The Mena weekly star., 1921-07-14
lNED 90 YEARS
 NEVER ON TRAIN
.asf of Three Followers of the Simple Life Passes Away in Missouri Rules They Followed Were
 Unique.

Macon, Mo, July 8.-Ninety years iu the back country of Missouri, with out ever having ridden on a railroad ffhin or visited town larger than Moberly, Huntsville or Macon, was fhc record of Aunt Betty" Elliott, uhose death occurred recently.
 Miss Elliott was one of a very in- <sresting trio, the other two being her brothers, Perry and Jordan Elliott, Whs died few years ago All their lives they had lived upon the land which was taken up by their father, William Elliott, when he came from Kentucky to Northern Missouri in 1816. After the death of their par ents and the marriage of the younger ehildren, Miss Elliott and her two brothers lived on the old homestead, oerrying on their farming operations and duties about the house in the same primitive manner as was conducted by their parents in the pioneer days.
 Miss Elicit once enjoyed the experi- ence of riding in motor car. She said she got as far as College Mound when something about it went dead and they had to hitch on a couple of mules to haul them back home. She never cared much for motor cars si.,ce then.
 The Elicit brothers developed the estate until it comprised about two Thousand acres and, aitho in the heart of the very richest growing section of Missouri, much of it was rough pas f1sre land. For a great many years the farm was inclosed with rail fences, which as time went by sank far into the ground The fencing around this farm marks almost the Last of the old rail fences in Northern Missouri.
 None of the three had found time in their busy lives to go to school, but thew knew the value of stock and grain, and were as shrewd in their deals as anybody. Underneath large part of their land are valuable beds of coal.
 Fright shy of doctors and medicine Have something to interest you and keep going. Learn to go to sleep cas- iE and don't borrow trouble. Get out in the air and raise turkeys, ducks and chickens. Eat hearty and go to bed carly"
 Such was the rule of Aunt Betty Elliott.
 Like a hermit, Aunt Betty lived r1ore than nine decades, helped amass fortune, the extent of which she Never really knew, and died without C.. hn,- than Macon.
 Fourteen years ago a staff core spondent for The Star visited the FL liptt trio and spent day with 'the nhildren of nature," who scorned lux Darents, pioneer of Missouri. There fhe correspondent found a leaky house built by their parents; well, which was started the year after the Civil War and never had been completed, and three children" all more than 70, who never had time to even think about marriage. The only thing mod ern on the farm was a nice looking range in the kitchen which the "boys" had purchased for Aunt Betty"
 Friends? !? Why Aunt Betty" had Thousands of them, it seemed. She tossed few handsful of corn on the bed of wood chips, which served as a roadway up to the house. Flocks of fowls, turkeys, ducks and chickens Immediately clustered about her. Here are my friends, and you see why never get lonesome,' she told the correspondent.
 And it was an extremely happy family. Late in the evening the two "boys" returned to the house. All fAlked in gentle, quiet tones. In brief they outlined their lives as follows:
 Never too old to work.
 Never had a quarrel with anybody.
 Never swapped horse.
 Never owned dog.
 Never used tobacco in any form. % -F Never belonged to a church. but be- lieved in God.
 Never were in a lawsuit
 Never knew the extent of their wealth.
 Kept their accounts with pins on ehingles.
 What was good enough for their forefathers was good enough for them.