The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-06
Great American HumoIist
 Entertained
PRESIDENT WRITES LETTER
Mark Twain Tells How to Get to Bs 70 Years Old and Not Mind It. One Hundred and Fifty
 Authors Present.


 tonight was the guest of honor at a din- ner at Delmonico's, given by Col George B. Hsrvie in honor of the humorists roth birthday. The guests were confined to writers of imaginative literature. and about 1bo authors were present, nearly half of them women.
 During the dinner a oongratulatory ca ble message was received from England signed by forty of the most distinguished writers there, including Thomas Hardy, George Merdeith, Alfred Austen, Arthur Balfour, Rudyard Kipling, Anthony Hope, Sir Gilbert Parker. Sir Conan Doyle, Ian Maclaren, Mrs. Humphrey Ward and Israel zangwiil. The present souvenir which each guest received was bust of Mark Twain, half life size.
 President Roosevelt and Joel Chandler Harris sent letters, and among those who spoke or presented poems were w. D. Howells. Richard Watson Glider, pr. Henry vanDyke, Brandon Matthews. Dr. Weir Mitchell, Kate Douglass Wiggin, John Kendrick Bangs, Amelia Barr, Ham, ilton W. Mabie, Caroline Wells, Irwin Bacheller. Andrew Carnegie, George w. Cable F. Hopkinson Smith, Agnes Rep- plier and Virginia Frazer Boyle.
 Colonel Harvie introduced Mark Twain, who spoke on How to Get to Be Seventy and Not Mind It."
 The Presidents letter follows:
 President RooseveIt's Tribute.
 November 2s, 1905. My Dear Colonel Harvie-I wish it were in my power to be at the dinner held to celebrate the 10th birthday of Mark Twain. It is difficult to write of him by his real name instead of that name which has become a houshold word wherever the English language is spoken. He Is one of the citizens whom all Amer jeans should delight to honor, for he has rendered a great and peculiar service to America, and his writings, though such as no one but an American could have written, yet emphatically come within that small list which written for no particular country, but for all countries, and which are not merely written for the time but have an abiding and permanent value. May he live long, and year by year may he add to the sum of admirable work that he has done, Sincerely yours,
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT"
 Mark Twain Speaks.
 When Mark Twain arose to speak he could not proceed for several minutes on account of the cheers that were given in greeting. He said:
 ''The 10th birthday. It is the time of life when you arrive at and awful dignity; when you may throw aside the decent reserves which have oppressed you for generation and stand unaffected and unabashed on your seven-terraced summit, and down-look and teach-unre- buked.
 You can tell the world how you got there. It is what they all do. You shall never get tired of telling by what deli cate arts and deep moralities you climb ed up to that great place. You will ex- plain the process and dwell on the par ticulars with senile rapture I have been anxious to explain my own system this long time, and now at last l have the right
 T have achieved my 70 years in the usual way%by sticking strictly to scheme of life which would kill anybody else It sounds like an exaggeration, but that Is really the common rule for attain ing to old age. We have no permanent habits until we are 40 Then they begin to harden, presently they petrify, then business begins. Since 40 I have been regular about going to bed and getting up-and that is one of the many things to do. I have made it rule to go to bed when there was nobody left to sit up; and have made 1t rule to get up when I had to. This has resulted in unswerv- ing regularity of irregularity
 Matter of Diet.
 Tn the matter of diet, which is an- other main thing, I have been persis- tently strict in sticking to the things which did not agree with me until one or the other got the best of it-until I got the best of it myself. But last spring stopped frolicking with mince pies af- ter midnight; up to them I had always believed it was not loaded. For thirty years I have taken coffee and bread at s in the morning, and no bite nor sup till 7:30 in the evening.
 T have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at time. l have no other restrictions as regards smoking I do not know just when l began to smoke. l only know that all during my fathers lifetime that 1t was 1ndiscreet He passed from this life early in 1s47 when I was a shade past Il. Ever since then have smoked publicly. As an example to others. and not that care for moder- ation myself, 1t has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.
 Rule for Drinking.
 'As for drinking, I have no rule about that. When the others drink I like to help; otherwise remain dry by habit and preference. This dryness does not hurt me, but it could easily hurt you. because you are different. You let 1t alone
 Since I was years of age I have sell dom taken a dose of medicine, and I have still schooner needed one. But up to ! I lived exclusively on allopathic medi- cines Not that I needed them, for I don't think I did; 1t was for economy; my father took drug store for debt and 1t made cod liver oil cheaper than the other breakfast foods. was the first Standard oil trust. I had 1t all. By the time the drug store was exhausted my health was established, and there never has been much the matter with me since.
 Exercise Is Loathsome.
 'T have never taken much exercise except sleeping and resting. and never in- tend to take any. Exercise is loathsome and 1t cannot be any benefit when you are tired am always tired.
 ''I have lived a severely moderate life. But 1t would be mistake for other peo- pie to try or for tme to recommend 1t. Very few would succeed. You have to
 fcentinusd ek ssvsnth Paosl