Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-05-14
WHAT Is OLD AoE2


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arbitrary boundary lines for middle age
and oid-age. Ever since that time the sub
| jeci seems to have been a sore point with
| fnnumerable individuals. AT frequent
| intervals it In brought up In letters to the
press by persons who indignantly protest
that they are just as young as they used to
be. although by the record in the family
bible they have reached the age OF three
score years and ten. They fall back on
the good old reliable theory that "a man
is as young as be feels, aud woman
las old as abe looks
The mere testimony of the accumulated
years is something to be ignored. Age is
matter OF temperament, OF health, OF
circumstances anything you like hut the
mere fact of a definite number Of years.
In short, IL is q state of mind, not an
actual physical condition "a mere point
OF view - and the actual age OF any per-
son is TO he determined by the freshness
and elasticity of the viewpoint. The
presence or lack Of this attitude IS some
thing that may be developed by auto
suggestion, and to that end, Il Ia desirs.
BILE that the evil suggestion furnished by
Times recording marks should be ignored
Such things as birthdays should be treated
with contempt and forgotten. Birthdays
and all other purely personal anniver-
saries are a species OF malicious animal
magnetism in their recurring suggestions
Of advancing age.
All OF which has been pretty generally
r.s-,,, .uA 4. -.
to see the rcinycnating effect on many
human documents that once would have
been considered antique. Ladies' no
longer retire 10 . corner with their knit
ting when they come to forty or for,y-five
as they almost invariably did q half
century ago. The bonnet has disappeared
as an article OF neadgear, and no longer
distinguishes the natron. 0randmothers
are often positively kittenish. They wear
hobble-skirts and hossy hats, and at a
short distance they cannot be distin-
goished from their granddaughter.
And'it is not a mere matter OF dress,
but also of action. II you have a great
grandmother in your home, 1t is hardly
safe to invite her to accompany you to a
shore resort for an afternoon. Once there,
she is likely TO insist upon shooting the
chutes" and riding ON the mcrry-go.
round and the scenic railway and
refreshing herself every ten minutes with
peanuts, ioc-crcam, pink lemonade and
sarsaparilis, and she is probably stronger
at the finish than anyone In the party.
The general masculine contempt for age
Is much the same. Grandfather wears
purple hosiery, and sports his trousers at
nearly halfmast for the purpose of ample
sock display, just like any college boy,
and the rest of his apparel is OF the same
passionate quality. And he steps around
as spry as s<stripIing.
With ali these conditions speaking
loudly for themselves, and sartorialIy,
there are yet many who feel stirred TO
remark with passionate emphasis that
they feel as young and lively as they did
twenty or thirty years ago. These en-
phstic protests are usually aroused by
some casual and ill-eonsidered reference
TO age, with Questionable, qualifying
adiectiyes attached. Some writer refers
to.a man of sixty as athis old man., or
''the aged sexton, or something O; that
sort, snd Immediately q dozen rnen OF
approximately that age rise indignantly
to protest thai sixty Is not .'old age
The dispute in its various phases has
reached ridiculous lengths. Under simi-
lar provocation a man wrote to his paper
the other day Offering the solemn protest
that he '.feels younger now at thirty
something" than he did at seventeen, and
ne earnestly objects to men in their
thirties being described as "middie- aged.
We have known girls to lament when
passing out OF their teen, because they
were growing o,d''. OF course they
were. So are children OF six and seven
growing Older, but age is only q relative
matter, and giving II the seasons qualities
| Of spring, summer or autumn depends
mostly on the state Of mind.
| The average person spends too much
time in meditsting or worrying about the
| question Of age. We are apt to waste
many hours in the first quarter OF life
'wlshing we were Older, and scarcely
satisfactory before we begin to look back
and regret our vanished youth. Looking
forward with eagerness Is pardonable, but
ooking back is sorry business.
| Age should not be mentioned in print
except in a statistical way, with q cold
setting forth OF the figures when 1t is nee
essary. These vague sdiectives should be
placed under the ban, and no person
should be placed in "middle-age" or sold
sge" until the definite boundaries OF these
estates have been established by compe-
tent authority. 1t is apparent that jour
nalistic license has been carried too far
when we are able to read of "the aged
clergyman" of sixty two, the middle
aged man" OF thirty-three and "the ris-
ing young lawyer" OF forty-eight.
4 DItrUSnau,r