The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-09-23
REMARKABLE NONAGENARIAN
A SACRAMENTAN OF OVER 90
STILL HALE AND HEARTY.
temperance in All Things, the
Rule of Levi Reeds Long
and Placid Life.

Ten years ago there was meeting
of the Harrison Veterans of '4O' in
this city. There was present at that
reunion Levi Reed, then of Fairfield,
Solano County, who had four days De-
fore-August 26th-turned the eight
ieth mile post of the years Of his lie.
A modest, retiring, genteel, intelligent
spare, but we'll preserved man was MI.
Reed, as he sat with the 'old boys,
and exchanged memories with them
running back more than half cen
fury. AT that time the "Record-Union
said of Mr.. Reed:
When he was born Washington hao
been dead but eight years, and the
United States Government was put
twenty years Old He was boy
years of age when the second war with
Great Britain was still on; he was III
years old when the American flag was
adopted, and the first steamboat was
launched on the Great Lakes; ne was
nearly y when Florida was coded TO
the United States by Spain, and Maine
was created a State, being carved out
of Massachusetts. He was 10 When
the Erie Canal was opened IN its nrst
section to boats, and was young man
of Is when oil street lamps were super
seeded by gas, and anthracite coal was
introduced for domestic use, the preju-
dice against it being so great that the
coal had to be given away and CRATES
furnished free to secure its trial. He
was 10 when the news of the success
of railroads in England led to their in
PRODUCTION here. He was 20 when
Webster's Dictionary appeared, and the
first trip by a locomotive in America
was made. He was % when the first
reaping machine appeared in the har-
vest field. When he was % abolition
newspapers were still mobbed and de-
stroyed in the North. He was a man
of 80 years when the one-day brass
movement clocks We're invented, and
the old wooden "bucket-weight grand
father" clocks went to the wall liter
ally. He was 80 when the first iron front
building was erected and the first por-
trait was taken by the daguerreotype
process in the United States, and Gen
eral Harrison ran for President-and
Mr.. Reed voted for him and drank hard
cider in real log cabins with coon skins
in the corner and the latchstrings out
side. What wonderful changes Mr.
Reed has seen, boy and man; the nation
rise from swaddling clothes to an en-
pire of wealth and power; the stage
coach supplemented by the rail car and
the sloop by the steamboat; oil by gas
and gas by electricity; slavery by free
dom; intolerance by free thought. free
speech and free men; the hand by the
power press; the sickle by the harvest
er; the needle by the sewing machine
And Mr. Reed, hale, sound and at peace
with all the world, bids fair to live to
see the most glorious of all the centur-
les give way to. 1900"
Yesterday there walked into the
Record Union" office a hale. hearty
old man, the same Mr.. Reed, now a res
1dent of Sacramento. at the home Of
his daughter, Mrs. Edward J. Norton,
24O5 l street. 1t was just a few days
over ten years after the article quoted
above had appeared in these columns,
and here was Mr.. Reed nearing the
close of the century, over 80 years Of
age, still erect, brisk and strong, and
looking forward to still other years of
a placid life
Mr.. Reed has, in good health with a
clear intellect, undimmed perceptions,
and still quick and delicate sensibilities,
passed over his ninth decade of years,
and been witness for the fourth time
to the passage of his country through
war. Besides all the wonderful ad-
vances to which his years bear testi-
mony, he has now to add that he has
seen the telephone pass from a toy and
a luxury into a common and indispen-
sible instrument of everyday use in
business; he has seen the nation add
distant possessions to it's territory: he
has seen still other States added to the
Union, and more stars planted in the
blue field of his country's flag
He has been witness to the perfect
ing of printing by type setting machin-
cry and the cheapening of newspapers
and books in consequence, and the vast
enlargement Of current literature He
has been witness to more changes in
the map of the world of important
character; foreign wars have come and
ended, and venerable statesmen have
passed away. Princes and Presidents
have died, nations have reformed their
systems and republics their policies in
that decade. Invention has given man
a myriad of new aids to industry. les
SEEMING the output of human energy, in
creasing the sum of human happiness
and broadening the opportunities for
life's enjoyment.
He has witnessed the later develop
ment of the steel warship, and wars
successful test of new naval arms. He
has seen the practical application OF
electric power as a motor for al
purposes, and its general introduction
into the home for lighting and heating
He has made note of the wonderful adj
vances in surgery, sanitary science and
preventive medicine.
What all embracing recollections
what wonderful changes are writer
down in the memory of this venera BILE
man, still strong and we'll preserved.
If one asks Mr.. Reed to what do yor
attribute your longevity? he replies
ito temperance in all things I overd,