The Elbert County tribune., 1899-06-01
IN THREE CENTURIES.
MANY PEOPLE BORN IN 18TH
WILL SEE 10Th.
-Four Thousand of These oid-rlmer
In Europe and 100 Of Them In tn.
United s'.se---A Rather strange Cir
eumstanrc.

People don't live to be as old as Me-
thuseiah these days. but there are a
number now living who. II they last
until the end of the present year. Will
have seen three centuries. That. OF
course. does not mean that they then
VIII be 800 years old, but only that
they were born at the close of the sew
enteenth century. and lived through
opening OF the to-be-more wonderful
this wonderful nineteenth. to see the
twentieth.
inere are number of these old peo-
PIE IN the United States and some OF
.nem were born here. when the repub-
iie was In its infancy. They saw the
times that tried mems souls" they
remember Washington and his Con-
thentais, and old Tippecanoe Harrison
ana old Winfield Scott and Zachary
taylor fighting In Mexico at the head
OF the American army; and Mcclellan
ana Grant ant Lee and Stonewall
jackson and Sherman and Sheridan
mixing Ii up In the fratricldal strife
mat marked the passing OF slavery and
the martyrdom of Lincoln; they saw
the first steamboats, and the first rail-
road trains and the introduction OF
electricity; and in their old age they
nave come upon people balancing
themselves upon two wheels and trav-
cling about over the country at sur
prising speed; they have wondered at
the harnessins of electricity and Its use
as motive power to drive cars and
carriages, and engines that once were
run by steam; they have just seen a
war between nations finished OF In a
few short months, with modern fight
ing implements, that in their youth.
would have lasted for years: they have
seen the United States grow from an
infant republic to n world power and
they appreciate the marvellous in the
things that to the youth OF today seem
commonplace.
There were no records OF births and
deaths kept in this country when these
old people -tre young. so there is no
way In whfen- sheir number can be COM
puted with exactness But competent
authority has estimated that there are
at least 700 OF them scattered about
over the states. In the older countries
OF Europe, however, these records have
long been kept up. and over there II
has been figured out that on the first
day of the twentieth century there will
be over 1000 persons living who were
live on the last day OF the eighteenth
/ century.
servia is especially the country OF
centenarians. and leaves all other Eu-
ropean countries hopelessly in the rear
In the longevity race. One man In
1880 has seen 100 years. and, In all,
Servia boasts 575 men OF 100 years or
/ over.
ireland ranks next. with one cente-
marian in every s.13O OF the population,
or SIS in all.
Spain favors length OF years, and out
OF $1,000 spanis-ds one is a centena-
rian, with a total of 401.
Norway, numbers %. or one In about
$4,000.
England. Scotland and Wales rank
next, with 1872. or one in about IT,
900.
France has 2is centenarians, or one
In 1s0, $50.
Sweden ranks seventh. with 20 only.
or one In 100000.
Germany has rs. or one In 705.0O0
Denmark only claims 2, or less than
one to 100000 OF its population; and
Switzerland. with all Its reputed health
iness. seems not to possess a single
centenarian.
In Northampton. England, a latter
day Methuselah lies buried in the porch
OF All Saints church. John Bales
gravestone declares that he lived to be
1875. but local tradition adds yet an
other four years to the total, This re-
vised version is reached thus: BaIles
affirmed that when he was a boy OF 12
he was present at Tilbury when Oueen
Elizabeth reviewed her troops, and as
that was in 1888 and he died In i706.
his age was 1870 instead OF 1876. Against
this is the testimony of the parish reg
lister. which reduces the age OF its John
Bales to about ia. There is no proof
that the John Bales OF the register was
the Bales OF the tablet. The latter
had a daughter who claimed two
years more than a century for her span
OF life, and that achievement counts
certainly In her fathers favor. Leay-
ing him. then, In undisputed possession
OF his 1870 years. John Bales began life
under Queen Elizabeth. and finished
1t under Queen Anne, thus seeing out
all these rulers: James l.. Charles l.,
Cromwell. Charles IL, James ii. and
William and Maryi These old people
seem to have stood TO one side while
the procession of life marched by.
friends without number have come In
to their lives and gone out again; hav-
ing lived longer their grlefs must have
been greater. or at the least more nu-
merous than those OF their fellows,
but so. too. perhaps. were their Joys.
And now in the fullness OF their days |
they are waiting reslgnedly for the
summons to join those who have gone
before to explore the great mystery.