ties or than those engaged in other occupations. Aside from the
purer air, the outdoor exercise, both conducive to a good appetite and
sound sleep, which comparatively few in cities enjoy, they are free
from the friction, harassing cares, anxieties, and the keen competition
incident to city life. On the other hand, there are some great
drawbacks and some enemies to longevity, even on the farm. Man does
not live by bread alone. The mind is by far the greatest factor in
maintaining the body in a healthy condition. The social life of the
city, the great opportunities afforded the mind for feeding upon
libraries and lectures, great sermons, and constant association with
other minds, the great variety of amusements compensate largely for the
loss of many of the advantages of farm life. In spite of the great
temperance and immunity from things which corrode, whittle, and rasp
away life in the cities, farmers in many places do not live so long as
scientists and some other professional men.

There is no doubt that aspiration and success tend to prolong life.
Prosperity tends to longevity, if we do not wear life away or burn it
out in the feverish pursuit of wealth. Thomas W. Higginson made a list
of thirty of the most noted preachers of the last century, and found
that their average length of life was sixty-nine years.

Among miners in some sections over six hundred out of a thousand die
from consumption. In the prisons of Europe, where the fatal effects of
bad air and filth are shown, over sixty-one per cent. of the deaths are
from tuberculosis. In Bavarian monasteries, fifty per cent. of those
who enter in good health die of consumption, and in the Prussian
prisons it is almost the same. The effect of bad air, filth, and bad
food is shown by the fact that the death-rate among these classes,
between the ages of twenty and forty, is five times that of the general
population of the same age. In New York City, over one-fifth of all
the deaths of persons over twenty are from this cause. In large cities
in Europe the percentage is often still greater. Of one thousand
deaths from all causes, on the average, one hundred and three farmers
die of pulmonary tuberculosis, one hundred and eight fishermen, one
hundred and twenty-one gardeners, one hundred and twenty-two farm
laborers, one hundred and sixty-seven grocers, two hundred and nine
tailors, three hundred and one dry-goods dealers, and four hundred and
sixty-one comp