The times., 1898-09-11
LoNG-LIvED.
Very Old People still Active In
Nova Scotia.
From the New York sun.)

(From the New York sun.)
Senator Wark, of Albert County, N B.,
Is in his nine;y-fifth year but that does
not prevent him from attending to his
parliamentary duties. He is one of the
most regular senator's in the house, and
when 1t is explained that Parliament
opens in the dead of winter. and that the
journey from New Brunswick to Ottawa
is long one at all seasons. 1t will be
seen that this is saying much. The year
before last he set out in blizzard. and
when asked where We're his collea CUES
one of them is seventy-three and the
other seventy -nine-he replied:
THE old fools are roasting their shins
at home; they were afraid 10 come out In
little snow furry
The senator calculates that he will live
to the age of 135, if nothing happens, as
he feels like man OF forty now.
The poli-tax system prevails in Var
mouth. Every man between the ages of
twenty-one and sixty, no matter how
much property he may own has to pay
= a year. or render the municipality 81
worth of service. A man came here from
Tusket, ten miles away, 10 do business
in 1886. and was asked to pay his poll
tax
Il guess not he said: II am over six
ty"
''Oh, come. nonsense" said the collec-
tor, who noted his comparatively youth
1ul appearance. You can't be more than
fifty"
The man went to his safe and took ont
papers showing beyond doubt that he was
seyenty-one years of age, and also thai
both his father and mother were living
in Tusket.
1T may be mentioned that Sir Charles
Topper, who succeeded Sir John A. Mac
c 1f 2 H.
ty and premier of Canada is in his sew
enty-eighth year, and that his hair and
beard are only slightly tinged with gray
He Is a Nova Scotian and Just as active
as a man half his age.
Various explanations have been ad-
vanced for this Maritime Province lon
gevity, but none of them is altogether
satisfactory As rule, the people are
thin and wiry. They eat good deal of
fish and live much in the open air. A
man or woman with corporation is very
rare, indeed, and temperance obtains gen
orally. To offset these conditions the
winters are so long and severe that the
Inhabitants are termed Blue Noses. and
fog prevails along the coast most of
the time, especially in summer. FOES
are thought to be unhealthfui, but the
Blue Noses imbibe them with gusto, and
pronounce then wholesome. The notion
of a Boston physician who has been So
Journing in these parts lately is as fol-
lows:
Il think he said. that people live long
because they eat and drink with nodera-
ton and take things easy generally. I
have seen business men in this section
grocers, haberdashers and such-go to
their doors, glance up and down. close
their stores, and, mounting their bicycJes.
take a 20-Inile spin through the country.
return, open their stores and resume bust
ness, when there is any to be done. Now.
there is Smith yonder, the halter. Were
he living in New York his soul yould he
rent in twain did he see a customer enter
the shop of his internal competitor across
the way; he would rush after the street
car, he would run up the elevated rail-
road stairs. he would. in a state of ex-
citement, jam himself in a crowd at the
Brooklyn Bridge entrance. and he might
contract heart disease as consequence.
Here he lives and acts like philosopher.
and is consequently able to do business at
the age of seventy with the prospect of
living fifteen or twenty years more. Com
petition may be the life of trade, but 1t is
often the death of ba dor