The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-26
ARE WE OLD AT sos
Presbyterian General Assembly Has
Gut That Limit ON Youth.

New York World.
When you are 80 you are no longer
young, according to a decision reach
ed by the United Presbyterians in gem
eral assembly in Pennsylvania a day
or two ago. Following this ruling, all
persons over 80 years of age were re-
quested. to withdraw from the young
peoples societies" of the church. This
is gloomy intelligence for Presbyter-
ians. and withal interesting to the I'M
regenerate.
To be old at 80. shelved before the
crucial third of a century, recognized
the world over as life's prime, sug-
gests to all of US the plaintivc in
quiry: IF 1 was to be so soon done
for, why was I ever begun for?' 1t
Is dreadful. but with all due respect
to the lurking shade of Calvin, be it
asked, is it true? A question the pres
emit generation is apt to ask itself
about anything too uncomfortable to
be believed in.
So far as the country of which the
statement was made is concerned. it
Is certainly ridiculously untrue. For
at 80 the average Americas man-at
least in the Eastern States-is apt to
consider himself as just manageable
and to be so considered by the mothers
of eligible daughters.
Nor is the American woman of 80,
If still unmarried, ready to be classed
as an also ran" in the matrimonial
sweepstakes. 1t seems, indeed, that
while a woman's chances of marrying
are numerically lessened after she
reaches 80. she is then apt to marry
better from a./worldly point of view,
If she marries at all, than If she had
been led to the altar from the school
room. The sensationally successful
marriages that one reads of daily in
the newspapers are rarely entered into
by yC<ng girls-a statement which.
though it is generally heard from la
dies who are no longer young. is new
ertheless true.
The American woman seldom reach
es full mental and physical maturity
before the age at which the fiat of
the Pennsylvania Presbyterians would
relegate her to the dead past And
the American man before 30-welI,
really. he can scarcely be considered
as quite grown up.
In extreme Southern countries,
where women were reigning bellies or
even mothers at 16, they are ant to
ne old at 30. And the South American
or Spanish or Italian husband of that
age Is often plodding, patient, spir-
ltless creature. with a tendency to
corpulency and an excessive interest
In MS meals. But precisely in these
countries, where the curfew of youth
is sounded at 80, and where the Pres
oyterian fiat might do some good. the
shade of Calvin has never penetrated.
And so the shapeless. mustachioed Ia
dies of the Latin race may go on feel
ing young just as long as they like
and the American woman, Just reach
Ing the full bloom of her beauty. must
be shelved.
Not only does the woman of Anglia
saxon race attain a physical perfec-
ton at 80 which she has never before
known-mentally and temperamentaI
Iy she is softer and more rounded. In
France. poets. novelists and artists
have always been unanimous In rec
ognizing her supreme charm. And in
recent years she has successfully in
vaded American and English fiction.
previously dedicated to celebrating the
charms OF the sweet young thing.
Nevertheless the sweet young thing
need not worry The bud of 1e can al
ways be 30-there Is lots of time-but
the siren of 30 can never. never be 49,
She doesn't want to be? Oh, YES. she
does. Why, else. the mania she SO Of
ten develops for 16s sweet simplicity
OF attire-for the muslin and blue rib
hons that when she wears them suK-
gest that somehow they are never SO
becoming as when they have ceased to
be appropriate? For the woman of 20
can wear even these and make them
appear charming