AGING AT FORTY IS UNNECESSARY by Edythe Stoddard Seymour

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 19, 1914

AGING AT FORTY IS UNNECESSARY

By Edythe Stoddard Seymour

Edythe Stoddard Seymour

WHY does a woman dread the forties? One should be in her mental and physical prime at that age; and because of increased knowledge and experience, she should be capable of accomplishing more efficient work than at any previous period of her life.

The answer is that ordinarily the fourth decade is a period of “aging.” Not uncommonly a woman on her fortieth birthday has begun to look more like a peach that has stood too long in the showcase than like one recently plucked from the tree.

We may know that this premature aging is unnecessary from the fact that great singers and others whose careers depend upon the continuance of their youthful beauty, manage to keep fresh until after they are sixty; and they do it by the most rigid attention to the

Perhaps some of my readers may realize, as they look into the mirror, that it does not tell so pleasing a story as formerly; and, as a result, they begin to “make up,” in the effort to deceive themselves and others, with the externals which are supposed to make one look younger, but which in reality deceive nobody.

To all such, I have a message of hope and cheer. Do not surrender to old age, for that would only serve to hasten your aging. It may not be possible to counteract all the results of the past life; but hope, and courage, and attention to details will accomplish a great deal. By devoting a little time and thought daily to self-culture, you may drift gradually into a joyous and charming old age.

You may have to make some radical changes in your mode of living; but these