The assembling of these bright old boys is a matter of interest to all who believe with Lydia M. Child that the rarest attainment is to grow old happily and gracefully. None of the company was grim-visaged. Everybody was glee-some and vivacious. Those manly men, some of them looking down from the summit of such extreme longevity, did not indicate by any expression of feeling that there was anything like morbidity or disquietude associated with old age. In the addresses delivered were bright stories and pleasing reminiscences which signified that these men, though in the so-called "Arctic region" of their lives, were living over again the happy days of their younger manhood.

There is sound philosophy in the saying of a sage that "every man is his own age." We need not read between the lines to catch the meaning of this aphorism. In the main, the sage is right. Of course many persons are separated by the broadest differences of temperaments, of powers of development, and of other conditions. There are those who develop in wisdom, intellectual strength, and grace of manner under conditions which would not be favorable for like development in others. However, while the great host of white-haired veterans are on the homeward march but few need be left behind as to advancement in character and usefulness. There is no occasion why any one should be pessimistic on the subject of old age. To train one's self to be cheerful and useful in the fulness of his years, is the doing of a thing that is as necessary as protecting one's body from disease. The art of living is an unknown art to many, but to those who aspire after the best things which belong to longevity - briefly comprehended in good health and nobility of purpose - the way to success is very encouraging.

It should be borne in mind that a good measure of cheerfulness and contentment depends wholly upon our views of old age. Those who wisely keep their bodies in a normal condition, and grow to advanced life as naturally as a plant grows to maturity, will have no fear as to what will happen when they are seventy or eighty years of age. If we think of old age as a "melancholy necessity," it will not take long to grow old, and everything that is animating and hopeful will be crowded out of the mind and heart. All the wholesome pleasures of life, its joys and peace, and its practical usefulness, are determined by our aspirations. In short, old age is what we choose to make it.

Prentice Mulford says: "Three-fourths of our people look the old man or woman at sixty because they have always received it as an inevitable necessity, from which there was no possible escape - that they must be on the downhill side of life at that age. It is to them 'a law of nature.' It is for them only the law of ignorance."

Many creeds by which old age can be made useful and cheerful have been published, but I must quote one adopted by the late Dr. William C. Gray, editor of The Interior, Chicago. He was a strong preacher of righteousness, although he never delivered his sermons from a pulpit. His life was a great sermon. In his Camp-fire Musings, published shortly after his death which occurred on the last Sunday in September, 1901, he says:

"A happy life is to be had by making rational enjoyment one of the objects of life. And that is not money-getting. It is not in fashion or display. It is in trying to make one's self and others happy. I go fishing and camping and strolling and do not care a continental either for wealth, or wealthy people because they are wealthy. I wear loose and comfortable clothes, take plenty of exercise, refuse to let my mind dwell on unpleasant things, never worry about lost opportunities or money losses, keep out of the way of cranks and quarrelsome people, and try to see the bright or the humorous side of things, cultivate love for my kindred, and crack many little chestnut of a joke.

"I never read any of the crimes or scandal columns of the dailies, choose cheerful books, and get out of the way of the whiners and growlers and scandal-mongers. One can have a happier life - happy as the day is long - by making happiness one of the main purposes of living. The foundation of this is good health. Anybody can have good health by starting out in time for it. It is to be had by the moderate eating of simple and wholesome food, which soon becomes a luxury to the palate; a clean skin; out-door exercise every day, without regard to the weather, except in the way of warm and dry clothing; keeping the mind cheerful; keeping the heart kindly; avoiding anxiety and longing about business affairs; contentment with one's lot."

A happy and serviceable longevity has come to be regarded as one of the grand prizes of human existence. And reason has again and again suggested the inquiry whether care or skill can * increase the chances of acquiring such a prize, and can make old age as comfortable and happy as the earlier period of our manhood. This inquiry may be perplexity to a great many, but to the brave men and women who are ambitious to fill their old age with no little degree of joy and freshness of spirit it is not difficult to answer. The instances are numerous of persons of advanced years being able almost to renew their youth and to crown their last days with cheer and thanksgiving.

But in striving for length of days that carries something of gladness and gratitude with it one must heed the words of wisdom spoken by Gorgias, a celebrated Greek rhetorician who lived in the time of Socrates. When he was asked how he had managed to grow to a hundred years so joyfully, and so full of observation, he answered that he had never been wont to do anything for merely personal pleasure.

The prescription for a sound growth and development in the aged is hardly less rational than Elisha's recipe for the cure of Naaman's leprosy. But some one has said that he who would live to be a useful old man must begin early to be one. The fact remains, however, that comparatively few designedly take measures in early life to live longer than their fellows. But many a man has lengthened his fruitful years far beyond the age given by the Psalmist when it was supposed, long before, that his days were numbered.

To be old and yet feel young, what a prize! Our country is young, but too many of its people are growing old before their time. We strive for money with all our might. We glorify heroes and men of rank and fortune, and too often selfish men of power, but forget ourselves - forget that we ought to glorify the youthful, the cheerful, and the heart-warming things of life.

Recently The Outlook printed an editorial on "Christmas To-day," in which it said that Lowell was once passing a great building in London which bore the inscription, "Home for

Incurable Children"; with a twinkle in his eye he turned to the friend who was walking with him and said, "They'll take me there some day." The thought is beautiful. The editorial then goes on to say: "The poets, artists, dreamers, lovers, who make the world endurable and life worth living are children at heart; when they leave all of childhood behind them, they no longer see visions and dream dreams; they become as dull and uninspiring as the rest of Jacob's sons. It was Lowell, too, who said that he had 'an inexhaustible fund of inexperience' about him. Blessed are they who never become wholly sophisticated, but who still dream and wonder and believe!"

"Age is not a matter of years, but of feeling. Youth is the power of feeling things freshly; of finding joy in common as well as uncommon things; of being eager, enthusiastic, gay; of refusing to count the cost; of keeping the capacity for admiration and wonder. Age, on the other hand, is becoming so sophisticated that the faculty of enjoying simple things is lost, the capacity for fresh feeling, for admiration and enthusiasm, exhausted."

How can much of the buoyancy of youth be reincarnated in the hearts of the tired and world-worn men and women of to-day? How can we imbibe the spirit of Lowell, and save from exhaustion "the capacity for fresh feeling, for admiration and enthusiasm"? In answer to these questions a few plain principles of life, though of vital importance, can be named:

Strict moderation in all things should be our guiding maxim.

Learning in whatsoever state we are placed to be content.

Consoling ourselves with the beautiful words of the Psalmist: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Keeping in close touch with the best things of to-day.

Loving the friendships of young people, and never by our conversation or manner giving them occasion to complain that we are self-opinionated, or out of date, or were born too long ago.

Exercising a perfect faith in Christianity. In life's journey it is as "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

Establishing our souls on the golden text of the greatest essay on love ever written; "But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love."

Some one has said that miracles will not be out of date so long as men believe in love.

Remembering the lines by Philip James Bailey:

"We live in deeds, not in years; in thoughts, not breaths.

In feelings, not in figures on the dial.

We should count time by heart throbs.

He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."

So far as possible, to engage in some useful and active occupation. As the water of a running brook is sweet, so a life filled with wisely chosen mental and physical activity, brings health and enjoyment.