TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9985, 15 March 1898, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some time ago we reprinted How to from the London Daily News Live Long, a list of the world's famous octogenarians. Our contemporary thought it would be of interest to most "people if "some of the more eminent professors of the art of growing old" would give a little information aa to how they did it, and with that end in view it sent, out printed lists of questions to a number of people, all over eighty years of age, and many of thorn much older than l this. The first impression gained by our j contemporary from a general survey of the replies was that the art of living to a great age is an extremely I simple one. Tho great secret appears to be an hereditary tendency to live long. | Mr Geo. Hurst, a lively old gentleman of ninety-eight, who has been Mayor of Bedford three times, and made a capital speeoh i to 6000 people when he was ninety-four. | embodied in some rhymes which he sent to a local paper a year or two ago, his ideas of j the other necessary conditions of longevity, Tiiey were rather exacting. They included an income of £1000 a year, "a pleasant wife, a thorough beauty, Doing well domestic duty," who should rule the house while seeming to yield, bright children — "'The. number two is best of any"—a steady horse to drive or ride, aud a house secluded, but near a town. A good many people have passetl what is mown as the allotted span without half these advantages. It is rather remarkable, on looking over the | replies, to note how unanimous the ' veterans were on one point on which I there is much controversy nowadays, j Not one of them is a teetotaller. One or two of them appear to have tried total abstention for a time, but returned to the use of alcoholic liquors in some form or other. Some were very temperate in their drinking ; indeed temperance in all things may be put down as the second great secret ! of longevity. At the same time temperance in the early days of these old men and in i.ours does not imply the same thing, and there ' J is a good deal in what our contemporary says, that upon the whole the world's old I men have been rather a Bohemian set, with scarcely any hygienic principles- " That is the way with them," coinments\che collator of the replies. ''Come home with the milk in the morning; get up just when they feel they have squared accounts with their bolsters; cat and drink what they please and when they please until they reach their seventieth or eightieth birthday. Then, it may be, they .... begin to take a little care of themselves and peradventure take to lecturing young people of fifty or sixty on the importance of moderation and regular habits." It is rather interesting to The Effect trace the effect of the of social customs of their Early Habits, early manhood upon the life-long habits of these long-lived men. As 1 we have not a single one of them was a teetotaller. But j when they were young, we are reminded, teetotalism had not been invented, and everybody drank to an extent which would bo deemed scandalous now-a-days. They all counsel moderation in drinking as one of the elements of success in achieving a great age, but there would probably be an amusing disparity between the answers if one could ascertain precisely what , each mean 3 by," moderation.'' Then with regard to smoking, the answers were just what might have been expected. Only three sn*bke, and of these one :does so "very mode :ately," and the other dallies with ah " occasional cigarette." Fifty or sixty years ago smoking was nothing like so general as it is now, and these survivals of the salad days of the century do but show the result of early training. The same thing applies to their attitude towards the matutinal cold "tub."- With hardly a dissentient voice they declare that they have had [ nothing to do with it. A cold bath in the morning was not the fashion in their young j i days, and it is said to be the ,rarest thing to ! ! find in the old houses a bathroom that has not been put in during recent years. A few individuals can say that thoy used cold baths "when it is warm enough, 1 ' and one, a Canon aged, eighty-eight, has a really cold one every morning iv the year, but he is unique. "Diet appears to count for little I with these old men, and one of them, aged j eighty-three, declares he ""can eat 'any and everything," This human, ostrich barely lived through hia early. .manhood. He nearly died of measles, then of inflammation of'- the "stomach, and I lie was,tipped out' of a gig with disastrous ' oonsequences to his head, but for the last fifty years he has had '.splendid .health. | Generally speaking, ib appears that if one | starts with a few centenarian forefathers, has a good digestion, lives regularly, does some work but not too much, has an occasional holiday, takes plenty of outdoor exercise, and has a sufficient income to j ensure an easy mind, there Beems no reason why, barring accidents, one should not j attain -to-a good old age. But whether, these constitute the elements of an " extremely simple" art) as stated by the Daily News, is a matter which we must leave our readers to decide for themselves. A case of some importance to The ship-owners came before the Sailors" Melbourne District Court a Sunday, week or two ago, when fourteen of the crew of the coasting j steamer Bulimba were charged with dia* j obeying the orders of the master. The case was practically to decide whether seamen could be made to work on Sundays. The facts were that the steamer was ready to sail on the Saturday night, but that owing to the bad weather she could not get away to sea, and the defendants, among whom were the engineers, were told they need not go on board until four o'clock the next morning. However, they flatly refused to go on the Sunday, and, it was did ; : not let the. master know that they meant to i | refuse until the tide was so low that the vessel could not go down the river. Through this great inconvenience was caused to about 300 [passengers, many of whom were urgently desirous of leaving Melbourne. Ib was contended that so long as the men were paid for | -Sunday work they must do it, as they wero in the same position as any other servant j i who was compelled, if necessary, to work [ [ on Sunday as any other day. Counsel for the defence said the Bench had to decide | whether there was such a day as a seaman's ' Sunday, or Sunday on board ship. The Act of Charles 11., which now closed all shops | on Sunday, applied te this case also. This I was disputed by counsel for the prosecution, as was-the statement that a captain of a P. and O. boat hadJarelin fined for working Lascars on Sunday. One of the defendants said it was not a question of money with them but of principle, whereupon the follow, ing dialogue ensued '—-"Mr Stewart (counsel , for the prosecution)— What did you do pa Sunday, you did not go to sea * Witness--; 1 Why, 'rest.' We did not work, anyhow. Mr i Stewart—WeU, iri that case, you should return the money you were paid for working ! on Sunday.. Witpess-—Ob, no ,-I don't think j so. Mr Stewart—You are acting in accord* I aricei with your arti—es, when, you' work oh! Sunday. Witness—Yes." In the end, as the men had been previously discharged j from the ship, they were merely i—prisohed' 'until the Court r„e, the magistrate remar".*:

ing that while he would be only too pleased if seamen had their Sunday as well as otkers ashore, yet defendants had, no doubt committed a breach of the law. '