ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 247 



The extreme limit of human hfe appears to be 

 very Httle over a hundred. That people do live 

 to such an age may be proved by the frequent 

 statements to that effect in the newspapers. An 

 old lady died lately near my house who was over 

 a hundred years old. To remember any public event 

 that took place a hundred years ago, a person must 

 have lived very considerably beyond that age. It 

 is an extraordinary thing to think that any one alive 

 now actually existed in times which, to us, have 

 become remote and historical ; but that they can 

 recollect such events is still more remarkable. Yet 

 there have been known persons who can do this. 



It is almost impossible to realise that such 

 enormous changes should have taken place in the 

 social and political aspect of affairs within a period 

 occupied by a single life. The present age, which 

 we consider so highly civilised, may, in the course 

 of a hundred years, be regarded by our successors 

 as a period quite as wanting in the comforts, con- 

 veniences, and luxuries of life as was England, in 

 our opinion, a century ago. 



It must be remembered that the fact of travelling 

 by coach is not sufficient in itself to convey to the 

 minds of the present generation the conditions under 

 which a journey was performed a hundred years ago. 

 To do this, the world must roll back upon the wheels 

 of time, and country and town and their inhabitants 

 must present exactly the same appearance to our eyes 

 as they did to people who were on a journey at that 

 period. Every modern improvement that now exists 

 is a forcible reminder of the age in which we live. 

 The reality of our surroundings makes it difficult for 

 us to form an adequate conception of the circumstances 



