The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-07-16
Your Opportunity.

There is tide in the affairs of
men that taken at the right time
and in the right way, gives at least
a fair chance of filling out the natur-
al span of life.
The stop-look-listen signs become
more frequent as the years go by
and they are in bigger type---they
become more emphatic as maturity
ripens into age.
The average American is credited
with the ambition to "idle in the har-
ness" 1t used to be in the old wes-
tern days, to meet the end with his
boots on. But why?
Why should we not, as age creeps
on, decrease our strenuous activities,
mental and physical, and enjoy the
fruits Of an energetic and useful life?
Why should we not sit quietly and
watch with becoming pride the activi-
ties of the men and women who are
to follow us, those whom we have
trained to continue our work, and
watch the development of enterprises
we have established?
For most of US the answer is plain
and easy, if not complimentary; for
most of us have not acquired the fl
nancial independence that permits q
leisurely old age. Our "pile" is not
of sufficient dimensions that we do
not have to supplement it by our con-
tinued exertions for a livelihood.
This growing old is hard propo-
sition for most of us to realize and
to accommodate ourselves to. We
have to be mighty close to complete
wreck before we admit that age is
winning the game. But it is newt
able, sooner or later, for all of us
the time when we have to acknowl-
edge defeat and take our weary way
to the scrap heap. Yet, what is
more charming, more splendid, more
Idignified than a gracious old age,
that has forgotten the bitterness of
the battle and sits quietly watching
the game of life with an interest no
less intense than if it had part in it?
But these warnings-what are
they, and what are they for? The
pliancy of arteries and muscles grad
ually diminishes after man has
reached his physical prime. The
strenuous exertions of the thirties
and forties overtaX the fifties and six
ties. The headaches that follow
long continued and hard thought are
warnings against it. They are warn
ings that the prudent man heeds.
The hardening of the eye lense calls
for rest for the eye. The wearied
brain resents the overtax put upon
it. They are among the signs,
which unheeded, eliminate in the sud
den collapse or the broken blood
vessel in the brain, and we call it
"a stroke" 1t is the beginning of
the premature end that might have
been postponed for years.
These warnings have a cause. They
are sufficient, nay, they are a de-
mand, to break the practice of years
and consult the doctor, the special
ist, and to follow his advice. These
signs are many. They come in line
with our greatest overtaX.
The breakdown of most human
wrecks comes from worry than from
physical eXertion, and most worries
are about comparatively 'unimpor-
tant details rather than about gen.
eral policies and principles. Old age,
when necessity compels continued ac-
tivity, should concern itself with
generalities and leave details to
younger men who are in the midst
of the fight.
This world is going on without
you when you are gone. Probably
it will go better and smoother than
when you are here, and fifty years
will work q tran form tion that will
make today look like the Middle
Ages. You are not essential to the
worlds progress, for it will continue
without you just the same as if you
had never existed. But you owe it
to the world to stay in it as long as
you can and keep yourself as fit as
possible to do your part, to boost as
long and as hard as your best physi-
cal and mental condition and natural
abilities will permit.-State Board of
Health Bulletin.
Il