Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-08

In quaint old house on Gay street,
West Chester, there lives the busiest
man in Pennsylvania. One hundred
and two years haven't been enough for
Or, Jesse Cope Green to accomplish half
the things he wants to do and there
aren't hours enough in the day for him
to do all the things he sees to be done
about his we'll ordered household.
Doctor Green will be 102 years old
December IL. Happy, healthy and
busy, he looks back over more than
a century of achievement and forward
10 future accomplishments as conf
IDENTIFY as most men of fifty or sixty.
There is no secret of long life" he
tells his friends. '"They must just keep
busy and not think too much of self
Ot course, have been careful of my
health. 7 never eat much. I have never
tasted intoxicants nor used tobacco.
Few men Of middle Gge have ledysuch
useful lives as Doctor Green. dis eX-
perences as one of Pennsylvania first
school teachers after n state educational
system was established are happy mem
cries His more than sixty years of
DrB'CIcC us ledOlHb VI W
Chester and vicinity are past. His in
terest and influence in politics have
waned His wife and three of his four
children are dead But the house he
erected nearly sixty years ago is still
home for him and his only son, William
II. Green. New interests have come as
old ones passed, for his slogan has
always been keep the mind and body
active
Has Two Workshops
Two long workshops that open from
his study are the scene of most of his
activity these days. Stacked to the
ceiling as they are with worn drawers
and shelves bearing tools of every de
Scription, he knows every nook and
Granny. He climbs up and down the
ladders. .manipulates the lathe and the
saws as he turns out book shelves for
his beloved books or fashions watch
chains and triukets from gold and other
metals. There are evidences Of his
handicraft throughout the house. and
he is especially proud of two splendid
microscopes made in his laboratories
For nearly eighty years he has been
weather observer for thu United
States Government, and twice a day he
still makes his neat entries in the
weather books
A keen student all his life, he is in
tensely interested in books and has
many rare volumes. His best loved are
his almanacs. He has set of six from
the libraries of Charles il and George
II, beginning with the year 1649 One
of these almanics Is dedicated to the
Friends, and Doctor Green, himself a
Friend, is particularly fond of this. A
portion of the title page reads
"A yea and nay almanac for the
people called by the world Quakers, con-
tanning many needful and necessary OBJ
seryations from the first day of the first
month till the last day of the twelfth
month. Being the third after the BIZ
sextile or the Leaping Year.
There are also eighteen almsnacs of
Ephemerides for the years 1904 to 1881,
printed in Venice and in Latin. He
has many of the later American al
manacs, as we'll as English ones.
Likes His Almanacs
II like my almanacs, he said AS he
fingered the frayed pages of one. 81
remember Lincoln proved a most i'm
portant question once by referring to
his almanac I have gained much
knowledge from them.
perhaps thee would be interested in
some of my other collections" he
added, and he pointed to hundreds of
canes, some in cases, some stacked IN
corners of the library. They come
from all parts of the world he eX-
plaiped. "They were brought by my
friends, most of them. for ] have never
Travelled much. ] haven't had time. ]
have never been west of Chicago or fur
ther from home than Quebec.
Then he showed collection of auto
graphs. including the autographs Of
every President Of the United States.
mt Ia &c hn..
and some of the handwriting of William
Penn and Benjamin Franklin.
Met Many Old Scholars
II met many of the statesmen and
scholars of what thee calls the Olden
days. But thee must not say much
about me. Only what would be helpful
to others. Yes, / liked politics, and I
voted this year. My first vote was
cast in 1898 and in 1910 ] voted for
President Harrison. | walked many
miles to attend big gatherings. where
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and great
generals or statesmen We're speakers.
shook hands with Lincoln at an enter.
tainment given for him in Washington
in 1854 ] met Mrs. Lincoln then, too.
President Lincoln was a good, solid,
common sense mau--a big man.
Doctor Green walks about the city
each day to keep his knees active" :"
From early morning till evening he
busies himself about his house, There
isn't corner of it he doesn't love and
know by heart. There are pictures,
furniture, grandfather clocks and trim
kets handed down through long genera
tions that he treasures greatly. But
he doesn't live in the past. Each day
is filled with its simple duties and
pleasures, and each tomorrow is happily