HOW TO BECOME A CENTENARIAN.

NZ Truth, Issue 769, 13 March 1920, Page 3

HOW TO BECOME A CENTENARIAN.

Dear "Truth," — A few weeks ago a cable from the United States appeared In the press of this Dominion making mention of the faot that a negro recently passed away at the advanced age of 128 years. The Question has often been asked by thinking people, "Why are we not centenarians?" Not so many yeaTs aagino — m 1912 — the Russian people celebrated the centenary of the Battle of Borodino. Amongst those who took part m a procession on the above anniversary were eight •persons who remembered the famou3 battle m 1812. Their united cges reached far beyond 900. The oldest, Peter Laptieff, at the time of the French invasion, waa caught up a tree gazing at the invaders, and made to act as a guide to the nearest town. At the oentenary celebrations his age was 122, and ha was than an hale old man. Another, Marie Popoff (121) easily remembered watching the flames of burning Moscow. All the others, like these .two, are peasants, and descendants of peasants. Not a single eye-witness of the great invasion could be found among the wealthy or educated classes. Hard work, then, cannot be killing; nor hard fare. Our modern food and our many luxuries are not so necessary as' supposed for a healthy life. Can we not discover the conditions which made the Borodino veterans into centenarians? Can we not live and teach the rising generation to live as they lived? Maybe so. If it were wise, it should be easy, for the conditions are all negative, and may be compressed iiito two words — no worry. No worry of education, no worry of competition, no worry of keeping up an appearance. Marie Popoff rose early, worked hard m loose- clothes, ate what she could get, and slept as long 'as she was allowed. For her no balls or bridge parties, no afternoon teas, no morning tennis, and, more important, no anxieties. She cared little whether her home was more attractive than

I her neighbor's, and knew not whether her new gown was, or was not, of the latest cut. But we could easily make life more simple if we chose. The question is — is it worth doing? It may not be worth doing for the sake o£. long life, though no one wishes to die j'oung. But it is surely worth doing if by such means we may be more sure of a happy old age. And how is it to be done? By a process of negation? Perhaps more wisely by a process of diminution. We live too much, and too fast. Too much racing, picture .shows, and far too much gambling. j£/e are filled with unsatisfied longings '^;r more of everything except ease — more useless ornamental things to display to more neighbors, more fettering clothes to wear to more entertainments, more learned lore to enlighten more acquaintances; more ideas to enable us to carry on more conversation, .more of the excitement that wears out body and spirit. We get it, and with it less of the silence of a modest home, less of the renewing sleep that follows quiet labor, leas of the calm spirit of abiding content, less of the "peace that passeth understanding." Is it any wonder that we die before we reach half the age of Marie Popoff ? — Yours, etc., JNO. W. HUSSEY. ■Smith field, Wanganui.