The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-08

be greater than the aged ex.mayor Of
Bedford appears TO suppose. What. In
your opinion, has heredity to do with
the matter?" Mr.. Hurst was asked
MY father" he says in reply. grand
father and great-grandfather were
clergymen. The latter lived to the age
OF seventy-four. Other members OF my
family have not been long-lived, with
the exception OF one sister. who died In
her eishty-n!nh year." There Is some
indication here of hereditary ten
dency to long life, and possibly. II the
family pedigree We're closely inquired
into. this indication could be made q
good deal clearer. And It may have ex-
listed even II It could not be made clear.
Strong lives are often cut short by &C.
cident. or by exceptionally untoward
circumstances, and q good deal OF in
vestIgation would be requisite before
one could say with any kIEd OF conf
dence that q family had not any ten
dency to longevity, though, Of course,
positive evidence. where II exists, may
be clear enough. With grandfather
dying at seventy-four, O sister living to
her eighty-ninth year. there Is y clear
indication of family characteristic
that these papers, SO far as they have
come In, point to as after all the great
secret Of longevity.
Mr.. Hurst Of Bedford did not himself
seek this publicity. That was done for
him by an impuIslve young friend OF
his. who has not got beyond his eighty
fifth year. and who cannot therefore
speak on this important matter In the
full maturity of experience. This Is
DR.. Alderman Coombs, ]. P, who has
nj Loo nm NJ a.
ford. This gentleman has obliglngly
sent US answers to our questions. and
forwards also very interesting
pamphlet In his own writing. "Recol-
lect!ons. Personal and Political" AL
derlnan Coombs has been In active prac-
tice as q medical man for sixty years.
and his general habits seem TO have
closely correspondent with those OF his
friend. He, too. has been given TO horse
exercise, with frequent cross-country
run with the hounds. and he, too, In
summer time has slept with windows
open. He has, he says, always been
temperate, andfor the first thirty years
OF his professional career was q teeto-
taller, though he now takes "a very 1T
tie stlmulant." ard smokes an occasion
al cigarette. He has paid no part!cu-
lar regard 10 diet, has been an early
tiSSa iA4 iiiS sai4S' S0iAto W ACsl aboGS IL
o'clock, as 4 rule, and has had no par
ticular hobby beyond attention to the
affairs OF the Municipal Corporation. OF
which he has been member nearly half
u century. Speaking generally, Alder
man Coombs says: II attribute my
healthy ard heightened life 10 temper
ate habits and out-of-door exercise"
ard he adds. ~ would put something
to heredity, many OF my ancestors hav-
Ing reached advanced ages. Grand
mother nincty-Iive." There is one dis
tinct advantage which DR.. Coombs has
enjoyed over his old friend Hurst, and
which incllnes US to entertain the con-
fldent expectation that the junior three
times ex-mayor may attain even to
greater age than the nlnety-eight years
OF his senior II have" he says, sub
scribed to the Daily News from its first
Issue till to-day" With sound con-
stitution, temperate habits OF life. and
the Daily News as tonic and stlmu-
liant. there Is no reason why man
should not live to 4 hundred. especially
rs he can boast Of grandmother who
lived to be ninety-five.