:8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



seven is now actively caring for 

 them. 



The article in the "Technical World 

 Magazine" shows that the average 

 length of life has been steadily increas- 

 ing and that those who exceed the 

 average are many. This is ascribed 

 to better hygienic and sanitary laws, 

 pure food, length of the working day 

 and better conditions in many other 

 respects. It is stated that there are five 

 or six thousand persons in the United 

 States to-day that have attained to one 

 hundred years. Some have reached one 

 hundred and twelve. A Montana In- 

 dian proves that he is one hundred 

 and thirty-three ; an Oregon woman 

 one hundred and twenty. Only two 

 years ago there died near Quitman, 

 Texas, a woman that had reached one 

 hundred and thirty-six. It may be 



aged man appears to be forty or fifty 

 years younger than he really is. His 

 skin is white and not deeply lined. 

 His vision is excellent and he walks 

 nearly erect. At the beginning of the 

 Civil War he tried to enlist but was 

 rejected on account of his age; he was 

 too old. 



It may be mentioned in this connec- 

 tion that The Century Company, of 

 New York, publishes a book entitled, 

 "The Age of Mental Virility," in 

 which is shown that the greatest 

 things have been accomplished by 

 those well advanced in life. 



Yet nowadays we hear of men who 

 are retiring from active life at the 

 time when they should be beginning 

 their best work. Who was that fa- 

 mous philosopher that exclaimed, 

 when well advanced in vears, "Rest! 



IN ACTIVE LIFE WITH AVERAGE OF MORE THAN EIGHTY-EIGHT YEARS. 



stated in this connection that we have 

 in Stamford, near our Arc Am A, a 

 woman now more than one hundred 

 and seven years. Not long ago we 

 published in this magazine the pic- 

 ture of a minister that died at the age 

 of one hundred and two, in the Sol- 

 diers' Home in Noroton. 



The "Technical World Magazine" 

 publishes a photograph of a large 

 group of men whose average is more 

 than eighty-eight. Mr. Abraham Wil- 

 cox of Fort Worth, Texas, is now living 

 and enjoying life at the age of one 

 hundred and twelve. He walks two 

 miles or more every day and looks for- 

 ward with all the enthusiasm of a boy 

 to a visit to the Panama-Pacific Expo- 

 sition in 191 5, when he will be one 

 hundred and fifteen. Mr. Wilcox reads 

 the newspapers every day and is inter- 

 ested in everything about him, from 

 the food being prepared for his dinner 

 to the latest feats by aeroplane. This 



Why should I rest now when I shall 

 have all eternity to rest in?" 



The rocks and shells, the frogs and 

 lilies, always tell the actual truth so 

 far as it goes. They give clear and 

 decisive answers to distinct and clear 

 questions. Their relations to our 

 lives are such that the child can be 

 led to ask concerning them simple and 

 definite questions which shall at the 

 same time be of vital interest to him. 

 Thus, through commerce with them, 

 he can learn how rightly to know. As- 

 sociations with these, under right di- 

 rection, will build up a habit of truth- 

 fulness, for nature is always truthful. 

 She teaches truth from original docu- 

 ments. Every leaf on the tree is an 

 original document in botany. When a 

 thousand are used, or used up, the 

 archives of nature are just as full as 

 ever. — David Starr Jordan in "The 

 Stability of Truth." 



