when | askel: "Has there any old
fellow got mixed with tae boys"-"ooysn
whose tongues were as the vibrating leaves
of the forest; whose talk was like che voice
of many waters; whose laugh was as the
breaking of mighty waves upon the sea-
shore. Among the six at our late dinner
was our first scholar, the thoroughbred and
accomplished engineer who held the city Of
Lawrence in his brain before IL spread itself
out along the banks of the Merrimac
There, too, was the poet whose national
hymn, "My Country, IT'S of Thee is
known to more millions and dearer to many
Of taem, than all the Other songs W.T. item
since the Psalms of David. Four of our six
were clergymel; tue engineer aud thu
present writer completed the list.
There was not much Boosting among us of
our present or our past as we sat to-
gether in tie little room at tue great hotel.
A certain amount of self-deception is
quite possible at rhreescore years and ten,
but at tnreescore years and twenty nature
has shown most of those WAC live to that
age that SIZE Is earnest, and means to dis
mantle and have done with the n in very
little while. As for boating of our past,
the laudat r temporis acti makes but D Jor
figure il our time. Old people used to talk
OF their yuu5h as il there were giants in
those days. We knew some tall men when
we we're young, but we can see a man taller
tina any one among them at the nearest
dime museum.
We mad handsome women among us Of
high local reputation, but nowad VS. we
have professional beauties who challe GO
the world to criticise them as boldly as
Phryne ever challenged her Athenian ad-
admirers. We had fast horses-dld not
"Old Blue" trJ mile in three minutes?
True, bu5 there is a 3-year-old colt lust
put on tn track who has done it in little
more tLan two-thirds of that time 1t
seems as if the material world had been
made over again since We were boys. l. is
bat saort llme sinc9 we were counting up
the miracles we have lived to witness. The
Ii is familiar enough; the railroad, the
ocean steamer, photography, the spsctro-
scope, the telegraph, phonugraph, an8 ithet-
les, electric illumination, with such lesser
wonders as the sewing machine and the Uicy-
Gle
Old age is infinitely more cheerful for
Intelligent people, at Iea,t, than it
was two or three Thousand years
ago. 1t is our duty, so far as
we can, to keep it SO. There will always b.
enough about it that is solemn, a d more
than enough, alas that is sad lening. Bu
how mucn there is in our time to tighten
its burdensl By temperance and good
habits of life, proper clothing, well warmed,
well drained and we'll ventilated dwellings,
and sufficient, not too much exercise, the old
man of our time may keep his muscular
siren tn in very good condition. | doubt if
Mr.. Glads one would boast, in the style of
Caleb. that he was as good a man with his
ak as he was wien he was 40, UuJ | would
back him-if the match We're possible-for
q hu drel shekels against tnat over conf
dent old Israelite to cut down aud ca p up
d cedar of Lebanon. know a more excel
lent clergyman, not ia from my own tune
of life, whom | would pit against any old
Hebrew rabbi or Greek philosopher Of MS
years and weight, if they could retu to
the flesh, to run quarter of a mile on q good
Level track.
There are strange diversities in the way
in which diffid lent old persons LOOK upon
thel pros pects. A millionaire whom well
remember confessed that he should like to
live long enough to learn how muca a GER
tam fello w-citiZen, a multinlllionaire, was
worUh. One of tue t4ree nOnageQa 'ians
speci lily referred to expressed himself as
having a great curiosity about the new
sphere Of existence to which he was looking
forward.
Tne feeling must of necessity come to
many aged persons that they have outlived
theif usefulness; thai they are no longer
wanted but rather in the way, drags on the
eels rather than helping them forward.
But let them remember the often quoted
line Of Milton:
They also serve who only stand and wait.
This Is peculiarly true of them. They
are helping others Aithout always being
aware of it. They are TIE shields, the
b eakwaters of those VINO come after them.
Every decade is a defense of the one next
behind il. At 30 the youth has SO 1ered into
manhood, but the strong men Of 40 rise IN
al most uubroken rank between him and the
approaches of old age as they show in the
men of 50. At 40 he looks with a sense of
at the strong men OF so, and sees
be lind them the row Of sturdy sexagenari-
ans.
When so is reached, somehow 60 does not
look so old as it oace used , aud 20 is still
afar off. At 60 the stern sentence of the
one did not notice IN former years. There
begins to be something pers Jnal about it.
But if one lives to 20 he soon gets used to
49,