Year: 1877

know waste TO be impossible in the
Transformation of matter, and feel that
it must be corresPondlagly so 10 spirit
ual affairs, that 1t is exceedingly doubt
fnl whether there are any individuals
On earth who are not possessed of some
special aptitude, If they could only 6nd
il out.


Even idiots may have their peculiar
uses for some future generation 10 turn
TO account, If that 10 which they are
turned in the present In cultivsiine q
divine patience IA The hungSn breast be
not sufiicient, since that is merely their
use to others, and we fancy that every
soul must be Of some sort Of use also
purely to itself.


But the majority Of our lives are so
tranquil, going on like the weather.
driven by superior force from day 10
day, and seldom taken in hand and pos
itively directed by ourselves, that we
have little occasion to discover our one
talent. the less so If il is anything at all
out Of the way.


Women, especially, are so well taken
care Of by husbands, fathers, brothers,
that they are not often piqued to any OF
the discovery by much necessity. In
girlhood they are occupied with little
pleasures. interests, vanities. loves; as
they grow older, their day is filed with
the care Of parents, or OF children, or OF
nephews and nieces: and thus they have
no opportunity to attend to the possibil-
ity. of the discovery, and usually, so, no
need of it. And when this is not the
case, pleasure frequently refuses to re-
sign with youth. or necessary attention
to the poor occupies the time when the
instincts that betray the aptitude might
be obeyed.


A lady Of our acquaintance, then Just
on the edge of forty, discovered one
day by pure accident her skill in dab
bling in clay, made Immediately her
own tools, worked 10 make up for lost
time, and is now one Of the distinguish ed
sculptors Of the world. Another lady
that We know, thrown BY reverse OF
fortune out of'a perfectly tame life
among perfectly tame people, and in a
tame part OF the country, where art was
little known, saw piece Of fine wood
carving for the first time, and 'examin-
ing it in a rapture, proceeded-like one
inspired. but for her patience and her
| first faiiurss>~to draw her own designs
and execute carvings that now 60 Tar
toward satisfying those who know the
old Florentine and Venetian wood car
wing, and now has not only certain
source OF good income, but a delightful
resource Tor all the rest Of her life.
And, TO proceed with our statements,
an old lady, who honors US with friend
ship, lately took up the new needle
work, and although feeling herself too
old for complete excellence, delights
herself aud all about her with her won
deriul picture embroidery. Yet We
think she need not despair Of excel
lence, for another lady whom we have
met, who had never known that she
had any further ability with her pencil
than that Of giving her children their
early drawing lessons and evening
amusements, on going to Europe after
her seventeen birthday, free and unen-
numbered by care. was SO rapt and fired
by the wonder and beauty Of the paint
ings in the galleries that she straight
way took to easel and mahlstick, and
became IN less than two wears quite an
accomplished copyist. and is still paint
ing merrily away to about as much pur.
pose as most OF the crowd of Younger
students. probably painting all the bet
ter, too, while her outer senses last, for
the deep experience Of emotion and
comprehension that her longer years
give her to inclose with an illuminating
power within her work.


Nearly all Of US think. after little,
even after so very little as forty years,
that nothing is Of any use now. and
We are too old to make fools Of our
selves" if we do not quote the old say
ing about its being "hard 10 teach On
old dog new tricks" and We sit dow n
to rust out the rest oi our days. Ye,
for certain things we may be too old
for those, indeed. that require supple
joints and stiff movemcnts-but perhaps
for nothing else. 1t is not positively
sure that because this Que is superan-
nuated at threescore and ten, therefore
we shall be, and that there is no time
to do, il there is will. Old Parr-for
whom fate had TO step in and conquer a
confirmed habit Of living" with every
organ in perfect health at one hundred
and hfty-two-is not the only long lived
inhabitant Of this planet: human life,
under ITS easier conditions, is length
ening with every generation. None
know for q certainty that they may not
he rs lcag lived as Hupazoli, who had
the good luck to share three different
centuries, whose gray hair changed to
black at one hundred, and whose teeth
returned 10 him at one hundred and
thirteen, who wrote and worked TO the
last, and who must have looked on him.
self with awe, IL not with fright. There
are, indeed, q round dozen Of names of
various men and women W no have lived
well and happy al the way from one
hundred to one hundred and sixty.nine;
and book Of English statistic. tells US
OF twenty-one persons dying. between
lI6O and 1879, over one hundred and
thirty years old. thirty-nine more q, one
hundred and twenty, thirty-six At one
hundred and ten. and City -four at one
hundred. And il At Piiny's time there
were, according 10 census, more than
one hundred people between the Apen.
nines and the Po ovef . hundred year,
IN age, what shall there be IN this d.v
J where there is every thins to eaeoura:s