The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-30
The Desire for Eternal Youth.

IL may De tuc DlUllCdl IeCUIu VI VIC
great age of the early inhabitants Of
the world that inspires so many peo-
pie with an Unsuitable desire for life.
and that makes them feel that they
have been defrauded of their rights
when called upon to resign it even at
the age Of three score and ten, period
conventionally considered as reason
able limit for modern existence.
There are to be found in every com
munity impostors ready to take ad-
vantage of this weakness by pretending
to have discovered the secret of eternal
youth, or at least Of so repairing the
ravages of time that their customers
will appear to retain their youth long
after they have passed the meridian
of life.
Every periodical one takes up con-
tains pages Of advertisements in re-
lation to this very matter. Nostrums
warranted to restore thin and gray
hair to it's former luxuriance and color:
washes that will bring back to the
faded complexion the freshness and
bloom of youth, and modes of exercise
or treatment that will rejuvenate the
old and give them once more the grace
and activity of their early years. And
from the large amount of money ex-
pended in these advertisements it is
easy to see there must be great num-
Der of persons willing to be duped by
them.
In all ages Of the world people have
grown old reluctantly. Ancient al
chemists, realizing the immense power
they would possess if they should
succeed in the effort, divided their time
between attempts to compound an
elixir Of youth, and to discover the
means Of producing gold. The great
explorers Of few centuries ago were
haunted with the belief that they
should one day find the fountain of
eternal youth, and one Of them went
80 far as to affirm that he really had
discovered it in '"The Land of Flowers. !"
But with all the frauds that have been
successfully perpetuated Of late years,
no one has been bold enough to assert
that he had rediscoyered that wonder
full fountain, although it is probable
;one could make a fortune off a credu-
!lous public before it could be convin-
sced Of the fraud. s
+ Even without having any strong
aversion to the idea of growing old, it
is always somewhat of shock to one
to find the first gray hair amidst the
brown or the golden locks, and ten to
one he will risk sscalling a. dozen
others to the funeral by plucking it
out. Who goesto an optician to have
his eyes tested and to provide himself
with glasses so soon as he discovers the
disagreeable fact that his sight is fail
ing? Does not every one persist in
disbelieving the evidence ofhis senses,
lay the blame on the miserable type
used in printing books and newspapers
nowadays" and go on reading with
the page held at arms length until
even that fails to overcome the diff
Guilty ? AS to the gradual stiffening Of
joints and muscles, that comes with
increasing years, that is invaribly at
tributed to want of exercise, rheuma-
tism or anything else than the true
cause of old age.
Although physicians do not now
spend their lives trying to brew eli1irs
Of youth, they have discovered many
eocrets as IN the hest means of ,Wardipg
off as long as possible the advance Of
age, and are sometimes kind enough
to give them to the public. One Of
the most eficacious Of these is, they
say, constant occupation: One of the
smaxims Of the now almost forgotten
"Poor Richard" was, "Sloth, like rust,
consumes faster than labor wears,
and if we substitute idleness for sloth
we shall find the truth of the maxim
is the same the enforcedidleiness Of
those who can find nothing to do, "who
stand idle all the day because no man
has hired them" "a.
We all know men who have passed
four score years who are still in pos
session of. all their mental powers, just
/: because they have always been busy.
|, And, on the other hand, we know those
|, who have grown prematurely yold be-
cause they have been forced out of the
rank of the workers by the pressure of
competition, or have dropped out under
the idea that they have worked enough
and must rest and take their ease for
the remainder, of their days, while
they enjoy the fruit Of their labor.
Unless man has some great interests
to take him out of himself, and to
give him certain amount of mental
occupation he signs his death warrant
when he gives up his lifelong occu-
pations.
It is a trite simile to compare hu-
man being to machine that can go
on for years without appreciable loss
of power, if kept bright and in good
order by constant use, but the illus
tration is good one, nevertheless.
Were we to see fine engine, still in
good working order, run upon a side
track and left there unused in the
rain and dew until the shining ma
chinery was all rusted and the wheels
clogged and incapable Of movement,
we would doubtless be filled with in
dignation. But how much worse it is
to see human being side-tracked by
his own unwise choice or by adverse
circumstances and forced to look idly
on at the rush and roar Of the worlds
business as it goes past him, feeling
he has no longer any part in it and is
daily becoming less capable Of resum-
ing work were the chance given him.
Instead Of envying those of our
countrymen who have made immense
fortunes, we should look with envy
upon those among them who have been
but moderately successful and are still
engaged working at some congenial oc-
cupation, for they are generally the
happier Of the two classes. We do