St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-07
FROM HIGGINSON


Few men in the United States have
done more literary work than Thomas
Wentworth HigginSon. He has written
a dozen different works and he has
been one of the leaders of advanced
thought in the United States for years.
He is now eighty-two years of age, but
he Is in good physical condition and is
still at work. His reply comes to me
on the pages of a notebook, with the
questions on one side and the answers
opposite them. 1t is short and to the
point. He says he does not use to-
baeco nor liquor, and yet many who
use them reach a healthy old age. He
sleeps eight hours every night, and
takes a cold sponge bath daily. He
can't say whether marriage is con-
ducive to longevity or not, and he ADDS
that many unmarried people live
long," He thinks twenty-five is good
age for young man to marry, and adj
vises young men who wish to. reach
eighty ito have regular habits and to
work moderately but perSiStently In
some good cause" To such as cant
sleep he says: Diminish the strain
upon your mind and avoid care from
annoyance and evil"
This correspondence of mine is inter-
esting through the insight which 1t
gives into the lives and habits OF some
public men. Many of these old men
write firm, characteristic hands. Some
Canon Farrar writes me that he has a
rooted objection to giving promiscuous
opinions and details of biography to
the press, and that he must beg me to
kindly excuse him.
Mr. Herbert Spencer, the great Scien-
tist,; is now eighty-fve. He was
sicBiy boy, and he has never had good
health Still his life has been spent In
hard work, and he is now one of the
most skillful men of the world In the
art of taking care of himself he does
most of his work by dictation, and he
saves himself in every possible way.
He has for years been troubled with
Insomnia. and though he is a good
taIker he will not enter into discussions
in the evening. He drinks tea ana
smokes cigarettes.
outside of his own work, and he has
a photographic reply which he sends
out to all correspondents who write
as to matters which do not relate TO
this His life shows that work and care
are the secrets of his wonderful work
ing old age Huxley, another old
scientist, who died on the 18th ult.,
wrote me shortly beFre his death, in
reply to my letter on the subject, that
he could not supply the information
which wanted. His letter is an auto,
graph one, and the hand is firm and
NEWMAN HALL ON YOUTH.
The Rev. Newman Hall, who, now at
seventy mine, is hale and hearty, and
writes a good business hand, says:
ITO remain in health to three score
and ten, and possibly by reason of
strength to four score, / would say:
Live according to the laws of God
temporarily and virtuously, soberly,
righteously and godly-abstain from
| fieshly lusts,' which war against the
soul, was Pau1's advice to Timothy.
As regards my personal habits, have
never smoked, and during sixty years
have wholly abstained from all intox-
ting drinks. ] generally sleep from
1880 or II to or 1880. I sleep seven
hours without waking. / use a cold
bath every morning throughout the
| year. On an average I walk about
four miles a day I can still walk ten
miles without fatigue. I generally
have three services every Sunday, and
an never Mondayish. On an average
preach five times weekly, and neither
suffer from pain nor fatigue. As to
overwork of brainI would say; Give
up working as soon as it is WEAKNESS,
and do the chief brain work early in
! the day Do not work the brain late at
night If you wish to sleep, and as to
worry, do your duty and cast your care
| upon the Lord, content with His ap-
| provai and good conscience.
/ FRANK G. CARPENTER.