HOW TO LIVE TO 100

Southland Times, Issue 20897, 5 October 1929, Page 12

HOW TO LIVE TO 100

A HALE OLD MAN. RECIPE FOR A LONG LIFE. Mr John Jackman, Blackheath, who has been a regular reader of one weekly newspaper for the past 85 years, celebrated his 100th birthday on June 30. Mr Jackman has never been to school, but he can read and write well, and he attributes his education largely to The Sunday News. When he was about 15 years of age he purchased a shilling spelling book, and, as soon as he had mastered the rudiments, bought a copy of the paper to try his skill. From that day to this he has been a regular reader. “I have taken the paper for over 80 years,” he said on the day before his birthday, “and I still look forward to it each week.”

Mr Jackman was born at Sutton, near Guildford, in the reign of George IV., and was married in 1859. His wife died in 1914. “We lived together for 54 years, and never had a fall out,” he decclares. He claims to have hunted the last wild boar in England, near Guildford, in 1868. This hale old man has been a cooper, a spirit dealer, and a farmer, but the greater part of his life has been devoted to horses, for which he still holds a great affection. He says emphatically that he believes that horses will again take the predominant place on the road. “There are so many accidents with these motor-cars,” he said, “that people will see that horses are far safer, and take to them again. “People to-day,” Mr Jackman added, “have a far better time than they did in my young days. We never had time for entertainment then; we were always working. Why I used to work from five in the morning to seven at night, and sometimes from three in the morning to nine at night,’'for three shillings a week.” Mr Jackson has a recipe which he declares will permanently keep away the doctor. Here it is:—“Take lib. of Epsom salts, lib of sugar, and -]lb of ground ginger. Mix together and add water to make a quart. Take a wineglass three times a week.” This recipe, he says, has been so effective in his own case that to-day he is in the best of health and spirits. The old man can frequently be seen walking on Blackhcath, and standing on the ground, he can kick a stick held four feet up. Moreover, he has not yet begun to get bald and goes without glasses.