Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-03-18
ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE.
Poets, Philosophers, and Statesmen Who
Have Lived Long and We'll.

enumerated instances OF lOhg-lNeu per-
sons possessing all their faculties un-
impaired. and opened up subject full
of interest and even the large space
occupied by his address did not allow
him fully TO develop IL seems ply
siological law that the functions OF the /
body must be kept in exercise in order
10 maintain their eilicicncics, and 1t Is (
true of the body as of the mill or any .
other machine that will rust out from
disuse sooner than wear out 10y employ I
ment
The fact is constantly observed in I
persons engaged in commercial pur-
suits, who retire at the age of sixty
and then fall into rapid decay while
professional men remaining at work
preserve their vigor, often for another
twenty years 1t is "A sad thing to see
the nerve centers decay with n CORE
spending weakness Of body and mind,
but IL is still sadder TO witness with
wrinl1ling of the skin, corresponding
shrinking of the brain, allowing vanity
and some of the weakly passions which
mad been kept in suppression, TO come
again to the fore
How different is the spectacle when
the organ is kept in its integrity by
constant use and the mental faculties
preserved in all their prestine force.
We have only to look around and to see
our poets, bishops, judges, ministers OF
state and medical men long-lived and
still in mental vigor while working at
their respective avocations. Very re-
marlable, too, is it that, as Sir James
Crichton-Browne observed, the freedom
of language will remain as good as
ever; an example of this was observed
but lately in a discussion on the Lon
don university questions, when two OK
the most logical and well.eXpressed
speeches were made by octogenarians
We can at the present time point to
statesmen and lawyers OF great age
still before the public, as not long ago
we could see Lord Palmcrston, Lord
Brougham, Lord Lyndhur7 md others.
In former times we may remember
Newton living TO be eighty-five, while
Sophocles is said 10 have lived 70 be
ninety, and Plato not much short OF
this 1t is clear that hard work does
not kill. The toll, however, must be
genial and diversified The man OF
business often has no occupation be-
sides his breadwinning, whereas a
medical man has a variety of subjects
TO interest him.
A speaker at the recent international
congress showed by experiments upon
school children when three or four
sums of arithmetic were given IN sue
cession, that each sum showed an in
feriority TO the previous one, both in
correctness and regards the time in
which it was completed The one
faculty employed was gradually eN-
hausted, fresh piece of evidence show
ing necessity for diversity of work.
In the treatment Of persons with men
tai trouble or worry the very worst
method is TO rely too much on what Is
called rest, meaning thereby leaving
the patient without other employment
than to brood over his SORROWS True
rest to the mind is only obtained 10y tho
occupation of other faculties reused
into action by new surroundings.
There is no reason why old age should
not be as happy and as enjoyable rs
any other period of life. If old persons
be asked as to their consciousness o
clare that there exists nothing of the
kind An old person has u knowledge
of his age in the same sway as M
friends; he sees it by looking in th'
mirror, by remembrance OF past events
or the loss of contemporaries, but he j
not constantly carrying about with hin
the conviction or feeling that he is old
he is thus still able to occupy himsel
in the business and pleasures Of life.
Button spoke of his green old age a
one of the happiest periods of his life
although the kind of pleasures then eN
perienced are, of course, different iron
those of youth: and when decay comes
and man is becoming free from tn
remembrances of all earthly things
then, as Sir James Paget says land n
better example could be found OF fu
mental activity by continued work.,
may be so ordered on purpose that TN
spirit may be invigorated and undi
turbed in the contemplation of tn
Frightening future. Another write
speaking of old age in reference to tn
decease of an eminent barrister, ais
maintained that the highest facultit
are kept keen by constant exercise, ar
the brain vigorous by constant actic
and renewal
The understanding has often been
the highest perfection in quite a.
vanced old age, and that has been Il
best period of human life. 1t is Il
time when the rage and storm of pa
sion have died away, when the jea
ousies and cares of career have cease
and been forgotten, when memol
fingers upon all that is bright al
charming in the past, and when hol
scatters her most glowing tints ov
fast approaching future; or, in Il
words of Sir ]. Crichton-Browne hin
self: ave are able to see in old a.
glimpses of the truth that its chi
glory consists not in the remembrance
of feats of prowess, nor in the egotist
exercise of power, but in the conque
of peevish weakness, in the brightne
of hope, and in the discrimination
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