“VERY YOUNG MEN.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 26 February 1926, Page 8

“VERY YOUNG MEN.”

STRIPLINGS OVER FIFTY. TIME KIND TO LAWYERS. Wei have moved far from the days when n. man was said to be too old at 40 (writes a. barrister in the Daily Maili. The Lord Chief Justice, in fact, has just declared that at 56 “a man is very young. Lord Hewart himself is a- mere legal stripling, fpr he is only 55. Sir Harry Poland, the famous criminal advocate, is- actually 98, hut lie took the precaution of retiring from practice just 80 years ago. On the other hand, lx>rd Finlay (an ex-Lord Chancellor) is 83, and is still acting as the British representative on the International Court at The Hague Lord Mersey, long known as Mr Justice Bigham, is 85, Lord Darling at 70 seems to possess-perennial youth, and Sir Edward Clarke at 84 is an example to the Bar. But the years were always kind to lawyers. The late Lord Halsbury was nearly 100 when he died, and Lord Lindfey lived into the late eighties. At 55 the preesnt Lord Chief Justice is, indeed, a “very young man.” Other profusions and callings ,are notable for brilliant old men. Mr. Thomas Hardy is Still writing wonderful poetrv at 86. Sir Hugh Bell, the eminent ironmaster and philosopher of the North, has abounding vigour at 81.

To keep youthful after 50 a man must surmount victoriously the climacteric that sets in during those trying years. When the physical organism has "stood the wrench, the mental faculties have sharpened and strengthened under the strain, the energies have developed and the imagination has lifted and widened, the whole man begins a fresh, canter along the road o'i life ' The 'task is harder in these testing days when the after-war strain on nerve and energy is increased by econ_ omic strain. But courage can achieve miracles.