THE TEST OF AGE 



Physical beauty, for example, is of no consequence 

 except as the mind interprets it; except as it gives 

 pleasure to the mind of its possessor and to the minds 

 of others. 



Physical infirmity could be of no consequence save 

 for its effects, direct or indirect, in curtailing the 

 happiness of the afflicted individual or his fellows. 

 In a word, then, I repeat, the conditions of body and 

 brain are important not in and for themselves, but only 

 because of their essential influence on the all-important 

 mind, which alone interprets the conditions of well- 

 being or of ill-being; which alone knows anything of 

 happiness. 



Ill 



[THE TEST OF AGE 



[Amplifying the text of the chapter on Youth versus Age, 

 p. 165, seq.] 



Apropos of what is said on p. 170 about the hour 

 as the better unit for computing age, rather than the 

 year, I recall once hearing a man of alleged immature 

 years argue this standard against a critic who had con- 

 temptuously assured him that he would "know more 

 when he was older." 



"But, my dear sir," said the man of twenty-five, 

 "I am already older than you." 



"Nonsense," replied the other; "I am forty-three 

 and you are not yet thirty." 



"Forty- three what?" 



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