156 LIFE EXTENDED. 



under the present pressure of their "pinching shoes," would 

 be likely enough, if the scissors of the Parcae were placed in 

 their own hands, to snip off the first few yards of their re- 

 spective threads ; but they would have reason to repent them 

 sorely of the act ; for admit we even that the season of our 

 early spring-time, so bright when looked back upon, is yet so 

 chequered with passing clouds, that its actual amount of sun- 

 shine is no greater than in those that follow, what would those 

 others be without it ? Where, then, the first recollections 

 of innocence ? Where the first lessons of maternal tender- 

 ness ? and where, in their absence, those gushing life-springs 

 of the soul, so pure and so deep-seated, which, through the 

 crust of maturity, however hardened, do, at times, well up 

 within us and prepare our hearts for the reception of dews 

 divine, perhaps more directly shed, but not of origin more holy? 



So much for the curtailment, at its commencement, of life's 

 unfolding roll ; and the power of its voluntary extension 

 would, we fancy, prove a privilege scarcely more desirable. 



To put a case parallel with the artificial lengthening of 

 insect life, we must, of course, suppose the extra period to be 

 passed in a state of torpor. On these terms, the addition 

 even of centuries to our three-score years and ten may appear 

 only a nominal gain, since, as our French naturalist justly 

 observes, "It is only the conscious train of thought and 

 feeling which constitutes our real existence." To some people, 

 however, he adds, it might appear exceedingly agreeable to 



