The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1892-01-28
ENJ0YING OLD AGE.
POETS AND STATESMEN WHO HAVE
LIVED LONG AND WELL

y
Es3oyment In Declining Years Than
Basiness Men, because Their Brain
Tsssae Is Developed in More Ways.
Sir James Crichton-Browner has
enumerated instances of long lived per-
sons possessing all their faculties unim-
paired, and opened up subject full OF
interest and which even the large space
occupied by his address did not allow
him fully to develop 1t seems physlo-
logical law that the functions Of the
body must be kept in exercise in order
TO maintain their efficiency. and it is as
true of the body as of the mill or any
other machine that it will rust out from
ilisuse sooner than wear out by employ
Rent.
SEhe fact is constantly observed in per-
sons engaged in commercial pursuits,
who retire at the age of sixty and then
fall into rapid decay, while professional
:. fnen remainina-at work preserve their
vieor often f65kanother twenty years.
1t is q sad thing to see the nerve centers
J. decay, with corresponding weakness
Of body and mind, but it is still sadder
y 10 witness, with a wrinkling of the skin.
a corresponding shrinking of the BRAIN.
!. allowing vanity and some of the weakly
<hassions. which had been kept in sup
Preston, to come againto the fore.
HON different is the spectacle when
the organ is kept in its integrity by con-
slant use, and the mental faculties pre-
served in all their pristine force. We
have only to look around and to see our
poets, bislidbss Judges, ministers of state
and medical men long lived and still in
mental vigor while working at their re-
spective ayocations. Very remarkable,
too, is it that, as Sir James Crichton-
Browne observed, the freedom of Ian
;suage will remain as good as ever; an
example of this was observed but lately
in a discussion on the London univer-
sity questions, when two of the most
logical and we'll expressed speeches were
made by octogenarians.
OLD AGE SHOULD NOT BE UNHAPPY
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 Pallnerston, Lord
Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst'and others
In former times we may remember
Newton living to be eighty-five, while
Sophocles is said to have lived to be
ninety, and Plato not much short of
this. 1t is clear that. hard work does
not kill. The teil, however, must be
genial and diversified. The man of
his breadwinning, whereas Il medical
man has variety of subjects to interest
him.
A speaker at the international con-
gress showed by experiments upon school
children, when three or four sums in
arithmetic were given in succession.
that each sum showed an inferiority to
the previous one, both in correctness
and as regards the time in which it was
completed. The one faculty employed
was gradually exhausted, "a fresh piece
OF evidence showing the necessity for
diversity of work In the treatment OF
persons with mental trouble or worry
the very worst method is to rely toe
much on what is called rest, meaning
thereby leaving the patient without
other employment than to brood ovel
his sorrows. True rest to the mind il
only to be obtained by the occupation oi
other faculties reused into action b,
new surroundings.
There is no reason why old age shouk
not be as happy and as enjoyable as any
other period of life. If old persons b,
asked as to the consciousness of age che,
will all with one consent declare tina
there exists nothing of the kind. Anoll
person has acknowledge of his age in tn,
same way as his friends; he sees it b,
looking in the mirror. by remembrance
of past events or the loss of contempt
raries, but he is not constantly carrying
about with him the conviction or feelin:
that he is old; he is thus still able to oc
Cupy himself in the business and. pleas
ures of life.
AUTHORITATIVE TESTIMONY.
Button spoke of his green old age a
one of the happiest periods in his life, al
though the kind of pleasures then expe
rienced are, of course. different fror
those of youth; and even when deca
comes, and man is becoming free fror
the remembrance of all earthly things
then, as Sir James Paget says (and n
better example could be found of ful
mental activity by continual worlk),
may be SO ordered on purpose that th
spirit may be invigorated and undi.
turbed in the contemplation of til
Frightening future. Another writer
= speaking of old age in reference to the d.
cease of an eminent barrister, also inlsii
tanned that the highest faculties are keI
keen by constant exercise, and the brai
vigorous by constant action and renewa
The understanding has often been
the highest perfection in quite advance
old age, and that has been the best perio
of human life 1t is the time when I'll
rage and storm of passion have die
away, when the jealousies and cares
Rcareer have ceased and been forgotten
when memory fingers upon all that
bright and charming in the past, an
when hope scatters her most CLOWN
tints over fast approaching future; o
In the words of Sir j. Crichton-B Brown
himself: eve are able to see in old az
glimpses of the truth that its chief glol