Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1922-01-25
FORGOT THE YEARS
Worlds Big Men Have Laughed
at Father Time.
History Records Many Who Oesied
the Calendar-Too Busy to Take
Note of Crows Feet.

Sir James Camille fatty challenges
ment: "Old age is just a pose. A
man usually grows old because he
thinks 1t Is dignified. He sits back
and lets the years do what they like
with him." 1t is not 80 with the sep
tuagenarian, who rises at 4:3O and
dances Highland filings. He shares
the spirit of Tennyson's ulysses"
who could not bear to sit idle amid
4 his island crags, or of Barrie's Peter
PAN" who refused to grow up, or OF
him who, according to another poet,
kept the immortal child tarrying all
his lifetime In his heart.
We do not have to look long for
monumental examples OF great men
who, like Oliver Wendell Holmes in
his poem, 1.-THE Boys" and in his. per-
sonal example, deied the calendar.
To one such perennially young gen.
tleman, namely, Dr. w. w. Keen, the
community that ,affe ctfonately reveres
him is even now preparing to do hon
or. The will to keep youthful in the
spirit seems to be the biggest part Of
insenescence. We have Lately had oc-
casion to consult the record of a gen.
tleman named Hepburn, who gradu-
ated from Princeton In 1882 and did
not pass away until 1911, 70 years
later, when he had attained the ripe
age of ninety-six. Unlike many Of the
Old Testament patriarchs, of whom
nothing Is recorded but their exceed
ing longe witty, Doctor Hepburn was
usefully and fruitfully busy through
several generations The empire Of
Japan, a country that never forgets
anything or anybody, will forever hold
his name in honor among the benefac-
tors. Not merely did he train some
of the foremost of her diplomats, but
he complied the famous dictionary
that resolved the barriers betwiXt the
tortuous tongue of Nippon land our
own.
The thought of growing sold Is chief
1y oppressive to those whoanever grow
anything else. Most of those who pro-
duce, create, achieve are too busy to
study crows feet In the mirror or cal
culate percentages of lime in the bones
or acid In the blood. They are not
forever in Il lonely observatory on the
outlook for new symptoms. They are
up and doing, with whetted appe-
tite for fresh adventure. There is
Labrador" Cabot of Boston, who is
forever starting out on a ,one-man ex-
petition among the indians of the
barrens not very far from the desc
late spot where the balloon came down
with Lieutenant Hinton and his, COM
rades. 1t is useless to tell him that
he is too old. You might as well try
to persuade "Ooom John" Burroughs
to quit exploring swamps and forests
and playing with squirrels. Nature,
they tell US, has NO favorites, but she
has away of granting to the natural
lists special grace in growing odd"
The life of Fabre, which began in 1923
and did not end until 1915, might be
cited, or that of Chevreul, 17S6-1SS9.
Many artists, moreover, are like st.
Gaudens and "do net count the NOR
tai years it takes to mold memorial
FORMS" IF l live to be 1909 said
the modest Hokudai, perhaps l shall
be able to draw a line" Such a man
knows what it means to live for many
years and to remain fonever young be-
cause forever aequisitive, inqulsltive,
aspiring-Philadelph Ledger.