Morning journal and courier., 1891-07-08
THREE SCORE AND TEN.
An Increasing Number of Octogena-
 rianR.

THREE SCORE AND TEN. An Increasing Number of Octogena-
 rians. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The great age attained by Mrs. Sally Cannon, whose funeral yesterday is else- where reported, and the quite large num- Der of centennarians to-day in Connecti- cut, to say nothing of the large lists of like aged persons in other states, shows well for the theory advanced by some that the average duration of human life is in-' creasing rather than diminishing, in coun- tries and communities where intelligent ideas regarding hygienic living prevail.
 The great age attained by Won Moltke, de-
 spite the life of great warrior and the
 excitement of many battles and cam
 paigns, cannot be attained by all who are
 exposed to similar strain and exciting lives, and even "Old Sanitarian," who writes for your columns, has not a word to say against the three great doctors proper diet, exercise and wholesome rec reation. One of your exchanges yesterday noted the following, which is pertinent to the subject in hand.
 Dr. M. A. Holmes of Waterville, aged seventy eight, has grandfather still living in England at the great age of IA years. The latter is a surgeon by profession and Dr. Holmes remembers that when a boy, over sixty years ago, he assisted his vener- able ancestor in the amputation of g soldiers leg.
 Mrs. Polly Dickey, the centenarian of Cape Jellison, is now one hundred years and six months old and her health is still good. She eats three meals @ day regular l ly, partaking of some food as the rest of l the family, and is particular to have coffee | once day. She sleeps well, rises early | and says that her health is as good as it | was ten years ago.
 The following by Scott F. Hershey, Ph. D., of W ashington, D. o., in the Religious Herald, struck my attention as specially interesting article bearing on the same lected by hundreds in this city who listen ed to his eloquent lecture delivered in New Haven years ago.
 The very large number of old men in this city, many of them still active in life, lead me to meditating upon advanced age, and how to attain it. think of the high ly respected and patriarohal old man who is chief doorkeeper of the senate. He is loved by every senator. He must be near four-score. And there is Librarian Spof- ford of the great congressional library, not so musty as many of the 100000 books
 over which he presides, but fully as grave as the binding of many of them. He is past seventy. There is the blind and elo- quent old chaplain of the house, Rev. Dr. Milburn, who is past three-score and ten, and is a monument to health. Chief Jus tice Bradley of the United States supreme court is seventy eight. And quite as old is the Hon. Horatio King, who was 8 post master general way back in the admins tration of Buchanan.
 Is is interesting to know how men of ' mental activity deal with the question of health and longevity. Luther played the l amuse the children, and declared that ! health and strength came to him. And of | ten did he throw aside his shoes and dance i about the room until his good spouse com ! plained at the task of alarming his socks. 1 Grand old Lyman Beecher kept load of | sand in his cellar, which he shoveled from | place to place before breakfast. Gladstone 1 chops down tree for exercise. Spofford, | the librarian, may be seen almost daily at | the great central market in this city sweat | ing under the load of an immense market basket.
 Frank Carpenter, one of the most intel | llS6uU, CdpdUlt duo WOICAy Ol tuO A0WS- paper correspondents in the country, has been writing for the Evening Star some articles on old age I freely make extracts | from his interesting articles. He has had an interview with General Banks, who is now about seventy-fve, and as erect as a well preserved man of forty. Banks once attempted something as lecturer, but, as heard him something like dozen years ago in a western town, with poor success. He began life as factory boy. It is now
 not much short of fifty years since his first l appearance in congress. He advises l moderation, good cheer and marriage, | as most conducive to long life. It
 is worth while to observe that most all the
 distinguished men interviewed by MT. Car penter unite in four things as most neces
 sary to good health and longevity, viz., ! moderation, exercise, 8 good constitution
 and marriage. The youth of our day will do well to profit by this valuable concur
 renee of opinion. The venerable Dr. Scott, father of the presidents wife, is ninety-one, and hearty and bright, while l Senator Morrell is past eighty and hard ! worker. The opinion of such men is worth much in every way to young men | and women.
 Even poor constitution may be recov, cred and made strong one. An instance of this is found in the experience of the
 blind and popular chaplain of the house \ of representatives. When he was young
 man he was fragile of frame and delicate | in health, had curvature of the spine and
 of the breast bone, had heart trouble, and
 was thought by his friends to be dying with consumption. He has added nearly ! 100 pounds to his weight, and is one ot He says he cultivates breathing as the basis
 of life, and calls to mind what the Bible | gays, "God breathed into his nostrils the
 breath of life, and man became a living
 soul" He quotes Shakespeare as con- ' sidering the nostrils the proper channel
 for breathing. He declares the Indians
 never had lung troubles until they met the
 white man and began to breath through
 the m2uth. The chaplain's habits ot
 bathing are peculiar. l believe them tc
 be excellent He takes bath every day,
 rubs his body well with horse-hair mats,
 and then rubs on vaseline or oil. And he 1 reminds us that this use of oil was com
 mon among the early Greeks and Romans.
 It certainly has proved great blessing to Chaplain Milburn, and I think would be l for professional men generally.
 1 Another remarkable devotee of the bath is Justice McArthur, formerly connected with the supreme court of the District of Columbia. He is seventy-seven years old l and in excellent health. His favOrlte bath
 is the alcohol in an iron cup. He lights it and places it under chair; then, undress- | ing; he seats himself over it and throws a
 large blanket around the chair and over himself, making 8 hot-air chamber. The precipitation soon pours from every pore, washing out his skin. He then jumps into the tub, with the water at blood-heat. Ali ter few minutes he rubs himself with a crash towel, lies down for few minutes,
 and says he feels like a new man. The whole system is revived.
 Fell Heir to a Fortune.
 John Foley of 270 Davenport avenue has l fallen heir to large fortune. He received
 cablegram from Cahirciveen, County
 Kerry, Ireland, conveying the news that
 his mother had died and left him her for tune. It amounts to between $50, ,OOO and $50, ,000. MT. Foley has gone to New York
 and will sail for Ireland to-day. After he has settled his affairs there he will return
 to this city and to his wife and four chil- l dren. MT. Foley has lived in this city
 continuously for twenty-five years and is
 well known. He is stone mason by
 trade, and like his fellow workmen of that craft in this city has been on strike for the past fourteen months. He has struck it at last, but in an unexpected way.
 l NEW HAVEN CAMP MEETINC