£*•

ON DEATH. 465
sum, divided by the whole number, will give thirty years
to each.
But if we take different classes of people, we find
very remarkable results. The average life of the rich
is double that of the poor. A gentleman has a fair ex
pectation of living till seventy ; a printer till thirty-two.
Lives are as recklessly sacrificed in many employments
as in wars.
Life is of value only as a means of improvement and
happiness. Take away these, and it is of no value. As
the means of education and development and the
sources of happiness increase, life will be worth more,
and the means of its preservation will be better attended
to. Those live longest now, whose lives are best worth
living. When all live true, useful, and happy lives,
there will be far greater general longevity. If human
life is held cheap, it is because it is estimated at some
thing like its proper value.
The poverty, oppression, and miseries of civilization,
and all prior stages of human development, disgust the
soul with its earthly existence, loosen our hold on life,
and help to make more welcome even the premature
and unnatural death.