The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-09-01
WORLDS OLDEST WORKMAN TELLS
HOW TO WORK, PLAY AND LIVE
Ought to Be Good Advice
for it Carried Uncle John
Through 181 Years.
BY E. c. RODGERS.
IN E A. Staff cerrespondentl

wv. I've 0s--'+
HYpEN, KY, Aug. 3O,-Listen to
some good advice from the lips Of the
loLDBsT NORWEGIAN IN ALL
THE WORLD, John Shell, 131 years
old on Sept. 8.
work hard, but don't overwork;
"Too much work is as bad as too
little;
The workingman has to have all
the food his body needs, all the sleep
his body needs, and 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 116 years,
ever since he was little over IA,
and lived in the Sciota 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
been farming for three quarters OF
century, hogs, and corn principal
ly. But he's a corking good marks
man even today, and only short
time ago won a sharpshooting con-
test in which his great grandson tried
to show him up-and couldn't!
The worlds Oldest workingman was
born Sept. 8, 1888, ten days before
! congress made New York City the
capital OF the United States, and
something like six months before
George Washington was first inaug-
urated president OF the United States
Shell is the only living American who
has lived through the whole row OF
presidents.
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 IS 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 was sold for less than a dol
lar an acre, and some you couldn't
give away. Once Shell snapped six
acres for gun, and today those acres
are worth $1,000.
II can remember when we burned
corn in winter to keep warm" the
Oldest man told me; ut was cheaper
.han cutting wood, and wood was to
be had for the cutting. guess ! must
have gone years without paying cent
for clothes, animal skins filled the bill
1 In those days the cost of living was
mainly keeping the supply of ammu-
4 milton up. | didn't know what meat bill
was until long after was middle-aged
and l never have had an ice bill.
can remember when the only money
we had was animal skins, and when
there was as big fuss made over
the Monroe Doctrine as there now Is
ever the league Of nations"
Folks down here on Greasy Creek,
Leslie county call the Oldest Man
Cur Gle 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 grand children, great-grand
children, and great,great-grandchil-
dren. They all will come to Uncle
Johns house or grand birthday
party sept.S.
While there are some here who be-
lieve Uncle John is only a youngste:
Of lit years, he has a tax receipt
showing that he paid taxes IN 1909
when he was 81 years Of age.
His eyeslght is good. 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.
I Cutting teeth after one is hun
bred years DID, he smiled, "ain't nc
easy matter"
saw Uncle John swing an ak, and
II you have an idet. that a man cant
work at 131 get rid Of that idea fol
I never saw a younger man handle
an ak in better fashion. He can
plow, hoe and spade with the best
of them, although as he admits, he
doesn't work like he used to.
"When l was young, not much over
a hundred or So" he explained"
never though 1t hard to swing an az
all day.
went no, "that l have lived right, new
er too much Of anything and never
too little. Most Of my life has been
spent outdoors. Water has been the
strongest drink ever tried, and
never had indigestion in my life.
never tried to work harder or faster
than though / ought to, and al
ways took plenty of time to go fishing
even when the corn needed hoeing
II I thought / needed a fishing trip
more than the corn needed hoeing."