Connecticut western news., 1921-01-20
PAYS OLD BILL
 AFTER AS YEARS
(Continued from page 1)

plained. These estimable women were like the Aliens, all born on the same farm.
 Homer Allyn
 Homer Allen is a character. From his farm came the marble for the Capitol; the old quarry is still there He was born in August, 1842. The first time he remembers coming to Hartford with his father he was years old. He rode in on load of cheese, in a one-horse wagon. He had stone bruise on his right foot. In those days there were neither republicans nor democrats, but ."Whigs and Locofocos." His father stopped on Main street and sold his cheese at 6A cents a pound, right from the wagon. As the bare-footed boy was nursing his stone bruise, a gentleman came along. "What are you?" the man inquired. The coun- try boy promptly responded, 'pm Whigw an answer +dat so pleased the city man that he went into a store and came out with a little china trooper on horseback. This he gave to the boy, who prized it highly. And he has it still. ~~-
 MT. Allen wears a beard; he has done so for 62 years, having stopped shaving when he was IT years old. He had tonsilitis, and it is interesting to note that even in those days 1859-some country practitioner was aware that beard protected the throat, a discovery that by many will be ascribed to more recent times. It is a gray beard, now, shorter than it was in its palmy days. As young mn he wore it long and black. 1t was the fashion then. With pride he said he used to button it inside his waistcoat, and so nice and thick he didn't need a necktie. He clipped it himself, training it carefully to the prescribed length. He is proud of the fact that his grandfather was a captain in the War of 1872; also that he himself is prominent in the Grange.
 Some Matchmaker
 MT. Allen has always been inter ested in Machinery. He started as boy to become machinist. He has found the knowledge valuable in handling farm machinery, tractors, etc. As a young man he went into the watch business because he had sent an old silver, and a grandfath- CTS gold watch, to various watch makers to be repaired. He spent $5 and the watches didn't run. That stung Homer Allen to the quick. Carefully opening his watches he let down the handspring, took, out the jewels and regulated one. In the other, a small spring was broken. At his blacksmith shop on the farm he drew down and made a spring of a piece of steel, tempered it, and drilled the two holes necessary to anchor it with a broken needle set into two spools, and driven by a bow, by hand. The watch worked; it still does. He was in the jewelry busi- ness four years, during which time he made his sale to Mansfield, in 1873.
 His Married Life
 MT. Allen was married in 1863, when 21. He has been married three times, having himself had a married career that has run for sixty-eight years. His third wife died last sum- mer. He doesn't think he will marry again.
 Foresaw Great War
 While attached to the old farm, he has not been chained to it all these years. His last two wives were German, he says. In 1908 he made a trip to Germany, and saw the sights. including the Kaiser. By asking a question and only one of everyone he met, he says that he became con- vinced that Germany was preparing for trouble. He says that his wife did not at all sympathize with the Germans, remarking frequently after the World War was over that they had not been beaten badly enough. On this trip in 1908 he bought an overcoat which he was wearing yes terday and which he proudly exhibi- ted. For it, he gave $5 bill and got change back.
 Good for Years More He is still as active as a midget. From his appearance, it would seem as though if he made a sale to MT. Mansfield right now, he would live a good many years to have the bill run. If he does sell something and a good long interval elapses before he gets his money, he promises to report to "The Courant" and give it his next long-distance story.
 "There is plenty of fun enjoying life at 79", said MT. Allen, yesterday. "How did I retain my strength so long? We'll, I'll tell you. I never smoked in my life. I never even touched glass of beer. Pm as spry today as many a man thirty years younger. But, it may also be due to the fact that take an interest in what goes on. That's what makes life worth living. g."-Hartford Sunday Courant.