The San Francisco call., 1910-07-19
WOMAN PASSES
CENTURY MARK
Daughter in Law, Aged 70, and
Yellow Cur, Are Centena=
rian's Only Friends
But Few Dollars Stand Between
Happy Little Family and
Starvation
By Margaret Marshall DOYLE

the joys ana laughter Oh over nVeScOre
yearsA lighted by faded blue eyes that
still Smile bravely out on her dreary
little world and crowned with a wisp
of snowy white hair under modest
black house cap, the face is one you
will long remember. Old and wrinkled
as it is, it is bright with the enthusi-
asm of the moment. bespeaking, in
spite of threatening storms, heart
still young in the old, bent body. For
Mrs. Larsh Olsen will be 103 today
Today, 103, and only $3.50 standing
between her and starvation
Not pleasant prospect for old age
is it?
And yet it is not as cherries a birth
day as it seems, for In spite of the lack
of presents, the comforts and the little
attentions of 20 and more years ago,
with her 103 years she has health, and
with her poverty she has love, and. as
she herself says, What would even
money be without them?"
If you could go to the little three
roomed cottage at LOB Twenty eighth
street where Mrs. Olsen makes her
home with her 79 year old daughter in
law, and see the inmates. it would be
a revelati to you, and one that you
would leave with smile on your lips
and an ache in your heart For back
of the pathos and the cherries out
look there is a bravery and a simple
trust in an unknown future, together
with a deep home happiness, lightened
by humor, that lends to both of the
old women a certain feeling of security
even when the future has never looked
blacker.
DOG is COMPANION
The third inmate of the house is
little yellow dog of the variety known
yra hU fEo 10, orb
ter, Mrs. Selma Paulsen, from a gang of
threatening small boys some years ago
and has since developed into the pet of
the household and one of the fastest
and securest friends. When the 79
year old daughter leaves the house it
is in his care that the 103 year old
mother and the rented property is left
And while the $3.50 holds out he can
still reign undisturbed over his little
realm. And what then? They them
selves have no plans for the future, for
what can either hope to do at her
present age? Where is the work that
is open to them, or the home that will
receive them?
My health is fine" Mrs. Olsen will
tell you her faded eyes lighting up
with smile. Il can go about and set
the table and do little things about the
house, and l chop wood
Yes" laughed Mrs. Paulsen, she
does a little here and there. 1t pleases
her so to help and so / let her. Then
when she has put a few things on the
table or dug little in the yard she is
content to sit down and rest. We are
very happy here together | take care
of her Just as if she were my child.
No, 1 never had any, and she had only
the one SON, my husband, who has been
dead 81 years"
It is a pleasant sight to see the two
together, with the little jokes at each
others expense they handy back and
forth, the very trifles they find to
laugh at and the little world in their
old age they have centered just around
themselves. From a. m to p. M
are the hours they keep.
ToDDY AND COFFEE
Yes" the old woman, who has re-
tanned the use of all her faculties, VIII
tell you, Il go to bed at T. Ny daugh
ter puts me to bed and gives me
toddy and before she helps me up in
the mornings she brings me my cup of
hot coffee in bed, and she bathes and
dresses me-that is how am so strong.
Why, I'm 103 years old. / was born in
July. 1907, in Christiania, Norway"
Where pieces of her history or her
dates have Slipped from her mind for
the istant the daughter can supply
them. and the life they can tell those
TWO old women. is an interesting one
AHQ one WHICH Will you 81 dN dy
marveling. Not the first part. That is
Just the story of young attractive
Norwegian girl marrying very young,
and on the death of her first husband
Carl Olsen, marrying again. and even
tually coming to America with her
second husband to live shortly after
the departure of her son and his wife.
All that was forty-five years ago,
and the story is one of ups and downs
soma littIa means and mucb hanDiDeSS
until the deaths within three years of
each other of both husbands. over twen
" wears ago Since that time it has
been a continuous struggle for the
bare needs of life. to say nothing of
the comforts.
I'VE were left with a s1,600 mort
gage on our one piece of property" Mrs.
PauIsen said I'VE sold the place for
$4,000. and after paying the costs that
left us $4,000 for ourselves. We put
this sum in the bank and with the little
that have been able to make at odd
times. we have lived on that ever since.
And we have $3.50 left. Now, 1 don't
exactly know what can do
POSES IN GARDEN
Despair settled on her features for
a second. then lifted again as her mo-
ther started to tell gaily "reminiscences
OF her childhood, in the days when Car
Nv
deared himself to his people by min
Cling with them. 1t was in the same
spirit of light hearted gayety that she
consented to have her picture taken.
It was a change in her old life that
sees few new faces, and she led the
way to the garden and seated herself
ON a chair pleased and ready to be
photographed.
Looking back as l left the modest
little cottage with it's three inmates
framed in the doorway, the old woman
nodding goodby, the younger one
smiling cheerfully, and the little yell
low dog wagging his tail in friendly
"come again way, / wondered If there
was no possible way to hold that happy
little home together and give to. the
Oldest woman in the city, if not in the
state. the comforts for her extreme
old age that are her due, surrounded by
the cares and sights that she loves, and
not in a public institution, where she
might even be denied the company of
her four footed friend, the second best
she has in the whole wide world.
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