Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-10-14

A CHAPTER ABOUT 81 PEorIE-LoNGEvIrr OF
THE PEOPLE uF THE PENINSULA.
HARRINGTON, DEL, o t. II, 1869.

CHAPTER ABOUT o ~ PEorLE-LoNGEvITr OF
THE PEOPLE uF THE PENINSULA.
HARRINGTON, DEL, OF. II, 1869.
MEssRs. Epi1og> al have, for some time,
noticed with an approving eye your endeavors to
keep up with that diffuse individual-"t the Oldest
man." This, you have doubtless found, Ia pecu-
liarly hard TO do, for he has more lives than the
hydra that infested the marshes of Lerua; and If
death lays him low in one place, we are sure to
hear of him In another-where with more than "a
century upon his shoulders, he walks three miles
before breakfast is loquacous all day, aud reads
without glasses in the evening.
fear shall c,mplicate your labors, when !
tell you that VIC have and old gentleman here,
Mr. Benjams Harrington, who is In his ninety
fifth year and bids fair to endure the frosts OF
hundred. He lives about quarter Of q mile
out of town. but every day when the weather Is
fine, he may be seen trudging slowly aloD. the
road, here. His descendants are SO hume GUS
that every fourth man you meet for three or four
miles around, rejoices IN the name OF Harring-
ton. Should he be here oil Saturday he may
shake hands anywhere down the line from ton
| TO great grand-child; and l am told he may
| hear the prntte Of great great grand-cbild
| hus may The earliest bud of spring vxpnnd uu-
| der the very brow of january! A Mrs. CULLEN.
several miles from here, sister of his first wife, s
| yet living, and is ten months older than himself
There is decrepit black woman, too, Dinah
| Dorman, that with the help OF her long Stall,
| may soon reach Eve scores.
Ia Milton, Sussex county, there is colorcd
| man, David Oliver, who bears upon his broad
back the Glow decay of a hundred and two years.
He was blacksmith by trade, ard yet displays
powerful arms. that time has but little wasted.
lie Is excessively polite, and is never so well
pleased us when he Is encouraged to be garrullous
upon the past.
Two ur three miles from Lewes, few months
ago. came across an old colored man. named
| think RnbprL RurtDn. whom CERTAIN
| belonged to the estate of his former owner,
proved to be one hundred and five years of age
He was withei 0 | specimen OF anatomy, but lif,
had struck its roots deep down 10 his bones, aud
was 10th to rcsga him to his kindred dust, even
when usefulness was long since gone, and the
failure of his senses had smoothed his path to
the grave.
In Berlin, Maryland, few days ago, who is one
hundred and three years OF age. She Is hlind,
almost entirely deaf, and scarcely eau walk, yet
IL she tenacious of life.
A few years ago. paper printed In George
town, Sussex Co., gave biographical sketches for
, several weeks, of aged citzeus of that county,
, which were highly interesting. Not that there
was anything wonderful occurring In their simple
5 lives, but the recolleclons detailed, seemed Xix,
J hollow voices speaking from a remote time
= Copies of the paper were placed on file In The
! museum of the Historical Society of New Or
4 leans.
do not know for what reason, but life is offer
. piriouRtu " kIcht peituu pcutueuli, ~
0 much 90. that at seventy is bale, aud lktl,
to live much longer. He still attends TO business
J.. and would think there was some sutire In th
I humnr that would venerate him Tor his age.
a II may be, that situated between the Chesapeak
\ on the one side, and the Delaware bay and tn
% Llue Atlantic on the other, the air Is purer, til
Q climate more salubrious, and for these reason
= grave diseases that sap the fountains of life les
% prevalent. And cunJointd with these we hav
y generous soil, the cultivation of which Is au
ply repaired In luscious fruits and succultnt veg
IL eables; the forests drop nuts, and in autumn th
wild vines are loaded with purple clusters Ut th
u sweetest Craps game abound in the fields, au
o. with ull this 1t would be strange II life shout
~ dole out her years with meagre hand.
a He, whose mind Is Not frvered with ambition
q and whose desires are bounded, who can pref
10 quiet aud reflection 10 the noise and excitemei
o. that eats away vitality may expect with but u
81 tie expenditure Of labor, to live here to ripe
AZ age, and
o1 .-Minutes, hours. days. wesks months and yea
"" Passd over to the Q, d they were created,
- VIII beina whios hsiss at0 onist srays."
sosIStRsvs.