The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-27

SoIne tlI1e ago Mrs. Oynthia Hendrix
OF West Munroe, n. Y, celebrated her
one hundredth birthday. She had not
been outside of that sequestered hamlet
since she came there as a bride. from
another isolated village, seventy-eight
years before. The TACT that she had
never seen a train of cars a telephone.
an electric light nor any other of the
major wonders of the present age, was
noted in a rural paper where it caught
the eye of a metropolitan publisher who
offered her free trip to New York CITY
and entertainment for as long as she
wished to remain there-detailing 4 re-
porter, of course, to show her about.
Contrary TO the advice of her friends
who feared that her sudden awakening
after century of sleep would afflict
hef nerves, Mrs. Hendrix accepted the
Offer
During the drive to the station the
brisk little centenarian entertained her
companions with lively account of the
birthday celebration given in her honor
a fortnight before, recounting the gifts
brought to the farmhouse by each of
her two hundred guests, all of which
seemed to be firmly fixed in her mind.
When the express train steamed into
the station. she was more impressed
with its noise than with anything else
But after she had recovered from the
surprise of seeing the familiar land
scape apparently rushing past her, and
gratified her curiosity in a number of
other directions, she found to her own
establishment that she could sleep in
the midst of the rush and roar just as
she could amid the Growing of the
chandeliers. the lowing of the kline, and
other familiar sounds of West Munroe
One of Mrs. Hendricks first surprises,
after reaching New York, was to find
that it was Fall fioored over This
was her first experience of driving over
pavement The next surprise was
the flying lights as they rode down
Broadway. The explanation OF this
astonishing phenomenon failed to ex-
plain, and the old lady left the city still
under the impression that by some con-
trivance the lights were really kept in
constant motion. But the thing about
Broadway which most arrested her at
tention was what she considered the
large number of children abroad at that
late hour (about nine in the EVENING"
One of the finest suites of rooms
in the Waldorf Astoria, where every
luxury would be at her command, had
been reserved for her accommodation.
So little impressed was she with the
grandeur of the exterior of this famous
building that she spent the few minutes
of waiting before it calmly discussing
the price of butter. On entering the
roomy elevator, she loosened her bon
net-strings and gave other indications
of settling down, thinking that she was
in "a little bedroom" When she
finally reached her own apartments she
seemed little depressed, but not other
wise affected, by the grandeur sur
rounding her.
The supper that was served in her
room was disposed of with the appe-
.tite of youth, and only little dubious
ness as to whether it would ''set as
we'll as Johnny cake and potatoes"
Some of the simplest and conmonest
household CONFERENCE.-The electric
light, and the hot-water faucet IN the
bathroom, for instance--interested and
impressed her far more than had Broad
jwav or her first sight of the steam en-
CINE She watched in solemn breath
lessness while the turning on and off of
the electric light was explained to her
A light that suddenly appeared in re-
spouse to the touching of button was
too amazing and too suggestive of
magic to be altogether canny. But the
hot-water faucet met with her linquali-
fed approval as a labor-saving device
After a day that would have ex-
hausted the average experienced trav-
eler of half her age, she was left in her
room at night quietly reading, without
glasses, a chapter from the Bible which
she had found there. When some one
knocked gently at her door at ten
o'clock the next morning, wondering
if she were yet awake, she was found
standing at the window with her bon
net on, having been up since four
o'clock Sleep" she said, SIS waste
of time, anyway, but | couldn't sleep
today"
When shown over the hotel, she OBJ
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