The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-05-03
COL. GHAS. n. GIBBS BIRTHDAY
CONTINUED from first page.)

the cabin, where he found a few
persons gathered by a PROSTATE man,
who was quite evidently engaged in
dying. Simpson explained his pres
ence by saying, 81 thought I'd just
ride back and see if that damned
scoundrel Harris was dead yet"
Harris turned his eyes, and thru the
glaze of death in them glared the
fierce fire of hatred. He seized a
rife lying near, laboriously raised
himself to a half-sitting posture and
fired at his enemy, wounding him in
the arm, then fell back, dead.
Last week Col. Gibbs went to call
on a friend younger than he, but
not so much younger but that they
can affiliate quite agreeably. This
friend is only SO. But Col. Gibbs
says he is we'll educated, bright and
very interesting. They dug up Latin
classics and discussed them; delved
into English literature and quoted
poetry to each other, every now and
then one of them taking up the
quotation where the other had left
off; in fine, they had feast of
reason and a flow of soul'-better,
they had a regular old-fashioned in
tellectual jamboree, spree, orgie.
Speaking of it with a friend, Col.
Gibbs expressed great admiration
for this friend of his, incidentally
mentioning, somehow, that he is an
infidel
'By the way" said the friend to
Col. Gibbs, ''how are you on this
subject of religion? Aren't you an
infdel, too?"
'"No, stree! I'm no infidel at all.
l don't pretend to be a Christian,
exactly, but l believe in all the es-
sential ideas and principles of the
Christian religion
do you believe the Bible?"
Eyes, sir, l do, from kiver to
kiver."
"You say you are going to be 90
years old the goth. Is there any
shenanigan about that, any camou-
fiage. so to speak,"
mot a bit of it; that is my age,
or will be then"
How in the dickens have you
managed to live so long; have you
always been specially abstemious,
correct in your habits, good?"
moo, / haven't, to tell the hon
est truth about it; l 'chawed' and
smoked tobacco most of my life;
drank more or less, cussed some,
kept late hours and led a rather ir-
regular, improper life"
Then what made you live so
long?"
II ascribe it largely to this bad
ARM" he said, holding up the de-
fective left one.
What, I'd really like to know,
has a short arm to do with a long
life? One would suppose it to work
the other way and shorten life."
mo; right-handed men are apt to
live longer than left-handed ones.
Take two blacksmiths, a left-handed
one and a right-handed one-the
one will outlive the
other five to ten years. You see,
violent use of the left hand and arm
involves strong pressure and strain i
upon the heart. My crippled hand
and short arm have forced~me to be
tent than usual, and thus has my
heart been protected"
'If you had election or choice in
the matter would you chose to live
a hundred years."
The colonel looked quizzically with
those quizzical eyes of his and smiled |
very omprehendingly. IF l had
the election" he replied, 81 suppose
it would be my duty to live as long
as / reasonably could"
An interesting circumstance in
the Gibbs family history is that |
Charles Nicholas is the seventh son
of seventh son, and so was his |
father. The colonel believes there is |
some kind of charm in that; believes
that it tells something for long life, |
and kind of gift for healing. At
any rate he said so the other day, |
and he didn't seem to be joking. |
Another interesting circumstance is |
that while he is celebrating his |
anniversary, his daughter, |
Miss Katie, and his son, Carl, the |
well-known banker. will be cele-
brating theirs also, and they will no
doubt pool issues, making 1t tripar- |
tite feast and thus save a bit by way
Of doing their bit for the country.
The consensus would be among
the friends of this estimable family |
that Col. Charles Nicholas Gibbs take |
ten yeare more, at least, and tell us |
ten years hence how it seems to be |
a hundred and how the trick can be |
most easily and securely turned.