The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-04-17
voice Somewhat louder than the or
flinary conversational tone.

His ime .nory of prior events 10 his
one hunuredth year is singniarly clear.
thoagh the further back he reaches
The more luminous his reculiectoion
becomes. lie is not quite sure wheth-
err his friend Depur, who was shot Ia
The whiskey insurreciIon of lI9l, died
on the spot Or was removed and lin
gered uHiil the next day; but he is
positive thar he saw Washington wear
,bu; one spur The day he rode up TO
the Oakes i.vern IN Easton in the
Spring OF l777. lie is positive about
the length of a rock fish lie caught
with u line made out OF horse hair in
named Van CaBpen he
went fishing down the Delaware, hav-
ing previously stripped the tail of a
horse-io make the lines, md expecting
a good days Sport they carried with
them a TWO aiid IL half bushel bag
The first nibble. was "a rock-tish meas
uriug two ieeI ten inches, and 10 this
day he cannot recall. without laugh
ing, the tunly appearance OF That hsh,
with his tail sticking out of the bug.
Think of man recalling such tritiing
details of his life after lapse of eighty
years. -,f.t.,5.,..
4 CURIOUS CALCULATION. -, ~.
Two such lives as LIE Blrre's added
together would unite the landing oi
the May flower Pilgrims with the es-
OF tire Credit Mobilier
and the effinI essence OF Hoax Ames-
Three snch would take us back with
in q generation OF the discovery of
America by Columbus; five would
link us win the Norman Conquest oil
Eng land, and seventeen wouia ante
date the birth of Christ and the. sub
jugaiion OF the Gauls by julius
Cesar. tf --s ....s..st
APPEARANCE OF THE CGNTURIAN-
Sitting in the chair. this very old
tussler of Time appeared no more
than four feet high, though measur-
ing full six feet in his prime. lie
was bent almost double. His blue
eyes, though not without luster, had
a weak and watery expression. His
teeth were long since gone, and flaky
silver hair remained only at the back of
his head. There is color in his cheeks,
but his neck had much of the dried,
yellow and shrivelled appearances OF
a mummy. His legs looked little
larger than the legs of the chair on
W whlch he sat, yet three years ago, in
his ll2th year, he managed to make
them carry him distance of eight
miles. Two years ago he might have
been seen working i'll the woods cut
ting railroad ties and about the same
time back he made a journey to
Stroudsb sburg TO witness the execution
OF the murderer OF Mr.. Brodhead, all
uncle of my companion. The peo-
pie at the Jail refused to crafty the
old mans curiosity. S'But don't you
think they might - his daughter in-
noceutIy asked me, ''seeing he was so
old. Indeed" she continued, "they
might at least have let her father see
it, aud l think it was real unkind af-
ter lie had went SO lar, and at his
age!" ~.
HIS DESTRUCTIVE HABITS. p
He could not recall the time when
he began to smoke and chew tobac-
co. but it was certainly over hun
dred years ago. He has continued
the habit ever since. 81 am afraid he
smokes too much, remarked his fiilal
land am trying to break
him of it," He has also taken stimu-
lents regularly. in the shape of plain
native whisky but he tailed to re-
IN ember that he ever got drunk but
twice, the first occasion being the day
he went to Easton to see General
George Washington. and the second
when he left his old homestead at
Mount Bethel, six miles from here,
and started West with his father
years ago. s...,s. Sc -
10 show the extraordinary stamina
of this family, the father, having lost
his first wife, took second when one
hundred years old, aid lived to. the
age of one hundred and five. sa ms
GEORGES GRANDFATHER, od g.
who died at an almost equally ad-
vanced age, came to this country from
France about the year 1870. He was
Il Huguenot and a man OF great phys
ical strength and prowess. George
says he remembers his grandfather
telling of how he saw Louis NV, at
Sevres. passing in his guided coach
from Paris to Versailles. aa -
TAKES A DRINK. fe5f
After we had been talking in an in-
different kind of way for some little
time the old man took drink from
the contents of the ginger beer bottle,
and remarked with smack of his
lips,as he put away the empty glass,
81 like that. Yes, yes" In consider
alton of his expressed preference for
the beverage we made over to him the
entire of what remained without the
smallest scruple OF conscience that we
were fastening his existence TO a pre-
mature end. ." H9 tta
"And yon shook hands with Gener-
al Washington 2" | asked the old
man after his disposition to become
communicative eVinced itself. re s4
RECoLLECTIoNs OF WASHINGTON
eyes, yes", he answered, and his
eyes Frightened with the recollection.
general Washington fought them
(the British> at Trenton. He fowght
them three days and made 500 Hes
slams prisoners. Yes, yes" Here he
paused to refresh his memory. 'sGOod
many Ilessians were brought to, Eas-
ton, and when they were liberated
they settled north of the mountains.
Some of them. (their children he
meanD is here STILL sflf
''Was it about that time you saw
Washington ?" -s -a,s
"Yes, yes" -.-.
GLOW old were you then ?''
81 was young man. [ suppose
about nineteen or twenty. [ went
down from Mount Bethel with Sam
Vancampen aud George ShGmaker.
We stopped at the Oakes Tavern.
There was only about ten or dozen
houses in Easton at the time. Gen
eral Washington came up to the tav-
ern and shook hands with all the boys.
lie shook hands with me first, be-
cause was the first to go up and tell
him I'd hold his horse, but he told me
never mind, that nigger servant on
a black horse as black as himself
would do that. And while he was a
holdin' on to the Generals horse the
boys got about him and made fun of
him. General Washington went INTO
the Oakes and had somethin' to eat
and drink. He wore yaller breeches
aud long boots and only one spur. .!
L. G,-A Ia l. 81