Phelps is also quoted by Alex Ayres in _Wit & Wisdom of MT_ Whether Sam said those exact words or not, the sentiment is definitely his. Here's the thought in a letter to Edw. L. Dimmitt, July 19, 1901 from Saranack Lake, NY. Citation either MTP or Paine, _Letters_ 2:709: "By an error in the plans, things go wrong end first in this world... "The whole scheme of things is turned wrong end to. Life should begin with age & its privleges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages. As things are now, when in youth a dollar would bring a hundred pleasures, you can't have it. When you are old, you get it and there is nothing worth buying with it then. "It's an epitome of life. The first half of it consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity." Note: Sam usually used the & sign instead of "and" in his letters, but Paine often "corrected" this--both Paine and the MTP PDF file for 1901-5 does use "and" here...personally, I find such "corrections" a sin for which editors may have an extra coal on their heads in the great hereafter. David H Fears