New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-28
LONG LIFE.
SOME REMARKABLE STATISTICS


had 900 blanks printed, asking for the follow.
| ing Information In relation TO men and women over
Name residence ago. nationality; whether married
or single general description, including size weight
hhralfh etc; habits, hours OF rising, retiring meals,
exercise etc occupations past ana present c Ioos
4 any. and az what ages nature OF disease, c,c.
condition Of tceth hair beard skin, osc icS a. ta ilms
and mother died and OF grandfather and grandmother
whenever possible. .-.,... ..
tho Pae al parts q Withstand acsompsnissa I'd
by han Thh %oS Ram three
thousand vo hundred of these blanks werc filed out
| and returned I'm the OF two months, ana the
story that they tell l VIII try TO give in outline.
Every county in Massachusetts and nearly every y
these returned blanks Some Of these old people live
on tho scacoast some on the loYlands OF me Dbl Dbl
shlro Hills, white and Green Mountains. some upon
tho sands OF Cape Cod, some among the pine WOODS o,
towns The canvass has not, OF course been com
plec, but 1t has been complete In the clues as IN
section as in another as complete among class as
among another, II these $500 instances prove any
| thing and think no one will dispute that they 90 ,,
many OF the commonly accepted theories ,1 would DO
noticeable IS that few Of New Eneland's old peop9,
have remained unmarried throughout life the toia,
women to unmarried men is about three TO one and;
tho men by s51 In Massachusetts the list shows that
tho women exceed the men by 40 In the other states
|
usually in carly life Tho number of children
a result OF these unions IS five, and those chlidfen
now living arc generally recorded In the blanks as
healthy.
population into account tho women exceed tho
by several thousand accounts in some degree Tor me
anything ko half OF tho excess over the men, at
tribute this to tho fact that during Tho pass
halfcentury the bulk OF the population OF MassachI
setts has been on the scaboard and large number OF
the men have been fishermen and mariners Be-
| anf fha lpCc NJ III
cally Before S Tho time o; steamships and during Tho
gays OF hs ea Se pym ai eve S show
Inc most strikngly I'm lisl of old people.
vass Is tho fact that five ont of six of these New
England old folks have Hight complexion, with blue
tho men arc mostly tan and the women of medium
heisht in weight the men rance from 100 90 to leo
| from 100 TO 100, with exceptional cases OF 100 and
over. Throughout life the men have been bony and
muscular, tho exactly opposite. Tho con-
dton OF tho hair teeth. beard and skin OF these old
reop at tho time when me 6anas we're md C a
! tho hair remains thick tho teeth arc very poor or
very few Of the men wear any beard. In many in
stances tho correspondents speak OF the SKIN as 9ene
that Of man Of elghty.nine, from whose mouth not
tooth has been lost In most instances ms, OF thoss
dozens of cases 1t is pronounced remarkably good
subj ect Of habits comedies with tho opinion OF most
people, formed from observation, that longevity with
men and women alike are put down as early risers
and rcrers, almost without exception, and fully nine
teen out OF every twenty have observed this custom
throuS hout life, except perhaps at some short period
in youth. Meals have been eaten regularly. three
each day, with dinner at noon. the exceptions being
/ 50 Ialc as to indicate not hing. Exercise I'm most
cases has loen hard work to sixty five or seventy
and after that period has consisted when the regular
occupation has been given up Of walking. gardening
ne arc as rule as active and as fond Of constant
occupation Of some sort to-day as most men and
women arc at thirty-fve.
farmers wives, and all but fifty of the remainder
have been housewives. Four women only, all I'M
Inherited wealth, and are now aged respectively
elshytwo, eightythree, eghtys and ninety. Three
unmarried. have been dressmalers. Seven. two
married. have been nurses. Six, two unmarried, have
Among the hundreds of remarkable instances which
respondents are few that cannot refrain from CIV
lrg because 1 believe that they point very i'm
portant fact. and at the same time make most IN
Elijah Toiman, of Brockton, Mass, is eighty five,
past years he has worked in charge Of coal
office, and has been but one day from his duties In
Andrew stetson, of Duxbury, Mass, is nnety.fve,
Aaron Farnham, of Cambridge, Mass, age eighty
seven, sold Bibles IN Vermont for seventy years
has worked farmer for seventy seven years, and
moved grass with scythe for seven tons Of hay the
William E Cook, of Portsmouth, r. l., is eighty
nine, a blacksmith ana sun wOfAs III MS shop SIX
Ira chamberlain, of Bangor, Me-, age ninety nve
Thaddeus Rising, of Hatfield Mass is eighty. and
works daily, as he has for the past sixty years, at
Mrs. Jane Huntrcss of Augusta, Me- ninety-two
years Of age, sull does her own cooklns Washing,
She has earned the money for and built fine house,
going herself to the mill and selecting the lumber
Of twelve children, all born without the aid OF
The blanks tell one simple story with few varIa-
tlons as to be positively monotonous, In relation to
the food eaten by these Old people. The diet has
been regular New. England home dishes of meat
vegetables and pastry, with breakfast early dinner
at noon and supper late Very few are mentioned
as small eaters or large eaters most mentioned
as not particular, with good appettes through life;
from water More than thirds have been habitual
users Of tea and coffee, and or the remainder nearly
al have drunk tea. Few of the men, and none OF
the women, given users of more intoxicating
beverages than cider, and not dozen out of all have
ever used liquors TO excess. len OF inc women are
mentioned habltua smokers, and score as snult-
akes of the men large majority nave gIed 90
the tobacco users have been moderate, although mum,
bers Of given where the amount consumed
is enormous and continued up to the time when the
census was taken. A few broke away from the habit
after IT had lasted for twenty, thirty or nifty years,
and have been without the narcotic for perhaps
decade more.
The record of sickness is varied that scarcely
half a dozen cases are alike out of the whole long
list, except where there has been no illness other than
the usual complaints of Infancy.
out of l,O{0 men, 3s2 never were Ill since early
CMluhouu anu VI GOV "oniCi, -9o nav ohlo1Nu W.
good health. Ono hundred and fourteen men
and III have had petty diseases only and
495 men and 4O2 women have been seriously ILL., The
serious illness of the majority was fever OF some
sort, typhoid heading the list The other diseases
numerous almost The individuals afflicted,
running from Asatic cholera TO shingles, and the
attacks have been at all periods Of life. AS might
be supposed, rheumatism is the most general COM
plant usually in conjunction with other diseases.
Locality to have had no influence on sickness,
the same diseases appearing high land and on low
land, dry land and on moist land, In the interior
and by the Seashore.
The average age reached by the parents and grand
parents taken together. OF these old people about
sixty five and in few instances have both the father
and mother or the grandathers and grandmothers
died under fifty, although in many cases-about 20
per ccnt-clthcr the father mother has died before
reaching this Not over one-thrd of the children
OF these aged people have reached middle liiet and