The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-25
HAS LIVED A CENTURY.
Aged Tylerville Spinster Who Will Soon Celebrate Her One Hundredth

Aunt" Larissa Smaller, of Tylerville,
 has the distinction of being the oldest
 person in the town of Haddam and
 probably the oldest spinster in Connect
 icut, if not in New England.
 She was born in the town of Haddam,
 September 21, 1900, and nearly the whole
 of her life has been spent within few
 rods of where she at present resides.
 Somewhere back In the teens" she
 pursued course of study at the board
 ing school of the Mieses Patton, In
 Hartford, who, in conjunction with
 their brother established select school on Church street. The ladies moulded
 the minds of the young ladies, while
 their brother took charge of the youths.
 Just what branches were taken up is not easily told, now that more than
 eighty years have slipped away, but 1t
 is safe to say that true courtesy was carefully studied for Aunt Larissa Is
 gentewoman from crown to toe. After
 finishing her boarding school course she
 returned to her native town, and there she has lived her long, tranquil, but
 useful and industrious life. In 1923 she united with the Haddam Congrega-
 tional church on profession of faith,
 and the vows taken so long ago have been faithfully lived up to. For seve-
 ral years she has been the oldest mem-
 Der of the Haddam church.
 Many years ago the last of her imme- diate family passed away. but she con-
 tinued to live in the house built by her family after the original homestead had been burned This house stands on the
 pleasant lane running from the Hart | ford and Saybrook turnpike over to Goodspeed's Ferry. being less than quarter of mile from the latter point. How, when or why Aunt" Lafissa, is lost in obscurity, but certain 1t is that she has been Aunt Larissa" to at least two generations of Haddamites, and all who know her to-day love and respect her above any other woman living, Last Sunday the writer called on her, and though she had not seen him in | five years, she recognized him instantly, and expressed her pleasure in that "stil- ly tranquil' manner so characteristic of her. tIr Just fancy a little woman, dressed in black, with black lace cap; her eyes bright and dark, and clear of vision to match; her hearing unimpaired, and in fact, looking not a day over seventy and you see Aunt Larissa as she is at ninety-nine and three-quarters She talked of herself freely, but unostenta- tiously. That she had attained to so great an age with faculties unimpaired
 seemed to fill her with no undue elation That she had outlived nearly all of her own generation, had no depressing ef- C., 1, Ayzi. sadness in the thought that she was near the end of her long pilgrimage. She has always been so serenely happy that she Is well content to stay on earth so long as God wills, and she looks for ward to her eternal home with equal tranquility.
 Some seven years ago B. H. Annis and his family took up theid residence in her house. and she has boarded with them. Every attention has been shown her, and in the role of "a lady of ele- gant leisure" Aunt Larissa' has been very happy. Fond of reading, she has had leisure to devote to 1t. While she has been. interested in the current events of the day, still she turns with keeneat delight to her Bible No one knows how many times she has read 1t through; it is doubtful whether she could tell herself. MT. Annis and his daughter Lucy, who comprise Aunt La rissa's household, are often obliged to be gone from home all day, and then Aunt Larissa is left to her own devices | 1 asked her if she were never lonesome at such times "Why, mol" she ex- claimed; T never think of such thing The fact is,'' she continued q lived alone so many years that it doesn't seem at all strange to have no one to tall: to. And as for being afraid, nev- CT in my life had anything to frighten me, so, naturally I never knew what afraid was.'' e.
 Allusion was made to her good health and a suggestion made that there must be some good cause for it.
 Yes, I think there is," she answered. "I have always been regular in my hab- it's, and have always taken as good care of myself as lay in my power. To this day I make a practice of going out into the door yard for walk every day. 1 summer and winter, with my feet prop erly protected. of course and I never take cold. I don't remember when had a sick day.
 But, after all," she went on with a radiant smile, "I owe my good health as much to my not worrying about any thing that happened or was likely to happen. I've had my troubles, as who hasn't, but I long ago learned that 1 there was One upon whom I could lay l all my troubles and I took them to Him, and I never found Him to fall"
 Aunt Larissa inquired the writer's age, and when told she suggested that ] 1t was time to settle down. Though" she added in quaint fashion. "a man 1 runs great deal of risk-and woman, too-(archly), in choosing partner in 1 these times"
 That hour spent with Aunt Larissa | was rich in memories of days long past, l and 1t slipped away all too quickly. 1 When leave was taken of her, there was l no sadness apparent in her manner-no | feeling that she might not see her | guest again. All was hopeful and l cheerful And truly, there seems no | reason why Aunt Larissa, with her ex- | cellent health, and uncouded intellect, | should not live to greet the dawn of the | twentieth century, even If she was born | aay back in the closing months owf the | eighteenth.
 Aunt Larissa is a descendant of | James Wells one of the original tWen- |