The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-17
READY FOR Shell WING
MEN OF THREE SCORE YEARS
ARE USELESS.
DIR. OsIcr's Age Limit for Wofk-LO-
cal Application That Proves the
Rulc-Nany Exceptions Noted
What Brought About Inc Ford
SmifIi 'Milr:-The MolasSeS Com
hat-'sThe Worst Boy i'm Town."

Smith s.Milr--The Molasses Conn
hat-"The Worst Boy i'm Town."
For The Messenger.
The recent address of DIR. William
Osler, of the Johns Hopkins University.
in which he animated that men who
have reached Go a and over nav
oue-lived their usefulness, has attract
ed some attention and received some
comment from the press. Dr.. Osler IS
understood to have said since that he
meant so years, not 60; but, If he mad
stuck to the lesser age, perhaps he
would not have been so far wrong.
I am aware mat those who take issue
with DR.. Osler can find warrant in his
tory and even contemporary experience
for their contenISon, and can cite sep
-tuagenarian, ~octogenarian, and even
nonagenarian rulers of the world, such
as the first Herod, Numa Pompilius, the
elder Plus A~ntonine, Dandolo, the Doge
of Venice. Louis XII of France, Queen
Victoria of England, Christian Of Dem
mark; statesmen, such as Gladstone,
kaunitz. Metternich, OXenstiern, Ca
your, Theirs, T~auyrand; generals, lei
as B~al1sarius. Amurath IL, Luxembourg,
Schomberg, Tilly, W~allenstein, Suwal-
row.; and a splendid company of I'M
mortals, who wasted the midnight
OIL at the very fag-end Of life. in
porting over the dusty parchments Of
learning, and delving deep into the
arcafra Of the laboratories Of science.
Such as these might we'll say, with
Longfellow:
What then? Shall one sit idly down,
n say
The night has come;i it is no Longer
day?
The night hath not yet ONE we are
not quite
Cut off from labor by l1e falling light.
Something remains tor us to do or
dare
Even the oldest tree some fruit may
bear.
For age is opportunity, no less
| Than youth itself, though In another
dress;
And. as the evening twilight fades
The sky is filed with stars invisible by
day"
But, after all, are not these illustrious
examples, numerous as they are, only
the exceptions to the vast mass Oh
| mankind who "st'ut and fret tnear
hour upon the stage, and n are seen
mo more; the ~uncounted millions VINO,
.hife's fitful fever over, sleep Well:
[ much misdoubt me that the average
| man who has reached three-score years
| and over is i'm the "sere and yellow
| leaf" i'm line helpless and almost drive
ling stage of the ''rean and sllppered
pantaloon,' SO mournfully portrayed
| by melancholy Jaques' in Shakes
peare's LAS You Like It."
For my part, [ believe that the mo-
{ jority OF men who have lived six dec
| AIDES are ready for shelving, and han
best sit themselves down at the foot
of the tree. content to watch the 1ast
deepening sunset of the evening OF lie,
happy if no lowering clouds mass
themselves athwart the fading glow
no lurid flashes tell of coming storm.
Contracting the scope Of this discus
sion, and passing it's merits in local re-
view, have been lately studying close
" the situation IN my own Fay
. etteville, and sizing up The men OF az
fairs in this city alone, leaving GU
the country. Of the ministers hline
the pulpits of the city, no one is slNt9
wears old. OF a numerous bar, oni1
Two have reached thr~ee-Score years
OF the physicians, but one, the dean %
the profession, a passed the lllnit
Of the teachers. I know OF nome no
considerably under that age. VI tn'
manufacturers, there may be one owe
sixty wears old but I am not certain
of him. More than 80 per cent. of thos'
engaged in mercantile business are ui'
der sixty years Of age. p.
When one comes to think OF 1t, IS l
NOT natural h man should be wei
spent when he a lived three times tn
span between birth and the thresnoi'
of manhood? He has toiled long ah'
hard. remember, and he has traVeie
over a difficult and weary ROAD. BE
sides. carelessness and neglect nav
roughly treated the machine, failing t
oil it, filling its wheels and cogs VII
rust. and exposing it to severe weather
Examine the parts of the mechanism
and they show hard usage. Ihe Snalh
are shrunken; the back is bowed; IT
shoulders are bumped; the meek
scrawny; the hair is nearly gone, an
what is left is thin and dry; the nan
are hard and cracked: the teeth al
naa1ght but snags h eyes are din an
glazed. Maybe the headlight is bum
ing bright; but it may go in a fiasr
like a snuffed cut candle, and TN
wreck may come with a crash in tn
blind darkness. Alas: alas! VIVA
is man, that thou art mindful Of him
or the son of man, that thou WISHES
him2"
One time Silas Ford and Jack Smit
hakd a fight IL the store Of tt
latter: and, from all accounts, I recko
it was the most extraordinary confh>
Of ancient or modern times. two Q
three people happened to step into tn
store at the time, n heard them scul
fling and s~crinlnaging, all by them
selves, back in the warehouse. Hasten
ing to the the spectators, ate
separating the gladiators-who 500
putting and blowing, and shaking the
heads at eac other-were amazed, ne
so much at the combat as at the spec
tacuiar appearance presented by It
combatants. It was warm weathea
both wearing white trousers Id blac
alpaca sack coats, and they were Ell
rac15 in a. coating of mOIaSSeS frDi