Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-07-14
Society has passed an unwritten law

Society has passed an unWritten Ia"
abolishing old age. Unlike many Wit
ten laws, it is being enforced. Where
Is the venerable grandmother who
used. In black dress and black cap, to
sit in the chimney corner knitting the
cnitdrens stockings? Arrayed In
beautiful pea green silk gown and
Powered hat, her gray hair done IN
naughty pompadour, she Is out help-
ing receive at a fashionable function
Or attending the latest musical COM
edy at the theater. Where Is the lean
and slippered pantaloon" who used to
spend the long days, "spectacles on
nose and pouch on side" summing him
self on the front porch or hobbling
about the house and yard on cane!
He is down at the Office or store work
ing as energetically and ambitiously
as he did twenty years ago, or out at
the ball game, cheering as Justify as
the most vociferous small boy on the
bleachers. A writer in Scrlbner's re-
calls that when Washington was 66
years old he shrank from accepting
the presidency on the ground that he
had reached 1.-The advanced season OF
life" Henry G.. Davis was quarter
century older than this when he ran
for vice president Some thought Mr..
Davis had reached "the advanced sea-
son Of lifs'' and passed it, but it was
impossible to make him think 80.
When Froude, the historian, was elect
al ~oo&o. oP Androxu'c no Tnarlx Oh
that the honor gave him pleasure as
recognition of what he had done"
"As we advance in life," he said, "the
| question is no longer what we shall
| do" He spoke at 81 in the tone Of an
old man. Young manhood used to end
| at 80 and old, age for men began at
| 45. A single woman was an old maid
| at % and a married woman thought
| at 40 that age required her to begin
to quit society and make room for the
| younger generation" We have
| changed all this. A man is now young
| until he is 45 and middle aged the rest
| Of his life spinsters don't become old
maids any more They are girls until
| 35, when they become bachelor maids.
| Married women are young at 40, after
| which, like their husbands after As,
| they enjoy a perennial middle age.
| There may be persons scattered here
| and there who regard themselves as
| old and will submit to be banished, as
the aged Of past generations were,
from business, amusements and So
ciety, but If there be any such their
number is small and they are all we'll
past the biblical three score and ten
mark. Prof. Shaler of Harvard re-
| CARDS the abolition of old age as
sign of progress. Brutes and savages,
as he points out, either kill their SUI
perannuates or leave them to starve.
On rising from savagery to barbarism
men set their aged as a class apart and
| revere them for their wisdom and dig
nifty. 1t Is mark Of an advance in
| civilization when they are "readopted
| into the association and are allowed
| to go along with the business of life
in the manner of other people" They
are allowed nowadays to go along not
only with the business of life, but also
with its enjoyments; and the sum of
human good and human happiness is
thereby greatly increased. Tsss ability
and happiness of a life depends not
on its length but on its average
breadth-not on the number of years,
but on the number of its years which
are filled with useful exertion and In
nocent pleasure. 1t is disputed wheth-
er the average length Of life is increas-
| ing That the abolition Of the old
fashioned "old age" is increasing the
average breadth Of it seems scarce