On Thursday evening of last week, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in the course of the discussion on Woman Suffrage in Dr. Campbell's house, remarked that old women retained their intellectual faculties unimpaired longer than old men. This may be so, but I beg leave to mention the names of some old men who have been exceptions to this general rule (granting out of respect to a lady, that it is a general rule). Calderon the famous Spanish poet, lived over 80 years and retained his mental faculties to the last. A few weeks before his death he wrote:
"What is life? 'Tis but a madness.
What is life? A mere illusion,
Fleeting pleasure, fond delusion,
Short-lived joy, that ends in sadness,
Whose most constant substance seems,
But the dream of other dreams."
