The Detroit times., 1910-06-03
BY HARRY G. FARMER.


BY HARRY G. FARMER.
FLORENCE. Col, June S.-Married
80 years! Ninety years of love and
marital bliss, of happiness and enjoy
ment, touched here and there with
few dark clouds of sorrow and grief'
Is the record of Francisco Espor and
his wife.
They look Upon that Q-yearmArriad-
couple as mere youngsters, just out
OF their honeymoon stage.
At the home of a granddaughter,
Mrs. Julia Montoya, No. 725 Petro-
leum-ave., Florence, the aged couple
have lived many years. There, as
talked with them, | drifted back years
and years, to the time when this great
republic was an infant in the family OF
nations, when the boundless west
knew only the Indians. the beasts that
prowled through the underbrush, and
the birds that clouded the skies.
The granddaughter supplied many
of the facts OF this record career OF
welded life. While the aged husband
was specially strong on things that
happened long years before the most
of us we're born, his memory could
not touch events that occurred more
recently. IL was here that he relied
upon his granddaughter's memory.
YES" the 90-year-a-husband cente-
marian said, IL guess I'm getting old,
too old, tell my grandchildren, and
IL didn't have Rafael" with an af-
fectionate glance at his wife, here
with me, should be entirely lost in
the world as II Is today.
Il was born In 1900; you see that
makes me 10 years old. and Rafael,
there, is three years younger than |
am. No. don't remember the name
of the town where | was born. II We
somewhere in what is now New Mex
leo; II has long been deserted and its
name forgotten. / think am the
only person alive who lived In 1t. Yes,
we thought it was something of a
city in those days, but it's gone now,
like all the old friends OF those days,
except Rafael"
In those days Espor was a Spanish
citizen: later when the territory was
annexed to Mexico his political status
was changed. When the northern
Mexican states were conquered and
annexed to the United States. Espor
became a citizen of this country.
He remembers well the desert
schooners that crossed the continent
when gold was first discovered in Cali.
fornia. cloud Of sorrowful remem.
bIance passed over his wrinkled face
as he told me of the times when In
the sandy wastes of the great Ameri.
can desert he stumbled over the half
devoured bodies OF men and horses,
the victims OF tTeacherous Indians.
He doesn't like to talk to strangers
now, for, as he said, MY people are
all gone; the things that interest you
young folks are so entirely different
from the things we enjoyed in the
days OF the early part OF the last cen
tuIy, that / can't get used to liking
them"
The old man is OF French descent.
though bern in this country; his wife
was born near Taos, N. NJ. They
have only one child, a boy" OF
eighty five. There were 10 children.
but old age has claimed them all ex-
cepting this one. There are, however,
80 grandchildren, so eat-grandchil.
dren, and two great-gTeat.grandchil'
dren.
| had TO cut the interview short,
for as the clock struck 4. the old man,
glancing over TO his aged better
half" said, IT'S now, Rafael. we
must retire and to me he added: I'VE
always go to bed at 4. Four o'clock
has been our bedtime for years.
'"Oh, yes, I'll let you see our pic
tuios,' in answer TO my plea for
phoi ogrephs OF himself and his wife.
but | would rather IL you didn't pub
lish them in the paper"
II was only when assured him
that thousands Of people would like
to see the pictures Of the Oldest mar
ried couple in the country that ne
reluctantly gave his consent to my
taking the photograph with me.
Il hope when you print all this
about us. we will not have lots OF
strangers coming around, for we want
to be alone, don't we. Rafael?" and
taking the arm OF tho woman who
had for nearly century been his
partner Of joys and sorrows he left
me in the little parlor wondering how
many divorce courts and divorce
lawyers there would be II everybody
could but talk n few brief moments
with the man and woman whose love
story had its beginning in the days
when our grandfathers were counting
our grandmothers