New Britain herald., 1924-04-23
DEPEW AT NINETY,
 LOOKS TOWARD lOO
Good HumOr and No Worry His
 Recipe for Long Life

Depew is go years ofd today Sitting yesterday in his office tn the New
 York Central building. which is very different from the office the railroad had when he first joined il, h. sum-
 med up the philosophy his ninety years have taught him. Here is its essence.
 This is pretty good world and the people irNit are pretty good peo- pie. If you cultivate a sense of hu- nor and the right outlook you won't get dyspepsia or insomnia and most Of our troubles come from them. Most Of the things that could upset us if they happened, never happen
 Insisting with all the emphasis at his command that the lesson Of his ninety years was to keep cheerful and never believe that anything was going to happen but what you wanted to happen, Mir. Depew expatiated for q half hour along that line.
 ''I intend to lead the last decade Of my century" he said. with a chuckle, in the same sensible way I have led the other nine"
 He was bright, alert, his eyes snap py, his movements unimpeded, his mind trayeling just as fast as yours. his memory fastening unerringly and unhesitatingly on dates and names. And the final proof of his philosophy Of humor was that he was perfectly willing to laugh at himself-and did.
 \ Joke on Himself
 On a wall outside his office. framed in double frame. are the documents to show that several years ago he paid $500 for a steel engraving of himself to be inserted in biographical pub lication and was then asked for sl00 more to buy a set or the books. The correspondence is there and his re- ceipt for the $500 payment.
 Inside the office he gave vent 10 an- other laugh at himself yesterday.
 Isn't il funny" he asked, 'how few people you can get 10 tell you the cheerful things they know about or 10 ask you questions that are cheerful? 4 lady was talking 10 me about this rinetieth birthday. T can understand how you might have enjoyed your sixtioth, or your ssyentieth, or even ,our elghticth birthday she said, be cause at those occasions you had something to look forward 10. But uith the people who pass on after those ages. this birthday must be dif- ferent because now you haven't any thing to look forward to-"
 Here Mfr. Depew burst into laugh ter that he had to overcome before he could add this comment:
 "Well, my answer 10 that Is that ! I'm cheerful because I don't know i that can't. For instance, look at my 1 old friend and follow-commuter, John : 4. Stewart. who is now i02, and for l mer Senator Cole. who is in2.
 Tt q my ability to enjoy humor i that has prolonged my Ilfa. Most in- l digestion and insomnia come from the l inability 10 enjoy hnmor, and most of ! the ills Of life come from indigestion i and insomnia. I would rather have 2 ] good laugh than a dose of castor ol any day for a stomach ache.
 "Afr Depew told how once when he . spent aA day with Mir. Garfield, who was campaigning for the presidency, Garfield told him he might become president if he wolld quit telling funny stories.
 q answered him. I'd rather not be president said Mir. Depew. If l had followed his rule I doubt if ! would have been president. but know I'd be dead now, and you're not much good up in the old graveyard"
 \ Flea for Hobbies
 Asked whether he could choose among his varied activities, whether he preferred his railroad life, his and public life, or his acti- ,fties as an orator and after-dinner speaker. Mir. Depew replied:
 Well, I've always enjoyed being with the virile. brainy men who run railroads. They're about the best men In the country. But I love politics, loo. It turned the switch for me and . .ent me or on a new track, thus add Ing 10 my health. Et
 'grhe whole secret Of mental vigor s being able 10 get out Of the shop. some do t by golf. but the change should be mental If you stay in one mt you wear out one set Of your brain cells. while the othars become rert and dead through nonuse. You must work all the cells in your brain.
 DO your shop work, whatever it s, and then get outside it with some hobby: get interested in writing, or in or in church work, or what Is perhaps best. get interested in politics and active in it. And re- member, it is better 10 go along with he machine than to light it." fl
 Mr. Depew vas reminded of his ,rowess as story teller and asked to er what lie considered his best story, , ut he shied. "A story never come out Of the thin fr." he explained. "It is almost al- . vays called ID by the circumstances I which cause if 10 be told That's the { lniy way I tell stories. ! couldn't say .-ts.N .,-.n .s.-. t.os4 FoNff Ewnu