LONG LIFE AND MERRY ONE.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 412, 7 April 1904, Page 8

LONG LIFE AND MERRY ONE.

IntrluM Who Are BtT*wa«wm 0»tLiT» the- African.". Wm Are > . Indoleat. F c v It seems that we are all wrong about the hurtful and life-shortening effect of American "hustle." Our national motto may be. said to have been: "A short life, but a strenuous one." We are willing, as a people, to have the span shortened a little If only we could have something worth while, something active and effective, going all the time. But it seems, according to the latest bulletin of the census bureau, that the fast life is also the long one, says Harper's Weekly. Our "median age" —that is, the age which is such that half the population is under it and half over it—is more than seven years greater than it was a century ago, and increases from decade to decade. We are surpassing easy-go-ing foreign countries in this respect; we are surpassing even the loose-jointed, indolent, beautifully relaxed, never-worrying African in our midst; for whereas the median age of our American whites is 23.4 years, that of the devil-may-care colored person is but 18.3. Lately much confusion Imm arisen in the minds of many Americans over the statement male by certain eminent neurolop fasts that it is next to impossible for a man to "overwork," provided his bodily functions- are kept in good order by temperate and wholesome living. Other physicians, to be sure, tell us that hurry and worry spell death. We have accepted the latter judgment, with the qualifying reflection that no matter what science tells us, it always seems to have "another thing coming." This census bulletin which links the long life with the fast one appears to be the other "think."