OVER A HUNDRED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 22 (Supplement)

OVER A HUNDRED.

CENTENARIANS' MEMORIES.

'•'WHEN WE WERE GIRLS."

HARD WORK AND SMALL PAY.

In two very similar cottages within a few miles of each other in Essex dwell two wonderful old ladies, who are well past the centenarian mark. They are Mrs. Elizabeth Pennick, of Tiptree, who is 105, and Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Sadler, of Winchester Road, Colchester, who is 104. They must be two of the oldest women in England, and it is remarkable that they should be living so close together.

Mrs. Pennick, despite her great age, was very active until a few weeks ago. when she sustained a severe shock on finding her employer, Mr. William Harrington, to whom she had been housekeeper for 26 years, dead in his chair. Mr. Harrington died of tragic circumstances, and his death has had a serious effect on his old servant. She is now unable to get about, and spends a good deal of her time in lamenting the loss of the man whose comfort has been her chief concern for so many years. But now and again she is able to throw off any tendency to depression, and when a reporter called to see her and .explained the object of his visit she gave him a cordial welcome. She is under the care of Mrs. J. Taylor, to whom she is great aunt, who offered her hospitality when her employer died. Queen Victoria's Coronation. When the visitor arrived Mrs. Pennick was eating a meal of stewed meat and vegetables with evident relish. Naturally enough, she wanted to talk on the subject uppermost in her mind—the death of Mr. Harrington. " I looked at him as he sat in his chair.*' she said, "and I could see he was not well. I told him I would be near him, and when he asked for a cup of tea I began to make it. Hut when I looked at him again I could see he had gone. He was good to me, and I always watched over him as well as I could. He never found fault." Mrs. Pennick dimly remembers the coronation of Queen Victoria. "That was a very long time ago." she said, searching her memory for some detail associated with the event. She' believes she was born at Grays, but is hoping to know for certain soon as her friends are trying to get a copy of her birth certificate. Her childhood was spent in. Tiptree, where she worked in the fields as a girl for 8d a dav. " I had to be out. in all weather," Mrs. Pennick recalled. "Rain and cold winds made no difference, the work had to be done just the same, and when I worked in the hayfields I only got twopence a day extra. I had to work very hard, but I had to do it, and when I got older I remember I had to keep house for a long time on 10s. a week. Forty Years a Widow. Married at Messing Parish Church, near Tiptree, at 20 years of age, Mrs. Pennick has lived in the locality practically all her days. Her husband died about 40 years ago, and there were no children. Mention of the modern girl caused her to smile, but she was not inclined to be too critical. " They're notlike they were when I was a girl," she said. "Some of them don't know very much, and they have not to work nearly so hard, but. then I had to work exceptionally hard." There is one topic on which Mrs. Pennick is very touchy, and that is the work- i house. It seems that some misguided individual suggested not long ago that she should go to the workhouse to be taken care of. Her voice vibrated with indignation as she recalled this insult. " I am not going there," she declared firmly. "I would rather die 'in a ditch. After the way I have worked all my life, I think I deserve something better than that," . ... The old lady has always been a ' teetotaller, and she attributes her long life to hard work. Indeed, she is insistent in preaching the gospel of hard work. She is rather deaf, and her eyesight is dim, but she is still able to recognise her , friends by their voices, and is blessed with a spirit of cheerfulness. Delicate as a Girl. Mrs. Sadler, the Colchester cenlen- , arian, is in indifferent health. She has been a widow for about 12 years. Even after her hundredth birthday she could walk relatively long distances. Up to last Christmas' she was able to get about the house by leaning on chairs or other articles for support, but she is now confined to her bed. She has three sons and one daughter, and her eldest son, with whom she is now living, is 62 years old. She was rather delicate as a girl, but since then lias enjoyed very good health. In her early days Mrs. Sadler worked in a Colchester silk factory. Her husband was employed as a thatcher, and a considerable amount, of scheming was necessary to make ends meet on his small wages. But she was quite prepared to play her part, and she and her family lived in comfort. Even now she is not bodily ill. the only complaint from which she is suffering being old age. But she is very weak, and makes no secret of the fact that she is simply waiting, to quote her own words, for " God's good time."

Mrs. Sadler does not think extreme old age has much to recommend it, but she is not at all querulous*, although she finds the effort to remember incidents of her younger days too much in her present weak condition. She is a charming old lady, and greets her friends with a delightfully musical voice, and her courtesy to strangers is something not easily forgotten.