The Breckenridge news., 1905-10-11
THE JoY OF AGE.
Misinterpretation of DIR. OsIer's
Statement.

Or. William Osler, late professor II
John Hopkins University, Baltimore
met with a great deal of undeserve(
notoriety because he was misunder
stood when he said the creative faculty
disappeared usually at the age of forty
years. He did not mean to convey the
| impression that mans usefulness
ceased at that time, but that the imag
NATIVE faculty was not as active then
as it was in earlier years, when men
are green and raw in judgment and put
forth many things that they wish u
have suppressed later on. His little
jest about chloroforming those who
lag superfuous on the stage" was
meant to apply only to teachers who
failed to move with the advanced
thought and had a special humorous
reference to himself but the miscom-
prehension and exaggeration of the
press has magnified his utterance and
given it q sweep he never intended.
Must Seek New Fields.
When the acquisition of knowledge
is used merely as a means through
which to earn bread, that is the end
of mans career, whether he be thirty
or forty or a thousand years old. Men
who seek no new fields oe exploration
nor carry forward to fulfillment any
work they attem0t in early days are
mere drones in the hives of life.
DR.. Osler, who is close to the sixty
year line, has gone to England to take
q professorship of medicine in Oxford
University, which will without doubt
lead to an increase of his professional
fame, which did not come to him until
after he had passed the half century
post in his journey of life. His part
ing injunction to his medical asso-
,iates in America, at the Washington
meeting in May, was to follow the |
Golden Rule in all their actions, and to |
cultivate that moderation which is said |
o be the golden thread running |
through all the virtues. This advice |
S not new, but it cannot be repeated |
90 often in an age when many men |
ire striving to shove their neighbors |
o the wall in their desire to occupy |
he middle of the road themselves.
'1an is naturally n selfish animal and
reeds to be often reminded that he
must do unto others as he would have
hem do unto him, even if he desires
o attain more worldly success. The
nan who has no consideration for his
aboring fellows is likely to find no con-
liberation extended to him when the
our Of misfortune comes.
Best Work Late in Life.
DR.. Osler never deprecated age,
moving that mans best work is done
fter age has mellowed his under
and strengthened his judg-
nent. There are numerous examples
f what virility in age can do all along
he track of history. 1t was seen in
benjamin Franklin, William +. Glad
tone, is seen in Edward Everett Hale,
ord Kelvin, Charles II. Uaswell en-
,ineer and author, still at the age of
u at his desk in New York, and other
lames will occur by scores to general
eaders.
1t is an infleXible law of nature that
he being who does not progress must
etrograde. There is no place on this
earful ascent of life where, spiritually
md intellectually, we are not forced
o go forward lest we slip back. But
t is a happy provision in nature that
wen in the longest life there is no
arbitrarily fixed point of time where
must cease as if by a fiat,
where there are no more heights be-
ore the soul to climb, no more views
o be obtained. no broadening and eX-
)anding of the vision possible. Al
Ways and forever a new bud may be
ormed on the tOpmost bough Of the
Id tree, even though the trunk be
,artly hollow, and the nOurishing sap
Mount slowly through the bark.