Evening star., 1921-01-16

|
1 \ Texas by intimating in his
| presence that none but young
men accomplish big things.
AS general rule n man is imma-
ture' callow. bumptious and grass
| green until he reaches the age of
forty." was the spirited comment
made by Senator Sheppard the other
day when one of those new-fangled
public service efficiency chaps ex-
pressed the opinion that no one over
forty years of age should be elected
to Congress or hold any other govern
me entail positions.
Evidently feeling that it would be
good idea to cite some interesting
proofs Of big things beyond forty to
this sadly inexperienced and misin-
formed efficiency bird, Senator Shep-
pard invited him to be seated. and
then. looking the infantile booster
squarely in the eye. delivered himself
of this beautiful and unsurpassed
tribute to old age:
The impression has become entire
ly too general that our older men and
women obstruct rather than facili-
tate the march of civilization. The
truth is that the world owes infinitely
| more to men above the age of fifty
man ~ men UclOW IL.
Nearly so per cent of the worlds
| greatest figures closed active lives be-
tween the ages of fifty and eighty. 35
per cent continuing beyond seventy,
221s per cent beyond eighty per
cent beyond ninety. Let us consider
yond the age of eighty. Titan, mas
ter of Venetian painting. whose magic
colorS reflected the freshness and en-
thusiasm of a. world saluting the re-
| turn of art and learning, produced
many OF his most wonderful canvases
after eighty, painting his famous
Battle Of Lepanto' at the age of nine
| ty-eight. Fontenelle. one Of the most
versatile of men; Cornaro, the great
disciple of temperance; Pope Leo
NH; John Adams. Theophrastus.
| strode into the nineties with intel
lectual vigor unimpaired Michel
| angelo at eighty-nine still held the
sky prisoner in his brush. having
executed his Last Judgment perhaps
the most famous single picture in the
world, and his celebrated frescoes in
the Sistine Chapel between sixty and
seventy. Hear John Wesley preach
ing with undiminished eloquence and
power almost every day at eighty
eight, still directing the great reli-
glous movement he had founded, and
closing amid unceasfng activity at
that ripe age one of the most remark
able careers of his time. having trav-
eted 100000 miles in an age that knew
neither electricity nor steam deliv-
cred 1000 sermons, composed hun
dredS of volumes covering almost
every phase of literature, earning
through his publications S15O.O0O,
every cent Of which he gave to char
ity during his life.
See Guizot and Hobbies and Landor
with active pens at eighty-seven
See Talleyrand and Thomas Jefferson,
Herbert Spencer, Newton and Vol
taire. all fruitful in the eighties. See
Bancroft. Button and Ranke writing
deathless history after eighty. See
Palmerston. prime minister of Eng
land, at eighty-one. and John Quincy
Adams. stricken in the fullness of his
| strength on the floor of Congress at
the same age. Tennyson's Crossing
| the Bar the tenderest death song in
our language, was composed al
eighty three. Goethe's Faust a,
eighty. See Gladstone conducting one
of his most exciting political cam
paigns at eighty, taking control of a
nation and becoming its premier. a,
eighty three. See Cato learning
Greek; Plutarch. Latin. and Socrates
music, all at eighty, and tell me nc
more that the old are no longer
jcapable of high and useful achieve
ments.
Think of Joseph Jefferson por-
i,traying Rip Van Wrinkle with added
effectiveness at seventy-five, or the
Irish actor. Macklin. actually taking
part in a performance in England al
ninety nine. Think of Browning
brilliant and complex as ever al
lseventy-seven. or Whittier and
bryant issuing new volumes at