CHAPTER XXXVII 



ACTIVITIES AT 70 YEARS OF AGE (1904) 



(Age 70) 



In 1904 Lord Avebury attained the age which 

 the Psalmist rather meagrely allotted as the 

 average span of man's life. At this time he 

 was as mentally alert as in his prime, and as 

 physically active as most men of fifty. He had 

 a slight figure, walked with a light step, and 

 the number and variety of his daily tasks were 

 hardly less remarkable than ever. Mentally 

 and morally the man of seventy was quite 

 extraordinarily like the boy of seventeen. In 

 the case of most men we find that they have 

 certain tolerably well-defined phases in their 

 lives. There are points at which we may say, 

 " Such and such an event happened, and its 

 effect was to create a marked change in him." 

 In the exceptional case of this exceptional man 

 we do not find such change. The character 

 was formed at an unusually early age, by his 

 almost premature entry into business life, by 

 the parental influences, naturally bearing most 

 strongly on the eldest son, and by the invalu- 

 able precept and example of the high-souled and 



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