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II. THE AGING PROCESS AND
PHYSICAL CHALLENGES
'
Truly, the longer we live, the more we
experience an enlarged sense of both sorrow
and joy. It has always been so. One day in the
last year of his life, John Quincy Adams was
tottering down a Boston street. He was
accosted by a friend who said,
"And how is
John Quincy Adams today?"
The former
president of the United States replied
graciously:
Thank you, John Quincy Adams is
well, sir, quite well. I thank you. But
the house in which he lives at present
is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering
upon its foundations. Time and the
seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its
roof is pretty well worn out, its walls are
much shattered, and it trembles with
every wind.
The old tenement is
becoming almost uninhabitable, and I
think John Quincy Adams will have to
move out of it soon; but he himself is
quite well, sir, quite well.
And with this the venerable statesman,
leaning heavily upon his cane, moved slowly
down the street.
Pop and I had the same birthday -- June
15th. He was 40 when I was born, and he
seemed to truly enjoy poor health and inactivity
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