Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-11-18
is THERE A DEAD LINE?

The other day a successful editor
remarked that the average man over
of the world, too old to do things,
too conservative to dare. Youth
must have its way and it was the
part of wisdom to trust youths vigor
rather than maturity's counsel.
There is much to be said on both
sides of the question. One may re-
mark that Alexander conquered the
world before he was 80, but Napoleon
was beaten by man past 40, and
Jackson was past 45 at the battle of
New Orleans. The fortunes of the
southern arms were entrusted to
Robert E. Lee, aged 54, and certainly
no one will claim that any command
er could have done better, while the
northern armies failed again and
again until Grant, who had turned
40, also turned the scale of victories.
Joan of Arc died at 20, having
done her work, but Mrs. Eddy was
failure at SO and afterwards founded
a worlds religion. If Chatterton
died at 20 and Bryant wrote Than
atopsis" at 19 and Poe's genius was
complete under 40, still Longfellow
published "Hiawatha" at As, Tenny-
son published the "Idylls" at 40,
Dante's Divine Comedy" appeared
at about his 50th year and Milton S
Paradise Lost" close to his Goth
Lincoln was near so at the time
of the debates with Douglas, which
can almost be said to have begun
his career, and John Brown was SO
when he led the raid which was to
ransom race. Peary was SO when
he reached the pole, and Columbus
was Sc when he sighted the shores
of America. Darwin at SO barely got
into the Who's Who" of his day
but then came The Origin of Spe-
cies," and later The Descent of
Man." and Darwin's became the
great name of the nineteenth cen
tury. Edison was 40 away back in
1887 and it can hordly be said that
his work has waned since.
jefferson was only SO when he
wrote the declaration, but certainly
he cannot be said to have weakened
much after 40, while Adams was Al,
Morris was AZ and Franklin was 60
at the signing of the declaration.
Washington was "A at the time. 1t
was the youthful Hamilton who was
the conservative at the making of the
constitution, not the elders of the
revolution.
But it is claimed that it is the
NEW things which the man of 40
fails to attempt, that while Shakes
peare and Wagner did their big
things both before and after this i'm
aginary dead line" they were not
equal to Starting something" This
is only way of saying that a man
is apt to build upon the foundation
he has laid, but yet Du Maurier, a
lifelong cartoonist, turned author at
GO and wrote "Trilby." Michel
angelo turned his attention to engi-
neering at SO in order to fortify
Florence, and at 20 took up a new
branch of art successfully.
Tom Johnson, though a phenome-
nally successful man at 40 did his
great work and fought his great
fight after that age, forsaking his
ambitions and ideas.
OF course, in a certain way, the
statement of this successful editor
quoted above is true. The average
man" of 40 is incapable of doing big
and new things, but so is the "aver-
age man" of 20. The moral is, don't
be an average man! But to the man
who is capable and willing, gifted
with ordinary horse sense and man
grit, he need not settle back because
he is 40. AS a matter of fact, he is
just getting able to do things.