The Washington herald., 1916-11-22
Conquering the Years.
By oRIsON SWEET MARDEN.


Years ago Sarah Bernhardt said:
Il say to the years as l have said to
the public 'Quand meme, l shall con-
quer you"
When the great actress recently
landed in the United States a reporter
asked her if she was not afraid the
submarines would sink her ship.
Bah" she said. my star ees as
cendant. To me what can happen?"
Past 70, and in spite of the fact
that she suffered the amputation of
leg only a short time ago, she is
now on a professional tour in this
country. Vivacious, courageous. in
domitable, the divine, ever youthful
Sarah, still filings her challenge to the
years-"Quand meme, shall conquer
you."
my hair and my beard may be
snow white, but l feel as young as
nifty years ago, and | am convinced
that the best of life is yet to be-"
said a noted Western judge recently,
when at the age of 70 he was welded
to woman over so. There is no
such thing as old age for the man and
woman who have lived the right sort
of lives"
No matter what his age, no one
who is out of step with the progress
sive spirit of his time can hope to
accomplish much. One reason why
1t is so difficult for many people with
gray hairs to get job is because
they have fallen out of step, out of
sympathy, out of interest, out of en-
thusiasm with the times. They live in
the past. They are literally has
beens," and up-to-date employers are
afraid of "has-beens." These back
ward looking people do not realize
that every day brings a new order of
things, and that they must keep in
touch with the progressive spirit of
every dSy, or else be pushed into
the ranks of the human derelicts.
People grow old, by thinking them
selves old. When they reach the age
OF so, or 70, they imagine they must
look as old as others of the same
age; that they are on the decline, and
soon will be useless, unfit for work,
and unable to perform their wonted
duties. AS surely as they think this,
it will come true, for thought is Gre
ative. Many of us can say, with
Job, THE thing which l greatly
feared is come upon me-"
The body is built up of beliefs, and
our beliefs are stamped upon every
fzer of our beings, What we be-
lieve, what we think, that we are; so
people who remain young in spirit
never grow old.
John Burroughs, Amelia E. Barr,
Marian Harland, William Dean How
ellis, and scores of others who have
long passed the Goth, goth, and even
the Both milestone. are still working
with all the vim and enjoyment Of
youth, and producing as good work as
they did in youth, too.
You will look and feel as old
as your dismal, discouraged, age
thought. 1t is fresh thinking, inter
| est in life, continued effort, that keep
people young. 1t is old thinking and
| old age habits that make people old.
IF you wish to stay young you must
be young in thought, you must keep
your mind fresh by mingling with
young people, keep it interested in all
sorts Of things, and there will be no
danger of your settling down into an
old-age rut.
No matter what you do on the
| physical plane to try to retain your
youth, if you are convinced that, do
what yon will, you cannot remain
young; if you face mentally toward
old age and constantly see its image
getting a frmer and a frmer grip
upon you, you cannot expect to re-
tain your youthfulness. If you want
to remain young, you must believe
you are going to do so; you must
establish the conviction in your sub
conscious mind that you are not 60
ing to age in appearance, that you
are eternally young because you are
made in your Makers image, and
the divine part of you certainly can
not age, for God cannot age.
Psychologists tell us that every cell
in our bodies is in state of f1ux, of
constant change, is being constantly
! renewed. When you realize that
there is not cell in your body that
remains there very long without be-
ing made over and hence cannot of
itself appear old, when you grasp the
fact that cell which is not five years
old cannot look sixty or seventy or
eighty unless you put the impress of
your old age thought on it, you will
not find it very difficult to carry a
youthful picture of yourself in mind.
If you retain the youthful thought
and spirit; if you do not let the boy
or girl in you die; if you persist in
the buoyant, hopeful, optimistic way
of looking at things. it will be very
difficult for old age to get a grip on
you. The youthful conviction fixed
in the subconscious mind will prove
powerful barrier against it, as well
as a real force in creating youthful
condition.
Consistently, steadfastly, substitute
the habit of growing young for the
habit of growing old. substitute the
youthful conviction for the old age
conviction, and the cells of your body
will look young. You will not look.
act, talk or appear like an old per,
son. In other words, your appear
ance, the impression you give others,
your conversation, your walk, your
manner, your attitude will correspond
with your conviction regarding your
self.