HUNDRED YEARS OLD

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

HUNDRED YEARS OLD

KNEW HANS ANDERSON. LIFE UNDER SIX KINGS. In the quiet little Danish town of Skelskor a dear old lady has just become one hundred years old. Very proud is the town of Miss Vilhelmine Gesner, /or Aunt, Minnie, as everyone has learned to call her; and no wonder, for as she sits smiling and alert among the flowers, answering the eager questions of her callers, it is easy to see that she is an exceptional old lady even as exceptional centenarians go. “You want to know what it is like to be a hundred years old? It isn't so bad, my dear. But I should not like to become very much older. There seems no point in going on living when you have ceased to be of use to your fellow-crea-tures.” Though her sight has grown somewhat dim Miss Vilhalmine is still hale and strong enough to look after herself and to keep her three-roomed flat in order, ill but scrubbing the floors, she explains, “My knees won’t stand that.” She has lived all alone since the. death of her brother,- for whom she used to keep house. But her indomitable spirit, coupled with a marvellous memory and a delightful sense of humour, lift her above the melancholy of loneliness. “Life has taught nie many things,” she says, “and one of them is not to give up. In my- opinion most old people give up much too soon. I have always loved life and wished to live as long as possible; and that, I think, is the secret of my reaching my hundredth birthday. Think of it! I have lived under six kings, and welcomed the soldiers back from the war with Germany in 1848. All that is history to you, but to me it was life, full to the brim with the palpitating interest of the actual.” Hans Anderson was also a part of .ife for her, for he often came as a guest to Basnaes Castle, where her father was head gardener. Her eyes twinkle as she thinks of him, for like many good and lovable people he had little foibles which made you smile even though you liked him all the better for them. He was a little vain, and loved to read his stories aloud to the assembled company, though, in Miss Vilhelmine’s opinion, he did not read very well. And he was so careful of his health that if it was at all cold he would put on galoshes to walk the few steps from his room to the diningroom. , . Terribly ugly he was, too, but so nice that you forgot all about his looks and sifnply had to love him. 'Die only creatures in Basnaes who disliked him were the swans. Why this was so no-one knew, but they would hiss and snap at him as soon as he came near them, so that the man who had written so eloquently of the beautiful white swan which had started life as an ugly duckling actually trembled in his shoes at the mere sight of its prototypes, and always made a wide circle round the moat where they lived.