Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-24

mature until he Was
60, and that he thinks =
he was in his prime
at this time. He be- DR.. Scott.
lieves in laughing as much as possible in
life, and says it was care that killed the cat.
He has not had any regular rule Of diet or
of exercise, and while he believes in tenn
perance he would not advise young men to
be TOO careful of what they eat, but he
would say that they should worry as little
ss possible, marry young and get all they
can out of life from day TO day.
There is no brighter mind in the country
to-day than that of Neal Dow. He is more
:han so wears Of age, but he is in his prime
physically and mentally, and he has written
Tor me the following article ON longevity
and how to obtain it. 1t is headed "a Long
Life, and reads:
Neal Dow Tells the Secret.
s'You wish to know what the secret is, if
anv, as to the method of reaching a long
life. There ought not to be any secret about
it, for the necessary rules relating to it are
50 many, so plain and so widely published
TO the world, that no intelligent person
should be ignorant of them. There is ne
other earthly good so precious as sound
health, yet there is nothing Of which people
are so careless and so prOdigal, constantly
violating in the most reckless manner the
plainest, simplest laws of life.
Gas TO myself, / came of a strong stock
Ny ancestors, all Of them, paternal and
maternal, as far back as know ANYTHING of
them, were farmers and Quakers, leading a
frugal, industrious, active, temperate life
the blood OF not even one of them poisoned
by strong drink. The Friends, from the
origin of the denomination, were careful to
avoid the universal habit of their time, the
use of alcoholic liquors. This abstinence,
together with that other rule of life of
theirs, to keep themselves "unspotted from
the world" no doubt had much to do with
the fact, that as a body of men and WON IN
they were more free from disease than other
people of equal numbers, and attained to
longer life.
Strong Drink and Tobacco.
'1 have led an active life, from earlv
youth, always abstaining, as a matter of
health and Christian duty, from strong
drink and tobacco; always avoiding any ar
ticle Of food from which had sonce expert
enced any trouble; always careful not to eat
too much, as many people, when hungry,
are liable to do, without thought. Many
years ago 1 suspected that coffee did not
agree with me. Though fond of it, L took
no more. 1 have never had reason to think
one cup of 1T morning, noon and night.
Generally an early riser, in summer
o'clock, in the winter 6:30, with two hours
before breakfast for morning papers and
books; rarely keeping late hours, never en-
gagged in any form of dissipation. In early
life an athlete and a good swimmer, but
never indulging in these exercises to excess;
never but once to such an extent as to occa-
sion abnormal action Of the heart.
''Never suffering from an anticipated evil;
remembering that sufficient unto the day
are the evils thereof; that people suffer
great more from misfortunes that never
come than from those which actually befall
them. Trust in God is not only Christian
duty, but 1t tends to temper the ills of life
and makes even the sharpest of them easier
TO bear. The thought comes to such man:
Who knows but this is best? And so he
comes to accept it as best, because of his
belief that God rules and God knows.
Never Sowed Any Wild Oats.
"T have been always busy in some way;
have always mad some leading object in life,
which kept and keeps me occupied in body
and mind, SO that time has never been
heavy upon my hands. A love of books
began with me very early in life, so that nv
pocket money, even in boyhood almost all
OF il, went in that direction, never to the
expenditure even Of penny in sowing
wild oats, or in the payment of harvest ex-
penses, often very heavy, and in later life
the buying of books was my only extraya-
gance.
81 am not sure that advice to young men,
especially if unasked, will be much valued,
but il is very cheap, and since you wish it,
/ will say: Avoid strong drink in any form,
as vigorously as Jews and Mohammedans
avoid work. Never any good can possibly
come from it to any one, while it has been
The direct and indirect cause of the failure
In life Of millions of men who had no fear of
il. Avoid tobacco as matter very import
ant to health and clean, sweet life. The
young man does not know that he who has
the tobacco habit is not free man, he is
like the
Ganey-SIave Chained to the Bench,
upon which he sits at his forced labor Let
the young man remember that it is not i'm |
possible for him who has the tobacco habit |
to be at some time, perhaps often, an insuf- |
ferable nuisance to many persons who are SO |
unfortunate as to be in his company casu-
ally or otherwise. Let him remember that |
to such a man it is also impossible, always |
and everywhere, to be an honest, upright |
polished gentlemen. Somewhere and per- |
haps often, he viii without thought, poison |
the air that others must breathe, which he |
has no more right to than to poison the |
water and food which they must drink and |
eat, or on the sly to take the purse from |
their pocket, Ones purse is no more his |