The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-04-18
HAD THEY LIVED.
Fresh and Entertaining MIXTURE of Fig
and Fancy.

When the melancholy Hamlet in
quires Of Horatio whether magma ton
may not trace the noble dust of lex
ander till it find il stopping a bung-
hole" his companion replies: '''Twere
to consider too curiously to consider
So" At the risk of disobeying Horatio's
injunction. let US note the ages which
would have been attained by number
of men and women of emiuence had not
death taken them from the scenes OF
their activities.
Taking the presidents. we find that
in the year 1898 the following, if living,
would be: Willard Fillmore. %: Frank
lin Pierce, SO; Andrew Johnson, S.;
Abraham Lincoln, 81: Rutherford B.
Hayes, II; Ulysses S. Grant, II: Chester
A. Arthur, 63; and James A. Garfield,
So.
Four, it will be observed, would be
younger than the Grand Old Man.
Lincoln about the same age, and John
son but one year older.
Among few other public men Wen
dell Phillips would be 50: Charles Sum
ner, So: Beecher. so: Edwin Stanton, 20;
Schuyler Colfax, 20: and Gen Hancock,
90 Rufus Choate would have reached
the advanced age of "a.
The eminent Hungarian, Louis Kos
suth. now living at 81, is older than
would be Beaconsfeld at SIS. Garibaldi
a S6, or Gam BETA at 80.
Among the octogenarians would be
found the following men whose achieve
ments secured for them lasting fame:
Agassiz. s6: Darwin. 81: Mendelsson. 81:
Elihu Burritt, SIS; and David Living
stone, so.
Poets are not oted for their longev-
ity: very often the sides of Parnassus
are wet and unhealthy with the dews
of sorrow. and John Keats seems to Us
like singer far removed; and vet had
not the daisies grown over him" till
now he would still lack two years of
being a centenarian. 1t is hard. in
deed, to picture the author Of "Endv-
mion" as feeble old man of 9s, and it
IS doubtless well that he died SO young,
as no further works were needed to es-
tablish his rank among imaginative
poets
Tom Hood seems also 70 belong 10
the times of comparative antiq nifty.
If now living he would be %. which
would De three years less than the age
of that other Thomas whose surname
was Carlyle.
Thomas Darlington Macaulay, dying
in 1883, is far remo-ed from the present
generation. He would now have at
tanned the age OF %. not at all impossi-
bic in these hygienic times. Eliza beth
Barrett Browning would be 81, her hus-
band three years younger: Anthony
TroIlope, -: Charlotte Bronte. -; the
ever youthful Dickens. 81: George
Elliot" -; Arthur Hugh Clough, a;
William Makepeace Thackeray. s.. and
Adelaide Proctor, IS.
Turning 20 American writer's we find
our genial autocrat, DR.. Holmes, still
alive at s. which would be the age Of
the erratic Edgar Allen Poe had ne vet
remained to ponder, weak and weary.
over many a volume Of forgotten lore. "
But fancy refuses to conceive Of Poe as
an old man.
Lougfellow a - would be two wears
older than Holm es. while Nathaniel
would be quite venera bic I
with the weight of % years.
The gifted Cary sisters, Alice and T.
Phoe be. whose sweet voices were hushed +
long ago. would be only = and 50 re-
spectively; while Lucretia and Mar .
yaret Davidson, the precocjous sister .
poets. who died in the farawav vears .
- and ls37. would, If living. be -
and 20
The sage Of Concord. Emerson. would .
be 20 had he lived until l>93.
Perhaps future ages may bring with
them the means OF p-olongiHg our ex- f
steuce anon earth Whether this would
7e desirable Is an opeu question. There
are many reasons for wishing - stay
n the world as long as possible They
.re Cene~alir selfish. however ard ex-
.reEne old age = not always 5esira pie
The Psalmjst informs izss readers that
The davS q our years arr threc-score
ind zen. and It Is doubtful whether
lny % The distinguished meH and WON
n whose possible aEes are here men
5Oned would hare been happier OF
more usefnl Il the dates Of the5r de-
sartnre had been postponed " /
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How Those Cs7Tfs Love s5--s sze.he-.
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Peuelope-No; after being refused
6. = 1 :