The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-04-01

What VIII You Choose?

Nine, Patti has preserved her youth
and her golden voice to past the age OF
fifty, For twenty-five years she has
been the queen of song, How does she
do it9 She has no social relaxation be-
yond that of an ordinary farmer, though
she does not begin to work 80 hard. She
never 'makes night of it, for that
would ruin her voice. She takes plenty
of sleep, plenty of exercise in the open
air and eats the simplest food. Year
after year she pursues the same iron
regimen as to her mode of living, never
allowing herself to feel even an emo.
tion violently, lest it crack her voice
and bring fabby fold to her peerless
throat.
There, too, is Lillian Russell, in her own
realm of song likewise unrivaled, and Civ.
ing promise of remaining SO as long as
Patti has done. Lillian Russell has been
singing ten or twelve years, and growing
handsomer and sweeter voiced year by
year. She is said now to be the most
beautiful woman in America. What
says Lillian Russell?
1t is a hard life, and the secret of keeping II
up, If it is secret, is in taking care of ones
self. One needs an iron constitution to start
with, and to fence it in with ironclad habits
get all the rest can, am never up later than
have to be, and am careful about eating and
drinking.
Besides that she, too, has regular ex.
ercise in the open air. She takes long
walks and horseback rides. No soldier
could live under more rigid discipline
and training. Her food is likewise plain.
One may mention also Gladstone, in
his eighty-third year, the leader of his
party and the greatest statesman in Eu-
rope. Even his physical activity puts
to shame many man of fifty. How
has Gladstone kept himself young and
in his intellectual prime at eighty-two:
Again it is the same story, told so often
as to grow tiresome, the simplest food
eaten in very moderate quantity, regu.
lar habits, perfect cleanliness of the
skin and abundant exercise In the open
air. The woodchopper of England. with
his ascetic life. bids fair to outlast the
great but gouty and beer guzzling Bis
marck, more than eight years younger
Patti, Lillian Russell and Gladstone have
chosen what they will have in this life,
and have been willing to pay the cost Of
getting it.
On the other side, several many mil
honed men might be mentioned who be-
gan life without dollar They vowed
to become the possessors of immense
wealth, to be the financial leaders of
their generation. For this they toiled
and schemed ceaselessly. They lay
awake nights thinking how they could
become richer than other men. They
were not always scrupulous in the
means used for increasing wealth. Gray
haired men, pauper widows, homeless
children sometimes recall them with
thoughts that are not blessings.
But these, too, got their wish. They
are powers in the financial world. They
have as much as the wealth of a whole
state in their own possession. Yet the
sleep they robbed themselves of, the
conscience they drugged in the days
when they were poor, have their re-
venge. Insomnia, dyspepsia hysteria
clutch them like furies; their eyesight.
their bodily activity fails them. With
ruined health and restless souls they
wander the earth over Who shall
know the memories, the regrets, that
haunt them? They, too, made their
choice and paid the cost.