HOW TO DIE 



if death is inevitable, there is no refuge except in the 

 philosophic reflection that some other hand will doubt- 

 less do as well the work that you are forced to lay 

 aside; a reflection to which the history of every de- 

 partment of action and of thought gives fullest warrant, 

 yet which may be granted to lack something of satis- 

 faction to the individual who must apply it to his own 

 case. Death by violence or disease, where it attacks a 

 worthy worker, is not a natural phenomenon, but a 

 breaking in on the orderly scheme of things, which we 

 must be permitted to think a misfortune for humanity. 



We must remember, on the other hand, that many a 

 man thinks his work incomplete, when in reality his 

 useful message to humanity has been delivered in full. 

 St. Jerome tells us that "at one hundred and seven years 

 of age, Theophrastus lamented that he was to die, just 

 when he began to know how to live." Cicero relates, 

 further, that Theophrastus "complained of nature, as 

 he lay upon his death-bed, for having given deer and 

 crows so long a life, which was useless to them, while 

 she had allotted men an extremely short life, though 

 it was of the greatest consequence to them to live long; 

 since, if the age of man was extended to a greater num- 

 ber of years, their lives would be improved by an 

 universal knowledge, and all arts and sciences brought 

 to perfection." 



But in reality it is hardly likely that Theophrastus 

 knew any better how to live at one hundred years than 

 he did at fifty, if indeed so well. And as to granting 

 man a longer life, while that might seem desirable if he 

 could retain his faculties and the working energy of 



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