The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-08
Older Men Joining
Service Show Great
est Change, Though
= Movement to Fit.
Others in Civil Life
Bears Fruit Also
By JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON.

Youngsters of Is, and some of them have in
prospect a corresponding regeneration of
mind and spirit. Not all, of course, for
not all are in need of it; witness some
SIXTY between 46 and 56-the only period
OF life to which enlistment is now Der
mitted-who offered themselves in New
York within the fortnight and were ac-
cepted and sent to Fort Slocum, presum-
ably on their way to active service.
when Walter Camp, father of Yale
football, little more than a year ago
started to dispel the incidence of the
middle aged and make them fit for war
time activities he became the foster
parent of new race. Mars has been
making over the men who had thought of
themselves only as easy chair candidates.
He has been taking away their smoking
jackets and putting them into khaki,
Strengthening back their shoulders and
making them hold their heads high
Although the President and his Cabinet
did not get into uniform, they followed
the war urge and the precepts of the
veteran trainer and rose while it was yet
night to attend to their physical we'll be-
ing. Many statesman who thought he
had long been entitled by reason Of his
passing the meridian to take life easy
was drawn into the maelstrom of war ac-
tivity and has become the better for it.
Running and jumping at Z o'clock on a
September morn may be surprise to the
system of mature age, but such exercise as
this is making thousands forget the frail-
ties of the flesh.
Gains New Outlook on Life.
1t was part of the Camp regime to
train all who had considered themselves
as more or less unfit, so that they might
form the nucleus of home guard. Many
a man who is on the shady side of so has
gone beyond that, however, by getting in
to active service, and has won not only the
realization that he is aiding his country
but also new outlook on life for himself.
The mel of so and 60 who have had
the privilege of DOMINIC khaki, and some
of whom have gained commissions, have
felt this stir of new life and ambition.
The feeling that one is serving his coun-
try, clad in the garb Of duty, is a tonic
to body and soul. Officers of the army
and navy who have been taken off the re-
tired list show the effect, keeping the
sharp eyes of youth and its quicker and
stronger pulses.
The other day saw in the uniform Of
a commander of the United States Navy q
man of 20, once the head of big ship
building company and widely known as a
naval architect He had given up bust
ness at about the time the war began and
had grown grave and sedate. Occasion
ally he went to his old Office and thence
up town to his clubs to foregather with his
cronies Of other days. There are no places
for cronies or coteries now-and here he
was, rudy checked, bright eyed and as
full of ginger as hawthorn jar ought tc
be, even if it is an antique.
He was talking to an ensign, on whose
finger glistened a very new Annapolis
class ring, and the ensign looked old by
comparison.
Especially Marked Among Doctors.
The rejuvenating effect Of war work anC
army life is especially marked in the cases
of physicians and surgeons in the service
Probably no class of men take less cart
of themselves. Many ignore the laws OF
health which they impose upon their fel
low men, and many toward the end o.
their busiest season are almost exhausted
Notice these brisk looking officers som'
day as they come from the boats at Gov
ernors Island ferry; they can be recog
nized by the staff with the twined serpent
on their collars. This caduceus being tn,
emblem of the god Of healing, the arm.
surgeon is officially entitled to look lik
Apollo. Some as civilians looked NOR
like bearded Hippocrates, for in the stres
of night calls the busy family doctor i
likely to let his WHISPERS grow shaggy ant
his hair curl over his collar.