The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-11
OLD AGE

The most. unwelcome and still the most inevitable visitor
that comes to men and women is old age, No one wants to re-
ceive ii, and everyone seeks TO avoid it by keeping it away.
Old age brings in its unwelcome train a hash OF evils, de-.
crepitude, pains and weakness, dulness of sight and hearing, and
all the innumerablc infrmiics that follow in the wake OF old age.
In early times perpetual youth was a precious gift OF the
gods, and il was bestowed only upon a very few OF the most
favored. Longevity is most desirable, but mere existence with
out health and strength and the normal activities OF the faculties
is not so great a prize. No one wants to resign this pleasing
anxious being or to leave the warm precincts OF the genial
day to plunge into unknown and unfathomable darkness. We
instinctively cling to life and youth.
From time to time throughout the ages death-defying and
~age-defying agencies have been sought and claims Of their dis
covery have been made. The fountain of youth, located in some
remote and inaccessible place, has been the quest OF one intrepid
explorer after another, but it always eludes discovery, Chemistry
has claimed to have discovered one elixir after another that had
the power Of prolonging or renewing youth and driving away
the inhrmities of old age, but the promise has never been kept.
Now comes a venerable medical man in London who has wealth
cred the storms and vicisstudes of los years-a century and a
lustrum. He first discovered what old age really is, and then
addressed himself to the task of driving it away. This he claims
to have found in the use of a liberal supply OF fruit in the daily
diet, the juices Of which are said to have the power to build up
new and youthful cells to replace those that are decayed and
worn out. Fruit has long been heralded as a preserver OF health,
and such expressions as. ian apple a day keeps the doctor away
are numerous and frequently to be met with in the older books
as well as in modern coloquy. 1t is easily tried in fruit-growing
countries, and, no doubt, many aged persons will add fruit to
their daily ration in the hope that it may benefit them, That
their expectations will be realized is devoutly to be wished, but
past experience admonishes us that what the moving finger
writes cannot be blotted out, and when the audit shows that we
have fingered so many years on the stage we may as we'll make
up our minds to meet the usual concomitants OF old age.
There is only one way Of defeating old age-one sure way
and that is by dying young or before it has time to reach us. Few
will elect to choose this method, no matter what miseries anc
n<grims old age may bring. Physical deterioration Is most un
pleasant, but it is not the worst feature of old age. When t
this is added melanchoha and depressed spirits life has few at
fractions. If the spirit can be kept young the number OF year
we live makes little difference. Old age had no terrors for thu
valiant Stradivarius, who, at SO, stood at his bench in his littl
Cremona shop making his very best violins with all the enthusi
asm of a boy of l6, He had accomplished his lfes work. The Ef
that has been inutle and a failure shrouds the heart with sorrow
and makes of existence a bane and a bore. Fruit may have it
virtues, no doubt it has. Reams and reams have been written o.
the subject by eminent men, and it is claimed that an exclusiv
diet OF peaches pulled from the trees and eaten in the open al
will arrest and cure consumption in its incipent stages,
But perhaps the best and surest pfylactery against old az
Is work-work that keeps the mind and hand engaged and cor
ccntrates the attention-work that creates and realizes and keep
the spirit buoyant and prevents the heart from becoming an ur
filled with s%noldering memories-work that makes one forg,
the past and look forward into the future, and which makes Z
feel that we are a part of the birth OF each infant moment-wor
that brings us an equal portion of delight and dole. Thus Ell
gagged we have no time to invite or entertain old age. Work Thu
lures skill from effort to effort, and which keeps the fires of an
bition burning brightly, the heart warm and the pulses throbbin
Auxiliary or adventurous aids may be employed, but woi
is the principal and basic medscament.