The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-10-20
THE AGE LIMIT STILL UNDER
DISCUSSION

since Dr. USER announced IHaI
man may be reaching mental rechepi-
tude at 40 and was fit only to be
chloroformed at 60 the age limit is
being continuously discussed.
Mr.. Edison at the age of 65 has
just completed and automobile tour
of Europe and returns feeling robust
and strong. Unless some accident
befalls him he says that he experts
to become a centenarian and that he
feels that his best work is yet before
him.
DR.. Guy Potter Benton, the new
president of the University of Yer
mont, says that we often hear that
this is the age of the young man but
that it is not true statement. That
it is the age of the prepared man.
Those old fathers who wrote the con-
stitutiOn, he says were, for the most
part, under fifty years of age, but the
men who are the most highly rev.
cred, and who are leaders in the
councils of thought to-day, are those
who have passed in years the three
score mark. We have now a pyra-
mid which has heightened itself by
fifteen years since the beginning of
the last century. The apex, instead
of highest efficensy at fifty years,
now reaches up and records it at six
tyfive years.
Senator Chauncey Depew, who re-
Gently celebrated his 18th birthday
and is still virile and active, says:
Il have seen some men who were
played out before they reached forty
years" said DR.. Depew, "but the con-
dition was brought about because
they worked along narrow lines and
did not change, to any appreciable
extent, their business lives. In this
respect let it be said that Byron had
worked out his vein at thirty-six and
Napolean passed the ZENITH of his
great usefulness before his fortieth
year, while Wellington also showed
signes of weakening faculties at an
early stage of his life.
Byron, Napolean and Wellington
were especial gcniuses. On theI
other hand, a man who is not abnor-
NAL or exceptional and who has donei
his best all his life along the lines of
his talent improves as he natures.
There is no limit to his maturity,
which does not stop. Gladstones
best work was done after he had
passed seventy-five years, and it isl
a fact that Justices of the United
States Supreme Court have become
supremely great after reaching their
seventy-fifth year.
Commodore Vanderbilt achieved
his greatest successes and made
three-fourths of his fortune when he
was seventy years old. The ablest
and most versatile members of the
United States Senate was the latel
Senator Hoar, who had attained that
age in the full height of his glory.
Another remarkable man in debated
and constructive legislation was the
late Senator Morgan of Alabama,
who performed his best work at sew
enty-five. Uncle Joe Cannon has
been keener, more alert, more reso-
lutte and effective during the last
eight years than at any time in his
life, and he is sevnty-four.
GA man who works in one vein and
concentrates all his resources on one
subject will be narrowed down and
will be of little use after middle age.
If, however, neglecting his vocation,
such as the law, journalism, the min
istry, teaching or business, he keeps
in touch with everything going OH,
with his brain cells open, alive and
active, such man becomes stronger
and wiser as he grows older"