Baxter Springs news., 1919-07-25

Bary Of her birth-she was born In the
same year as Walt Whitman, Julia
Ward Howe, Charles A. Dana, Thomas
Dunn English, James Russell Lowell,
Isaac Thomas Hecker, Elias Howe.
who invented the sewing machine, and
William Thomas Green Morton, dis
coverer Of the use Of ether as an an
aesthetie-says the most wonderful
thing In all her long life Is q son-in-
lawi e..
"His name Is Fred 7. LingstrOth,"
Mrs. COkefAir said, "and ! want you
to print something nice about him. He
is one Of my two ideal men. The 9TH
er Is Woodrow Wilson. Every day !
ask our Almighty Father to shower
blessings on them both"
"She il one old lady In q Million"
LangstrOth says, and q body could
not do too much for her. never saw
o woman like her."
Here, then, ladies and gentlemen,
you have two experts who testify-n
testimony were needed-that the
mother-in-law joke IS q joke.
LangstrOths first wife, Mother
Cakefair's daughter, died number Of
years ago and LangstrOth is married
q second time. Fifteen years ago he
set Mrs. Cokefair up In q home Of her
own Che calls her 'MOther"), and Sc
cured q woman companion for her.
Every day for fifteen years he has
called upon the old lady. Every call
lasts at least one hour.
Mother Cokefair Is spry and active
as q woman half her age. She is
never without her daily newspaper.
She eats three meals. She Is an at
tendant at church. Since Uncle Sam
went to war she has knitted 100 ar
ticles for the Red Cross.
BloOmheld's centenarian, as sweet
as that Grandma in the poem called
''The Minuet."
Grandma told me all about It,
Told me so I could not doubt it,
How she danced-my grandma-long
ago;
How she held her pretty head,
How her dainty skirts she spread,
How she turned her little toes,
Smiling little human rOse!"
makes her home here. She Is q native
Of HillsbOrO (Leverett), in western
Massachusetts,.
One hundred years ago! What was
the world like the year Irene Abbott
was born in the little hill town Of
Leverett?
Fifteen families settled that year at
Indianapolis.
The Erie Canal was opened from
Utica to Rome.
The first national financial crisis
took place.
John ]. Crittenden, of Kentucky,
resigned his seat in the Federal SEN
ate, at $500 year, ITO get bread for
his family"
"The Sketch Book" by Washing
ton Irving, appeared.
DR.. William Ellery Claiming,
preaching at Baltimore, gave what
was called the Unitarian Declaration
of Independence and became the
leader Of his church.
Mrs. CCkefair never took up the
newfangled way Of sewing invented
by young Howe, and only two years
ago, when q Bloomfield dentist, about
to extract one Of her teeth, suggested
an anaesthetic, the little woman re
membered young Dr.. Green Of the
Massachusetts General Hospital, and
said: mo, / never was much OF q
hand for these new cOntraptiOns, You
just go ahead and pull it; I'll be all
right"
"Why," she said, II cut and make !
all my own clothes and ! sew by hand.
II thread my own needle and / knit
with wooden needles my husband
whitfield out for me.
'T make my own bed every day and
take care Of my own room.
"How do explain my long life? l /
don't try to explain it; just enjoy it
Have I any rules about eating and SO
on? Not q rule! ] don't believe in
them. Every morning l have fruit,
cereal, bacon and eggs, rolls and eof-
fee. have dinner at noon, usually
soup, meat, three vegetables and des-
sert. In the evening / eat lightly"
At twenty-five Irene Abbott became
the wife of Samuel COkefair, who, she
says, was the son of q Massachusetts,
neiRhbOr but who undoubtedly was
related to that Cokefair family which
had been prominent in the history Of
Bloomfield and nearby Jersey from
=