Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-06


and it is possible for US to do our best
work tow ard the close of cur mortal exist
ence.
Il attribute my own health, which has
never been seriously impaired. and my
longevity. very much TO the inheritance
which has been transmitted to me by my
ancestors.
Smoked Tobacco Fifty Years.
GAS to my own personal habits, l smoked
tobacco faithfully for fifty years, and then,
seven or eight years ago, 1 abandoned it
altogether. on the ground that l did not
care to be a slave of such habit any
longer. I have net been total abstainer,
except for certain limited periods, when 1
thought that the welfare of others re-
QUired tt have been accustomed to sleep
as other people do and without giving
muchg thought to it. In fact. a scrupulous
regarI for sanitary rules and special at
tentiSN to bodily health have never inter-
ested me very much.
IN regard to marriage as conducive to
longevity and everything else that is good
and desirable, think that every able bod
led man who has the means of supporting
a family is under moral obligation to
marry as soon as possible after he has
reached the age of twenty-one. If he ex-
poets to live upon other people, like para
site, he has no right to marry at all.
Author of Self Help, Aged Eighty-Two
My ext letter is from Mr. Samuel Smiles
the author of Self Help and of dozen
other valuable works. He also says that
work is the only thing that keeps man
young. His letter is full of personal de-
tails about his habits and his work 1t is
written in firm hand. 1t is dated Ken
s!nston, London, June 4. 1894. and is in part
follows:
Il have to ask your pardon for not
sooner replying to your letter of the 10th
April 1t came to me through Edinburgh,
Scotland. which l left ffty-siX years ego.
Since then have lived at Leeds, but prin-
cipally in London, where I long acted as
secretary of the Southeastern Railway
Company.
Il am well on in my eishty-second year.
About twenty-three years ago I had a
stroke of paralysis and should scarcely lie
living at present. but having a sound con-
stitution and giving up all work for about
five years. l happily recovered, and only
the other day l sent the MS. OF q new
book to the printers.
You ask me about my habits. am never
idle. Work Is the salvation CT every human
being. My wife is alive and as happy as
I am. I should not have been as 1 am
without her. We had two sons and three
daughters-one of the sweetest of the lat
ter died. But we have, nevertheless.
twenty grandchildren, and one of them Is
happily married. We had our golden we'd
ding in December last.
p. Il smoke moderately and take three-quar-
tiers of a glass of whisky at night. by the
Everything in moderation. l take two
walks day. one in the forenoon. another
in the afternoon. On the whole am very
WELL"
How Secretary McCu1loch Kept Young
One of the most interesting of these I'm
published letters was one from the late Hugh
McCulloch. He was seventy-s.x years old
when Secretary of the Treasury, and he
preserved his intellectual vigor to the last.
on youth and how to keep it. He was rot
we'll at the time, and Mrs. AIcCulloch wrote
the letter and signed it. In it she said:
MIR. McCulloch believes in the golden rule.
The young man who would grow old and
still keep young should do to others as he
would be done by. He should be pure in
soul and body, and be temperate in eating
and drinking. He believes that tobacco and
ardent spirits are injurious, and he would
advise the young to let them alone. He
should devote himself to business, but he
should not neglect his family. He should
marry soon as he is able TO keep house,
and when he finds the woman whom he
can sincerely love.
You ask as to insomnia. Mr.. McCulloch
has found that horseback riding has done
a great deal for him. He has always been
light sleeper. and he could not sleep Well
when business cares annoyed him. He was
delicate when he went to Indiana at the age
of twenty-five, but he had to take four trips
a year from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis on
horseback. This exercise made him strong
and vigorous, and he kept i. up in after
life. 1t was his chief exercise when IN the
Treasury Department. Secretary McCul-
lCch has always been domestic in his tastes.
His pleasures have been in his family, and
it ia there that he mas gotten his rest and
enjoyment His boys have always been
foi.der of home tks.n Of any other place,
and their father was their favorte COM
panion. He therefore had no black sheep
in his family. Sons and grandsons are
respectable men, SO far, God bless them!'
From Thomas Wentworth HisginsOn.
Few men in the United States have done
more literary work than Thomas Went
worth 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 physi-
cal condition and Is still at work. His re-
ply comes to me on the pages OF a note
book, with the questions on one side and
the answers opposite them 1t is short
and to the point He says he does not use
tobacco nor liquor. and yet many who use
them reach a healthy old age. He sleeps
eight hours every night, and takes cold
sponge bath daily. He can't say whether
marriage is conducive to longevity or not,
and he adds that many married people
live long" He thinks twenty-five is a
good age for young man to marry, and
advises young men who wish to reach
eighty ito have regular habits and 20
work moderately but persistently in some
good cause" To such as cart sleep he
says: Diminish The strain upon your mind
and avoid care from annoyance and evil"
How Herbert Spencer Works.
Mr.. Herbert Spencer, the great scientist,
is now eighty-fve. He was a sickly 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
xto iy,f 1a ~ 81 foy ~ Of hi
self He does most of his work by dicta-
ton, and he saves himself in every possible
way. He has for years been troubled with
insomnia, and though he is good talker