The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1914-06-17
OLD AGE CAN Be CURED

Samuel Scoville, Jr., in Lippincott's:
Old age can be cured. The prescrip-
ton is simple one: mix open air
and a hobby. shake we'll and take as
many hours a day as possible. No one
begins to age until he is bored, and
the first gray hair comes when man
suddenly thinks to himself. whats
the use" Then is the time when a
hobby makes life interesting again.
There was an official on one Of our
| great railroads who was retired at TO-
Hell die now,'' said his friends kind
Ily. But he didn't: Instead, he became
| interested in the wild flowers, and now
he is too busy in looking for the
rams head orchid, and trying to find
a new station for the hart's tongue
Ifern, and tramping around in the
woods and fields in all kinds Of wealth
| er, even think of dying. Anyway
| he wouldn't have time until he's f1n-
ished his monograph on the willows Of
, the United States.
There is q woman in Baltimore, 72
years old, who years ago sought to
| forget a great sorrow by learning the
butterflies. Her city home has be-
come the RENDEZVOUS for entomologists
all over the world. and houses fa-
nous collection. While her contem-
poraries are doing their lives away in
caps and easychatrs, she spends her
summers in the mountains and her
winters in Florida with a butterfly
net. Twenty-one new species to iden-
tify are her contribution to the lepi-
doptera, and she plans to live until
the last goal of an entomologiSt is
reached-the using of her single initial
species:
An octet Of men in Philadelphia, all
well past their three-score years, some
in business and some foot-loose, belong
to the same ornithological society.
They are afield every day of the year,
changing bird life. In the spring each
prepares migrant sheets showing the
arrivals of the hundred odd migrants
that pass through every place every
year There is great rivalry as to who
shall score the most warblers or iden-
tify the largest number of birds in
one day. At present writing, the old
est of the eight holds a record Of sew
enty-f1ve different kinds of birds seen
or heard in one day between dawn
and dark-one for each year of his
age, and one to grow on.
A man in North Carolina, by the
sudden death of two of his family,
was left alone. with but little money
no friends, and the cheering dictum
from his doctor that he had only a
year to live. To while away the few
months still left to him, as well as to
help out his household expenses, he
took up the study of edible mushrooms
At the end of year in the open, he
notified his indignant physician that he
had become too much interested in his
hobby to confirm his diagnosis. In ten
years he has discovered, classified, and
lid EIeN
of edible mushrooms, and has publish
ed a book which is one Of the stand
ard authorities for mushroom eaters
of the world.
Another septuagenarian attributes
his long life to the stars. Confined to
business during the day, he sought the
open air at night, and began to study
the changing consultations and the |
planets Then he found that
with an opera glass he could detect |
their colors, and reveled in the blue
light of Vega, the green glare of Sirius, |
the rose-red of Aldebaran, the flame
color of Betelgeuse, and the strange |
shades Of other cleaning sky kings.
Finally he bought a small telescope. |
Now at 70 he has published a mono
graph on the double stars besides a |
quaint little star guide that has in
terested thousands in his hobby.
None of the nature studies require |
much money or time. A cheap illus
trated guide book, an opera glass, and, |
if possible, some walks and talks with |
an expert, and you will learn almost |
Immediately to identify a score or
more Of flowers, or birds, or constella- |
tions, or mushrooms, and you will |
have fund a hobby on which you may |
ride away from Death.
Try it, young men, lest you grow
old. Try it. old men, before you grow |
tired. Escape into the open from these |
narrow indoor days and learn the way
to where the wild folk dwell. In their
land you will find the help of the hills,
and hope wide as the world, and
strength, and youth, and happiness.
Try it.