Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-10-02
WHEN ARE WE OLDp

There are old men. like the late Oil.
yer Wendell Rolmes, in whom youth
the youthful outlook--is perennial
A friend asked Lord Palmerston when
he considered man to be in the prime
of life. His lordship Immediately re-
piled, Seventy mine. But" he added
with playful smile. "as | have just
entered my eightieth year. perhaps |
am myself little past it. y
Leigh Hunt quotes the following.
which he calls delicious "mem orau-
dun" from Mrs. Inchbald's diary:
81 dined, drank tea. and supped with
Mrs. Whitfield. At dark, she and l
and her son William walked out and
raped at the doors in New street. and
ran away" The narrator of this feat
of woamn who was then middle-aged
and most popular author. adds. "but
such people never grow DID,"
Some Of us know middle.aged men
who think it hardship not to be al
lowed to play marbles. and even leap
frog. If they dared, they would still
take part in boyish "larks. The
death of Matthew Arnold. the apostle
Of sweetness and Light was caused
in his Goth year by leaping over a
fence in fit of juvenile high spirits. =
Old age does not depend on yeafs so
much as is generally supposed; but If
we think only of years, when does it
tap us on the shoulder and say that it
has come to keep us company? This
varies with each individual and the
circumstances of his life. Aristotle
said that man is not at his best un.
til 40. Other writers say that he is
old then. The three score years and
ton of the Psalmist has been adopted
by most people as the normal standard
DIR. John Gardner, who has written on
Longevity" remarks: Long OBJ
servation has convinced me that 6S is
an age at which the majority of per-
sons may be termed old.o
Were people to observe moderation
in all things. the three score years
and ten would not be the ordinary
limit. but the ordinary average Of hu-
man life-as many living beyond that
period as dying before it. Quiet con-
sciences and contented minds keep
away sickness and old age. SO does
the will to be we'll.
AS for youthful excesses. they have
been well defined as drafts upon our
old age," payable with interest about
thirty years after date A young
man said to man of 30 years of age:
"How do you live SO long and be SC
well?" The old man took the young
ster to an orchard. and. pointing to
some trees full of apples, said: ~
planted these trees when I was boy,
and do you wonder that now am per-
mitted to gather the fruit of them"
We gather in old age what we plant in
youth.
''As I approve" says Cicero, "of
youth that has something of the old
man in him, so am no less pleased
with an old man who has something of
the youth. He that follows this rule
may be old in body, but can never be
30 in mind"
If men would only take as much care
Of themselves as they do of watches or
other machines of which they have
charge, they would not grow old and
wear out SO soon.
Many young men are more blase than
their fathers. and there are girls who
are more worldly wise and worldly
worn than their mothers. After talk
ing with the venerable missionary. DR..
Marsh, young man once said: "What
is the use of being young when one sees
man of 80 in better spirits than the
jolliest among us?"
When an old lady who had devoted
her life to others was congratulated,
at the age of 81, on her remarkable
vigor, she said: "They never SO often
told me l was young as since 1 have
grown old. Boston Saturday Gazette.