The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26
THE AGE OF ACHIEVEMENT.
When the Effective, Moving, Vitalizing
 Work of the World Is Done.

From w. A. N. Dorland's What the
 World Might Have Missed in the May
 Century.
 A distinguished citizen of the world, a man of extreme culture and erudition, whose achievements and literary contri- buttons have incalculably enriched the storehouse of knowledge, not long ago remarked in a notable address: Take the sum of human achievement in action, in science, in art. in literature; subtract the work of the men above 40, and while we should miss great treasures, even priceless treasures, we would practically be where we are today. It is difficult to name a great and far-reaching conquest of the mind which has not been given to the world by man on whose back the sun was still shining. The effective, nov ing, vitalizng work of the world is done between the ages of 9 and 40,''
 No more genial and kindly disposed person exists than Professor Osler, the originator of these views Love for his fellow man and intense sympathy are his striving characteristics. Only the most honest belief prompts every utter ance of his pen. Statements from such a source, however startling or distaste- ful to the average reader, command an ernest perusal close and searching in- vestigation-but not a blind acceptance.
 The sweeping and iconclastic stare ment of the brilliant savant at first sight would seem to discount temperament ex- perience, accumulated learning, judgment, discretion, maturity-all that go to make the intellectual granite and marble of the impressive and commanding man of mid dle age. Impulse, initiative, adventure, rise to the acme of desirability, and arg the golden virtues to be cultivated and apotheoszed Only fifteen years of mentl effort, and the climax is reachedl Then begins the inevitable descent to oblivion and decay. Again, it would seem to indi- cate that all these virtues, desirable enough in their place and time, are strict ly irrevocably limited to a certain period of the human development. Beyond this epochal dead line they cannot be found, save in monumental exceptions which are the wonder and perpexity of the hide bound scientist.
 Does history warrant or corroborate such a conclusion? Most assured}y not and doubtless it was far from the in- tention of the writer of the opening par agraph even to intimate as much The record book of the world is replete with the opportunities and successes of age and experience. As some one has said: "The golden thread of youth is carried to a much later period of life now than it was in former years" An Indian chided for being sixty, replied that the sixties contain all the wisdom and exper- ence of the twenties, thirties. forties and fifties. Yes, and some of the initiative, also. The patriarch of the Exodus, when an 4mpulsive and immature man of forty deemng the hour had struck took the initiative in his own hands, blundered through misconception of the times, and because of his rash and inopportune mur- der of the Egyptian brawler, was con- pelled to flee the land. For forty years | ha xUa inn in ha <Jn Midan, buffeted by wind and tempest | eXiled from human companionship, | gnawed at by conflicting mental emotions, | there to learn the secret of self-controi
 and through protracted communion with 1 nature to acquire the massiveness and 1 robustness of character that were essen | tial for his true work al eighty