se old
man, the late Dr. James Walker, president of Harvard University,
said that the great privilege of old age was the getting rid of
responsibilities. These hard-working veterans will not let one get rid
of them until he drops in his harness, and so gets rid of them and
his life together. How often has many a tired old man envied the
superannuated family cat, stretched upon the rug before the fire,
letting the genial warmth tranquilly diffuse itself through all her
internal arrangements! No more watching for mice in dark, damp cellars,
no more awaiting the savage gray rat at the mouth of his den, no more
scurrying up trees and lamp-posts to avoid the neighbor's cur who wishes
to make her acquaintance! It is very grand to "die in harness," but it
is very pleasant to have the tight straps unbuckled and the heavy collar
lifted from the neck and shoulders.

It is natural enough to cling to life. We are used to atmospheric
existence, and can hardly conceive of ourselves except as breathing
creatures. We have never tried any other mode of being, or, if we have,
we have forgotten all about it, whatever Wordsworth's grand ode may tell
us we remember. Heaven itself must be an experiment to every human soul
which shall find itself there. It may take time for an earthborn saint
to become acclimated to the celestial ether,--that is, if time can be
said to exist for a disembodied spirit. We are all sentenced to capital
punishment for the crime of living, and though the condemned cell of
our earthly existence is but a narrow and bare dwelling-place, we have
adjusted ourselves to it, and made it tolerably comfortable for the
little while we are to be confined in it. The prisoner of Chillon

"regained [his] freedom with a sigh,"

and a tender-hearted mortal might be pardoned for looking back, like the
poor lady who was driven from her dwelling-place by fire and brimstone,
at the home he was leaving for the "undiscovered country."

On the other hand, a good many persons, not suicidal in their
tendencies, get more of life than they want. One of our wealthy citizens
said, on hearing that a friend had dropped off from apoplexy, that it
made his mouth water to hear of such a case. It was an odd expression,
but I have no doubt that the fine old gentleman to whom it was
attributed made use of it. He had had enough of his gout and other
infirmities. Swift's account of the Struldbrugs is not very amusing
reading for old people, but so