The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-04-14

drop into trance again.
". cream thou may'st 20 where
Cn m Island is aowery grass'd;
Deep skied-it is nowhere
save In the Land of the Past.
Time is dying,
me ne World, too; forget their moan:
Inc sad wind is signing,
Let murmur, this alone.
FAMOUS CENTENARIANS
Men and Women who Have Lived Beyond III q
Allotted Span-Seventeen Hundred An
thenticated Cases Of Persons Diving Over
100 Years Of Age. '.'
The believers in the venerable Countess
OF Desmond, in Old Parr, and in Henry
Jenkins, have within the last few years re-
celved many rude shocks to their faith.
Mr.. Thompson the well known English
statlst'cian, has more recently Investigate
ed the subject at great length and with
unwearled assiduity. It is unnecessary.
even If possible, to detail, even to enumer-
ate the recorded instances of people who
have exceeded the age of one hundred
years. They are to be reckoned literal
~ by hundreds. To show how numer.
GUS are these stories, says Chambers Jour-
nal, it may suffice to say that in the early
part OF the present century volume was
published containing the names of more
than $500 persons who had claimed to
De cententenarians, or for whom claim
was set up by others. The compiler was
IN newlse particular; he accepted all the
fish that came into his net. He went nm
TO nine score years in his enumeration
and was apparently quite willing to be-
ileve any story of a two hundred-year-o old
phenomenon.
There are three cases CONCERNING whom
few words may be given-namely. Parr.
Jenkins and the Countess of Desmond
Thomas Parr, according to the popular
account, was born in 1883; remained
bachelor till eighty years of age; married
IN 1868; lost his wife in 1899; married
again in 1903. and lived to see the wear
1855. In that year the Earl of Arundel
visited him, and was SO struck bv his
venerable appearance as to invite him to
his town mansion. Parr was BROUGHT nv
easy stages to London, where he became
quite the lion of the season. Charles T.
requested to see him. and asked whether
as ne '. had lived so much longer than 9th
81 men, ne had experienced and known
more ' in proportion. eyes, your Males
ty," replied the old man; II did penance
at the age Of 1852 This penance was
tor some peccadillo he had committed
The veteran found the excitement Of
London L too much for him; the fatigue,
the crowding of visitors who came to see
nm, and the unwonted luxury of his
diet, carried him off at the wonderful ace
152. = ! ' - ''So
Henry Jenkins, according to the nonu-
lar account, was born in 1901. When
boy he carried horseload of arrows to
n orthallerton, to be employed bv Emo
fish soldiers in resisting the invasion 0f
James w. of Scotland, and he lived to
see the year 1870, when he died at Eller-
ton upon swale at the marvellous ace
OF one hundred and ifty-two.
The Countess of Desmond is reunited n
have been born about 1864, attaining the
age of one hundred and fortv. Noothor
very aged person has attracted as much
n9tlce as she. Bacon, IN his "Natural
History" said that she ''did entire twice |
or thrice casting her old teeth and Others |
coming in their place. Sir Walter RALEIGH
STATED that she was married in Edward
1v..s time, and he himself saw her in 49,
1909. Sir William Temple was told SIM
lar account by Robert, Earl of Leicester
N numerous minor incidents of her lite
have been recorded. l~
though still credited by many beliey-
ers IN extreme longevity, there are 9th.
ers who thoroughly disbelieve in its nos
slolllty-or at any rate, probability
Ihelr grounds of unbelief are varied
IN the first place, most of the alleged
occur in the humber grades OF
society: where registers and formal en-
LIES u, are out little attended to; the mid
ile ana upper classes, among whom au
[henuc records are more plentiful. &C.
'upy comparatively small parts in these
narratives.
Sometimes tombstones are rechise]ed
o restore the half obliterated inscription
ma then the village stonemason. puz-
.leo Dy some OF the partly obliterated fg-
lres and letters, makes guess at them
mo puts down the age or date which
zee to him the best Interpretation :
mere is, or was, q tombstone in Conway
;jhurychyard, England, recording the fact
nat Lowry Owens Vaughan died IN 1776
{ the age OF ore hundred and ninetv-two. }
M y that her husband, William Vaughan ,
! q IN 1855 at the age of seventy-two ;
TINS Were SO, the lady must have been
early one hundred years old at her mar
lage. AS the figYes on the stone have +
cen found on careful examination to be =
comparatively freshly cut, it is supposed !,
nat one hundred and ninety two was an v
accurate recutting Of an earlier incision. =
ONE instances Of this kind are most In y
ferrous. A tombstone in Cleve Prior !
nurchyard records the death OF person a,
the astounding age of three hundred Il
40 nne! This is supposed to be a q,
'untry mason's way of denoting thirtv-
me, that is thirty and nine. Several "
ears ago the register of Shoreditch Par T.
2 contained an entry relating to Thomas
am, who died in 1888 at the ace Of f.
70 hundred and seven, having lived in d,
g relgns of twelve sovereigns. AS Sir
AIRY Ellis, in his History of Shore
zen, put down the age at one hundred
q seven, the register was examined. II
y found that it had been altered too