Show I They Do Not Fear Death I WHEN 4 Dr v the gland expert i VV announced that he rejuvenate nate people people peo- peo who h had d pass passed d th the thre three score score and ten and ni rk and give them thein an added forty or fifty years of lire lite philosophers and others leaped on th the subject eagerly and began to give voice T Would ti the added years prove a blessing or or otherwise Everybody had an ide and wanted w to express it it At last however it London to ask the occurred to a newspaper people most intimately concerned the concerned the very aged ged It found about a dozen centenarians and asked sk d them if th they y would care to be rejuvenated re- re juven ted and given two-score two years more mor of 01 life uk Almost without exception they replied that the they would not They had lived for a along long time they said an and were ready to die Not willingly would th they y remain on this earth longer th than n nature intended They had had hada hada a a abut out ut enough of it That seems at first rath rather r surprising The fear of d death ath is an instinctive matter with most of us We feel that whatever mischance i ay come there is something to be thankful for if life Ufe is saved Despite our religion and our our fortitude we cannot contemplate death unmoved Y Yet t these aged E Englishmen can They Theys r s say y in eff effect ct We have lived our lives for foi better or 01 for worse and we do not care cart to tc 9 much farther with the job We are ready to die and we are ar not asking for any re rc- re- re ve JJ Extreme age seems to bring a fundamental fundamentals s sort rt of wisdom Apparently when one nears near tile the e century mark one re realizes lizes that it is not nol add added d life that is ones one's great need it is added skill in the handling of life It becomes evident evi evi- dent derit that it is not a tragedy that life has to ft t end c the tragedy is th that t it so often has to be i misused and wasted A re recent ent writer in the Nation points out that the primitive American Americ n Indians had this thi Idea To th them m life was one long series olI of ol tests which tried a mans man's mettle and showed I- I what he was vas good for The Indians honored L the the aged because th they y felt the aged had merall met mer all of these these- tests and accordingly mu must t be good good men They did not fear death for it too was only a testing of mans man's quality It is not to the gland experts that we must look for help Our problem is to make mak this allotted sp span n richer full fuller r and freer for ourselves s and our neighbors I |