Show TO REACH OLD AGE Septuagenarian Statesmen Chat on longevity f SOME WALK THREE MILESA DAYs Temperance Exercise and Marriage the Watch Words of Those Who Would be LoneLivers WASHINGTON April 30 lS91Special correspondence of THE HERALDIn no city of the United States will you find so many energetic old young men as in Washington Octogenarians and septuagenarians septua-genarians flourish here like the flowers that bloom in the spring and inmost of them the blossoms of their old ago are more beautiful beau-tiful and more fragrant than were those of their youth Where will you find a happier or a sweeter life than that of Dr Scott the Presidents fatherinlaw who at ninety one has full possession of his mental faculties facul-ties and who takes his walks with all the I enthusiasm and vigor of a young man of thirty Take Senator Morrill who over fourscore is one of the hard working mem bers of Congress and who long after he had L passed his threescore ten found time to I write a book ridiculing tho vanities of his fellows Senator Payne has reached fourscore four-score jSenator Evarts passed his seventieth mile post several years ago and there are a score and more of our great men who are leading active lives between seventy and I eighty It is now nearly a year since I began be-gan to collect opinions from these men as to longevity and how young men by follow ing a certain course might reach a profitable profit-able and happy old age I have interviewed them as to their habits j as to their use or abuse of intoxicants as to whether they ate or drank to excess and as to the thousand thou-sand and one other things which go towards destruction or the preservation of life riirnl that each man has his own theories and that their views are as wide apart as the poles SENATOR HENKT B IAYNE ON OLD AGE One of the oldest young men in public life is Senator Henry B Payne He was born in New York state in 1S10 during the first year of Madisons presidency He was well educated and graduated when Andrew Jackson was closing his first term and ho began the practice of law at Cleveland two years later Ho visited Washington city just after his graduation and he talks very interestingly about President Jackson and his visit In 1S51 he was a candidate for the United States Senate and came near being elected at that time when Ben Wade was chosen He is now over eighty years of age is in perfect health and though he lives at least a mile and a half from the cap itol he has made it a practice to walk out to the Senate at least once a day during his term When the weather is pleasant he often walks out and back and his heart is i as young as his body He can laugh like a boy and he enjoys the society of young men Upon my asking as to the secret of his good health and spirits at this advanced age ha said I attribute my good health and long years to a good constitution and to the fact thatI control my appetite and am temper ate in both eating and drinking I take ex ercise regularly chiefly walking have but little to do with the doctors and I think I am all the better for it About fortyfive years ago when was thirtyfive years of age I was forced to leave off my practice at the bar on account of hemorrhage of tho lungs I had something to do with doctors at that time but have had not much to do with them since How about your diet Mr Payne I cat everything that agrees with me and drink what I like but not to excess I do not use tobacco but 1 dont believe that long life depends on its use or nonuse The main thing is temperance in work as woll as in eating and drinking I believe many men are killed by over work and worry Sam Randall died from overwork He had a splendid physique but he broke it down in working on a tariff bill and by laboring here all summer Idont believe that activ ityhurts any one but overwork does Then I dont let things worry me I like lifo and believe that it is worth the living I keep myself young by having young men about me and keeping in the swim I dont know about Adam but I have little faith in the story of Methuselah and the other scrip tural characters who are supposed to have lived ten times as long as men live now There is no reason why they should have done so and the statement is hardly proba bleWhat What advice Senator Payne would you give a young man who wishes to reach four score I hardly know said the Senator I would urge him to be temperate to study himself eat what agrees with him and re frain from that which disagrees take life I as easy as possible and dont worry or over work I would advise him to take regular exercise and to keep his eyes on the bright rather than on the dark side of things The restraining of his appetites and the temperate temper-ate use of all his faculties will enable him to live longer though life IS after all largely a matter of constitution A BACHELOR STATESMAN WHO WANTS TO MARRY ExSenator Thomas L Clingman is about two years younger than Senator Payne He is as bright as a dollar and active as a young satyr He has not been in public life much since the close of tho war but ho was one of tho most noted of our statesmen in the days of Tyler Polk Fillmore Taylor Pierce and Buchanan and he had one of the S famous duels of history with William L Yancey Alabama on account of a speech which he made concerning Henry Clay He was a member of Congress of the United States Senatea governor of Norlh Caro linn and n hricrnrliprnpnflrol in t h n n1 c VULU < U erate army He isa delightful conversa tionalist and ho considers himself still in his prime Said he I will be seventyeight years old in a few weeks and I am in perfect mental and physical health I walk about three miles every day and think I have been growing younger during the last three years I find that my nails grow faster and tougher and the growth of my hair has increased I think that the improvement of my health since 1SS3 has been largely due to tho use of an extract of tobacco which have invented which stimulates the perspiratory and other organs and opens up the whole system I am a bachelor but I have wanted to get married all my life I first fell in love at five I have wanted to marry since then and I want to marry now more than ever but I cannot afford it MODERATE EATING AND DRINKING As to my habits I have been temperate all my life I do not eat more < than half the amount of the ordinary man and I did not drink a drop of spirits until I was forty eight At this time tried a mint julep and thought it helped me and since thon I have taken some spirits before just my meals or some wine with my meals As to my meals I eat breakfast at 8 oclock and connne my self to a big cup of coffee a piece of meat and some stale bread I am a great bread eater but I do not like underdone biscuits and when we have warm biscuits at my boardinghouse I send them back and have themrecooked The word biscuityou know means cooked twice I am fond of cakes for breakfast and my breakfast for years at Willards hotel consisted of buckwheat cakes and coffee At dinnerl eat one meat one vegetable and a light dessert I am very fond of soup and can make it take the place of meat and do so when it is good I like ox tailmock turtle and Mulligatawney I dont think much of consomme but I am fond of oysters When I sit down to the table I look over the bill of fare and decide I what Is best for me and eat that and noth ing else I never use black pepper but think a little red pepper does no harm How about sleep Senator I sleep about five hours every night and am troubled somewhat with insomnia I usually go to bed at 11 and rise at dawn As soon as I 1 get out of bed I take a cold bath and if my breakfast were then ready I would eat it As it is not I roll around in Io f the bed and read the paper until the breakfast break-fast bell rings I have never smokedchew ed or snuffed and I cannot say whether or not these habits are injurious What is one mans drink is another mans poison As to the advice I would give young men I would say be temperate in habits use no spirituous liquors before nor after fifty and drink no wines except at meals Keep the joints well oiled with exercise marry as soon as you can after twenty years of i age dont overwork and dont worry and if you have a decent conscience and a fair constitution there is no reason why you should not reach fourscore A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE Justice McArthur is one of the retired justices of the United States supreme court of the District of Washington He has led an active and hardworkinc life and now at seventyseven he does not look as old as many a man at sixty He is tall erect and fine looking There are but few wrinkles in hishandaome face and his hair though gray is thick and silky He has a wonderfully wonder-fully clear complexion and his blue eyes are bright and full of life He is a fine talker a good liver and he enjoys sosiety as much as when he was twenty years younger I met him at Saratoga and asked him his recipe for longevity I am he said naturally of a strong constitution and I attribute my almost perfect per-fect physical and mental condition largely to a very good sot of digestive organs Ian c I-an eat anything and drink anything and am one of the few men of whom it may be said that they do not know that they have a stomach I have been so through my life and I attribute my continuing in this condition condi-tion in that such excesses as I have committed commit-ted in the past I have always made up for by rest and bathing If I am up late at night I take pains to sleep late the next morning and if I am at a big dinner I see that my pores are thoroughly open the next day so that any deleterious matter that I may havo taken into my system may pass away Idont believe in asceticism nor in the mortification of tho flesh by rigid rules of diet by limiting the appetite and by denying ones self that good may come I I believe that man should take as much pleasure pleas-ure out of life as ho can consistently with his work as he goes along The desire for enjoyment is natural and it should be grati fied as much as hunger and thirst The very fact that it exists is an evidence that nature intended it to be gratified But of course every man must be a law unto himself him-self in such matters and that which suits one may not suit another HOT AIR BATHS You were speaking of bathing Justice McArthur Whatkind of bathing do you mean 1 I am a great believer In hot air baths replied tho justice and I keep myself in good condition by one of these every week I think the Turkish baths aro good but my favorite bath is the alcohol hot air bath which I tako regularly when I am at home When I am away 1 take the hot water bath making the water redhot and soaking myself my-self in it until the perspiration flows freely out of every poro of my skin I dont be hove in the use of much soap in bathing and I think that the pores of the skin are not helped by the alkali that is taken into them Our skin is you know made up of thousands thou-sands of little pores through which a large part of the waste of the system is carried off These pores relieve every partof the body stomach liver kidneys and every portion of the system Each pore has a little lit-tle oil duct in it to protect it from injury and to keen it in good condition It is a del 1 icate piece of machinery and I do not be lieve this oil should be scoured out with soap nor should the skin be scratched and roughened with a flesh brush THE ALCOHOL BATH Of what nature in vnnr ol nVinl ViatVi It is a bath f the vapor of alcohol I take it in my bath room and do it by putting put-ting perhaps a gill of alcohol in an iron cup I light this and place under a chair then having undressed I seat myself over it and throw a blanket over me and around the chair making a hotair chamber of myself In a short time I begin to perspire and the perspiration runs out of my pores in streams washing out my skin and making mo perfectly clean When the alcohol is burnt out I throw off the blanket and jump into i my bath tub which is filled with water I at a blood heat After a short stay here I rub off myself with a crash towel and then complete the drying with a softer one I then lie down for a few minutes and when I get up I am a new man Such a bath makes you feel that you have never been clean before It revives your whole system and the alcohol acts as a tonic You got only the good qualities in the alcohol the burning having precipitated the injurious ones and these going into your system through the pores as vapor acts as a tonic Some people rub their skin with the raw alcohol but I do not advise this nor do I think it beneficial As to marriagesaid Justice McArthur I decidedly think it tends to the length of days and 1 would advise every young man to get married Man needs association Its i It-s in tho course of nature and it seems tome to-me that I have never known when I was not married As to smoking the abuse of tobacco is I think injurious but I do not think it hurts me to smoke in moderation smoke two cigars a day and enjoy them How about exercise The only exercise I take replied Justice Jus-tice McArthur is walking I walk about three miles a day when in Washington and I am very fond of it usually see the bright c side of things and in looking back at the diffculties I have surmounted in my life I am surprised at my confidence in myself I believe in work and not worry and I thirik that any young man who will use the criter ion of common sense in his life enjoy it as much as can treat himself as he would a good machine and conform to nature and to natures laws has a good chance of many days TWO SEPTUAGENARIAN CONGRESSMEN The two oldest men in Congress are General Gen-eral Vandever of California and General N P Banks of Massachusetts Both are several years past their threescore and ten Both are perfectly erect and both possess the highest degree of physical and mental vigor Both have led lives of hardship Both have served in the war and both starting out as poor boys have made themselves them-selves famous General Vandever is I judge six feet high He was born in Mary land in 1S17 was a brigadiergeneral in the Union army and was amember of Congress when James Buchanan was President of the United States Now at seventythree he is again in Congress and as I chatted with him today about the secrets of longev ity i he walked with a step more springing than mine and his only sign of age was in the white strands of his sandy beard He said saidI I cannot say that my vigor at threescore and ten is due to any fixed hobbies of diet or exercise I have been a hard worker all my life and I have been ordinarily temperate temper-ate I am rather careful as to my eating and I load a regular life I married at t and I believe thirty that marriage con duces to length of years You ask me what advice I would give to young men who wish to live long lean only say that they should be temperate in eating drinking and work that they should be content to take the days as they come and not worry about the fu ture I believe that une exercise in the open air is good and I think every young man ought to get married GENERAL N P BANKS General Banks is tho straightest man in Washington He is about seventyfive he has led a life full of hardships He worked in a cotton factory when he was a boy went on the lecture platform before he was ol age and was in Congress over half a century ago He was elected Speaker in one of the most noted speakership contests of our history and he was ono of the roughest rough-est fighters and ono of the most vigorous workers among the Union generals of the late war During the war he was in constant con-stant exposure but he came out of it comparatively com-paratively a strong man and went again into Congress He bas been in Congress a number of times since then and you will now find no more pleasant companion nor philosophic statesman than he He attributes attrib-utes his good health largely to a moderate care of himself and to a good constitution He believes that the mind has a great influence influ-ence on the body thinks that marriage is conducive to longivity and sees no reason why he should not live in good health for years to como FRANK G CARPENTER |