The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-08
HOW OLD IS A MAN?

AS old as ne IeelSt or course, Just as woman is as old as she looks. This is the accepted answer. But 1t is only half an answer, It is true as far as it goes, but it leaves a long road to travel,
 Sometimes we see. a man of sixty al- most as fresh and vigorous as he ever was. He goes at pace which gives the impression that the goal is still far ahead. He Is full of energy and am bition, busy as can be with work and plans. He gets up out of his chair six times in a minutes if he wants something out of reach. He runs up or down stairs without feeling it in his knees, or across the street bareheaded without discovering that his hair is thin, He tries to get his work done in time to go to the bah games, or if prevented wants to find out what the score is as soon as it is bulletined. He accepts with enthusiasm any task. or responsibility, or honor, that his as- soclates or fellow citizens put upon him. His grandchildren like him for a companion, women find him still in teresting, and he holds his own with men at the club, in public meeting or wherever something is going on. If he is as old as he feels he is under forty.
 Another man of forty is already tir- ed. Ills necessary work is all he can do and he shoulders off other burdens Even when they would bring reward or distinction he declines them. Am bition does not spur him out of the restricted path of duty and habit. When compelled to leave it for the time being, he slips back into 1t as quickly as possible. He likes his ac- customed place and work he is fa- miliar with. If things do not come to him he does not get impatient and go after them. He not seen much in the haunts of men. When the day is done he seeks his freside and is reluctant to leave it. He feels like sixty. 1,
 The difference between these men measures the meaning of the saying that a man is as old as he feels. But | it reveals little of the reasonssfor the difference It may be what we call temperament, a condition of mind or spirit, or it may be merely physical energy. If the former, 1t indicates little or nothing as to actual age the difference in feeling was probably as marked from the very Beginning of their lives. If it is duelto difference in physical energy, tFlenit brings us to what we were coming to.
 It is quite common theory that one can make oneself better than one's years by effort. Tt is assumed that one person keeps gauns by keep ing up interest in things; by associat- ing with the young, by active efforts that change the thought and refresh the spirit, in sport, recreation, char lity, public causes. While this is cer tainly true in a measure, 1t is usually carried to limit which puts the cause in the place of the effect People take the healthful, stimulating interest in things because they feel yotfng. They do not feel young because they com pei themselves to take interest. We are all familiar with the brave indom- itable spirit that keeps going in the effort to conquer melancholy or dis ease and wears out the faster for it.
 Our machinery, both mental and physical, is not made the same in all of us. In some all parts are made of equal power and endurance and move perfectly together to the end. The possessor of such a machine is 1 always young Tn others there are de- l fective pieces that work poorly from the beginning and begin to give out while the other parts are driving on indifferent or eXasperated by the halt ing restraint. In this case the effort may be admirable or pitiful according
 to circumstances. In still others the machinery may be sound, but consti- 1 tutionally under low pressure. The observer of it's workings may grieve 1 for the lack of power and earnestness, but artificial stimulation will not help much. Its feebleness is no indication of age. It may outwear much more powerful one, though it always seems old
 A man who had seen much of life at thirty-f1ve told another of the same age that the latter would not have so much experience if he lived to be 1OO It was true. But the slower man is moving forward yet at seventy and the other stopped long ago. The philoso- phy of being as young as one feels lies in knowing one's horsepower,-Wa ater- bunry American.