HARD WORK AND LONGEVITY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 47, 13 March 1885, Page 19

HARD WORK AND LONGEVITY.

The news comes over the pea that one day last week Mr. Gladstone, premier of England, in addition to felling a tree and translating several pages from the 3 reek, walked a few miles, made a speech, and then attended to those diplomatic duties which must in the nature of things, be enormous. As the liberal party in England is r at the present time, going through one of its most critical campaigns, it is plain to be seen that the responsibility and work put upon the shoulders of the Premier are enough for the strongest and most active of men. Mr. Gladstone is 76, and apparently good for long years of service yet. His predecessors have, as a rule, been long-lived. Beaconsfield was 76 when death removed him from the sphere of politics. Lord Palmerston was 84, Earl Basscll 81. In Continental Europe old men guide the current of political affairs. Bismarck is 70 ; Theirs was 80 when he gaided France. Grevy, who is president to-day, is 71, Gortschakofl was in command of Russia affairs at 84. It would appear that on the other side of the Atlantic men are in their prime at three 6core and ten, but at that age" in American politics a man is supposed to lag superfluous. Why is it? The old men of America have accomplished their work and gone into retirement, while those of their age in Europe are in the thickest of the fray. Simon Cameron is 85, Hamilton Fish 76, Horatio Seymour 74, (Samuel J. Tilden 70. They are all considered too old for our American rash and go. It is only in politics that the American is considered uselessafter arriving at the age of 70 years. In the church, at the bar, in business, and even on the stage, old men. and women do gloriousservice. Leonard Bacon is 82, and Theodore Dewight Wooley 83,. Mr. Beecber is 74— his father died at 83, and his sister Catherine at 78. Cardinal M'Closkey is 74, James Freeman Clarke 74, and Dr. M'Cosb 73. Crossing the ocean we find the Pope actively performing his duties at 74. His predecessor died at 86. Father Beckx. administered the affairs of the great Jesuit order at 84. Dollinger is 85, and Father Curci, 84. The vigorous. Archdeacon Denison, "still lives," we believe, at 79. Cardinal Manning is 76, and Cardinal Newman 83. Very near to the church are philanthropists and we find that one of them, Che venerabie Sir Moses Montefiore, is in his eeutary of useful life. Lord Shaftesbury is 83. Garrison died at 75, and Wendell Phillips at 72, while John B. Gough is living at 67. Eobert Dale Owen reached the age of 76, and George Peabody that of 74. At the bar we have David Dubley Field, a comparatively young man at 86, Judge Parker, of this city, is on his way to four score having just celebrated his. golden wedding. In fact, the list of brain workers shows many iostances of great longevity, especially among literary men.. George Bancroft is 84, Benson S. Loasing 71, James fiussell Lowell is 65 Whittier is 77, Oliver Wendell Holmes 75. Bichard Henry Dana died at 92, Bryant at 84, Motley at 62, George t. Marsh at 82, George Ticknor at 80, Longfellow at 76, Halkck at 77. In England, Tennyson is 65 and Browning 72 ; Lord Houghton, better known as Mr. iV>onkton Milnes, is 75, Samuel Smiles is 68, and Fioude 60. In journalism, longevity is also remarkable. Parke Goodwin, editor of the New York Commercial, is on the threshold of 70. Dana wields the briskest pen in the metropolis at the good old. age of 66. Thurlow Weed lived to be nearly 85, James Watson Webb to be 82, Bryant to 84, Bennett to 77. George Dawsou was past 70, and wrote with the vigonr of youth when he died, in harnes?. And what a vast amount of work these men accomplished in their lives 1 The stage, too, is notable for men and women who have obtained extreme age amid its hurly-burly. Sir Julius Benedict is 80, Sir M. Costa is 83, Gounod 66, Lists 73, Sims Beeves sings at 63, Verdi, still musical at 70, the age at which Wagner died, may be mentioned among European musical celebrities of the time. Anna Bishop passed away at 70, at which died Ole Bull. Mario lived to be 78, and Letty Stephens died Countess of Essex at 88. Balfe died at 62, and Meyerbeer died at 70. Of oar actors, William Warren and John Gilbert have long passed 70 ; Boucicanlt is 62, and so is Bistori - r Joe Jefferson is 55 and Salvini 54 ; Barry Sullivan is 60 and Miss Stirling 67. Buckstone died at 77, Macready at 80, Mathews at 75 and Charles Kean at 67. Mtne. Celeste could delight an audience at 60. Helen Faucit is living as- Lady Martin at 65. Fanny Kemble is vigorous and vivacious at 76. Taglioni, " the chaste goddess of the dance," passed away but a few weeks ago at the age of 80. Her great rival, Fanny Klssler is still living. Baraum is fully 76, and surely Maggie Mitohell has been playing Fanchon for over half a. century. la the wide world of commerce and of science, we find men active like Commodore Vanderbilt, whose head was clear when he died at 83, Peter Cooper, who was 92, and Morse, who was 81. Herbert Spencer and Tyndill are nearly 70, and De Lesaepa is mapping ont great pxojects«t 79, — toebange.