The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1922-09-21
not NATURAL END
Death From Old Age Never in
Scheme Of Things.
Man Really 10 the Only Animal That
Is coddled, Propped UP, and
Kept Alive.

cherish the ignOble ambition of dylnl
of old age, If they must die at all
may he shocked to hear that death
from old age is not q natural death
There's a paradox that will bear the
light of reason. for 1t can easily be
shown that such death is quite. re
mote from the normal operations OF
Dame Nature when she is left to her
own devices, says writer In the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dame Nature would have made
short work of Uncle Johnny Shell,
Kentucky's senility freak, who died
the other day at the reputed age of
134, had not the driveling old mans
relatives and neighbors, to say nothing
Of the rustic showmen who sometimes
exploited him as the "oldest man on
EARTH" cOnsplred to protect him from
the normal accidents of injury or
starvation that otherwise overtake the
WORKOUT individuals Of any species.
No creature Is permitted by Dame
Nature to flag superfiuous on the
stage" until Overtaken by the disso-
luton Of absolute senillty. Wild anil
mails don't live to die Of old age. They
don't linger along as doddering de-
pendents, like the Kentucky Methu-
selah.
The superannuated elephant or buff
falo isn't supported or tended by the
herd. It .retires gracefully to a soil
tary state of existence and maintains
Itself as well as 1t can with its falling
faculties until It starves to death,
stumbles over cliff or is overcome by
enemies.
Whatever the end may be, 1t comes
pretty quickly and Is considered by
some far more merciful than the pro-
tracted life that Uncle Johnny Shell
dragged out for so many years. The
elderly tiger, no longer spry enough to
catch the nimble antelope, becomes
man-eater and peaches babies on the
outskirts Of some village. Then some
body gets up tiger hunt, and an ex-
ploslve bullet saves it from the unnat-
ural disgrace of dying of old age.
Who ever found senile or en-
feebled rabbit, robin, wolf, bear, trout,
eagle, wren, black bass or minnow?
Why, Dame Nature wouldn't dream of
allowing her nice, clean cosmos to he
cluttered up. She cleans house with a
broom Of accidents.
Even the peaceful tree Is not al
lowed to cumber the earth beyond the
period of Its ability to withstand the
normal stress of the elements. Il may
be a California sequoia over 5000
years old or a Cape de Verde baobab
over 5000 years old, and 1t may have
passed Its period Of growth and en-
tered Its period of decay, but 1t will
not be allowed to die of old age. Some
storm will bring it down in its glory.
The untidy business Of living to die
Of old age is fad Of civilized man.
Its deplorable products are often seen
In almshOuses. Also civilized man has
inflicted the curse upon his domestic
pets to certain extent, so that senile
and enfeebled dogs and cats are kept
alive by sentimentalists long after out
ragged common sense would have called
FOR chlorofOrm.
The tradition of Uncle Johnny's ex-
IRENE age Is not supported by any Of
icial records. A scientific Investigator
who sought to ferret out the facts
found that he could not honestly de-
luce any greater age for Uncle Johnny
han q hundred years or whereabouts.
Local tradition always exaggerates
he age of very old person, as in the
Ease of old Parr, whose bones crumble
n Westminster abbey. and whose
anne was embalmed in a book entitled
The Olde, Olde. Very Olde Man" Old
'arr was Shropshire peasant who
vas reputed to be 1852 years old when
AIKEN to London by the earl of Arundel
md presented at court.
He died the same year-1635. DR..
William Harvey, who discovered the
circulation of the blood. performed an
autopsy and found the body in excel
ent condition. He thought death had
'een caused by the change from sim
de country fare to the rich diet of
london high life. On Old PARIS tomb
ire recorded the names of ten mon
lrchs, from Edward ~ to Charles l,
lnder whom he lived. But later his
orical investigation threw strong
loubt on the length attributed to his
life.