The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-09-11
OLD WORKMAN.
Is Now 1872 Years Old and Is Able
To Swing an Axe.

Hyden, Ky, Sept. 1.-Listen tt
some good advice from the lips of thu
oldest working gman in the all the
world, John Shell, 131 years old or
September 3.
'Work hard, and don't overwork.
"Too much work is as bad as toe
little.
'The wcrkingman has to have al
the food his body needs, all the sleeI
his body needs, and a little fun be.
sides, every day, or he can't do his
work WE'LL"
John Shell ought to know, for he's
been working for the past i 16 years.
ever since he was little over IA, and
lived in the Scotia Valley, Ohio
when "reds" meant Indians and not
the Cincinnati baseball team.
His work in days long gone by was
splitting wood for the winter fire,
hunting game, fishing and chasing
redskins westward. Years ago, how
ever, he took to farming, and has
ever, he took to farming and has
century, hogs and corn principally.
But he's corking good marksman
even today, and only a short time
ago, won a sharpshooting contest in
which his great-grandson tried to
show him up-and couldn't.
Lived Through All Presidents.
The worlds oldest workingman
was born September 3, 1888, ten days
before congress made New York city
the capital of the United States, and
something like six months before
George Washington was inaugurated
president of the United States. Shell
is the only living American who has
lived through the whole row of presi-
dents.
He got his first job, splitting rails
the year Ohio was admitted as a
State, when the population of New
York city was 10000. Later on the
population got too thick for him in
Ohio, where often there were neigh.
bors within 1S miles of each other,
and blazed trail into Southeastern
Kentucky, where he hunted and fish
ed to his hearts content. He's. been
here ever since. ~
Then he married and went to work,
farming. When he first started farm
ing land and was sold for less than a
dollar an acre, and some you couldn't t
give away. Once She'll swapped six
acres for gun, and today those acres
are worth $1,000.
Burned Corn to Keep Warm.
81 can remember when we burned
corn in winter to keep warm" the
oldest man told me; cit was cheaper
than cutting wood, and wood was to
be had for the cutting. I guess I must
have gone years without paying cent
for clothes. animal skins filled the
bill. In those days the cost of living
was mainly keeping the supply of am
munition up. I didn't know what a
meat bill was until long after I was
middle-aged, and never have had an
ice bill. I can remember when the
only money we had was animal skins,
and when there was as big a fuss
made over the Monroe Doctrine as
there now is over the league of ma
tions."
Folks down here on Greasy Creek,
Leslie county, call the oldest man
"Uncle John" They think he's the
grandest man in the world, and pay
far more attention to what he says
and thinks than they do to all the
other wise men put together. Uncle
John can just about tell when it's
going to rain and when it's best to
plant corn.
He has 200 descendants living near
here, the father of II children, oldest
born 80 years ago, youngest just four
years old, and there are grandchil-
dren, great-grandchildren. They will
come to Uncle Johns house for a
grand birthday party September 3.
While there are some here who be-
lieve Uncle John is only a youngster
of 1T years, he has a tax receipt
showing that he paid taxes in 1903,
when he was 21 years of age.
His eyesight is good and he doesn't
need glasses when he reads. His teeth
are better than mine. They ought to
be, for they are his third set, and he
just recently cut them.
"Cutting teeth after one is hum
dred years DID," he smiled, "aint no
easy matter"
saw Uncle John swing an axe and
if you have any idea that man can't