GRANNY GORTON'S BIRTHDAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1770, 3 June 1895, Page 4

GRANNY GORTON'S BIRTHDAY.

Saturday, January- 21st, was a great day in Central Village, in the State of i Con r necticut, in America. On that day Mrs Jonathan Gorton was 100 years old and formally -received her friends, of whom hundreds were present. She wore her best black-silk gown,- witha- rose in-thc bodice. The .venerable lady was seated in a comfortable armcliair on aplatform in the best I'Opmof herhouse. Then the train of callers filed through, each and all shaking' hands with' her. "Granny Gorton," as she is f called, is a trim little body and. very nimble on her feet^ There was never anything ailed her j she Tsays, and, except that her eyesight isn't quite so good as it used to be, she is as active as any .woman of 50. ... Why lias Granny Gorton lived so long ? AVhy is slie'soaetive now ? She lets out the recret herself when she says. " There was never anything, ailed me. That's it, and all of it. People wild- liveP 100 "years are not so very rare.' - The deaths of 45 such were reported last year in England men and 23 women. Yet, compared to' the multitudes who die, these are nothing-^ nothing/ Qaiv we nqt keep tilings from ailing us, and so live long as Mrs Gorton ? Yes, if >we will take the trouble to do it ! Men 1 and 1 wpmen 400 years old still vigorous and clear-headed, should be a sight so common as not to be remarked, and will be yet in the future. Why not so noiv? -"Ask ybuself the question," as the boatmen say down on Deal Beach; Here's how itis : A woman's tale. She says she fell ill when a girl of about 15. She lost her appetite, had- pains in the sides and chest, frequent headaches and was often obliged to lie down o.i the couch and rest. All this didn't promise long life," did it? No'rit was a bad start. Well, she got worse instead of better. She was often , sick, i vomited her food, and spitting up.-a.,squr, fluid. ,-Eoi' ,five years she went on this way. This brings us to October,* 1881; ' r She was then in service as parlour-maid at Leamington, Hastings* Warwickshire: Here she suffered from from constant sickness,retching, and heartburn. •The chest pains were so bad as to bend 1 her two double. No position that she eould take relieved her. Her stomach was so tender ; and sore that everything she ate pained and distressed her. for months 1 she 'had only liquid food^milk. and beaten eggs, and so on. •• She got weaker and weaker ; every day, so she says. Gf course ; how else could it be ? A doctor at Rugby told her she had " ulceration of the 7 chest, which she didn't at "all;-- What is ,*' ulceration of the chest ?" ■ ■ •-■ ; He gave her modicineaud adviee, but she grew no better on that account. This young lady was now about 20 years old, with a poor outlook for. ever- being much older. ; She didn't expect H, nor did her friends. Then another doctor, • being consulted t said -"ulceration of the chest," like his medical brother at Rugby. Both wrongs ' ' After six montl is' medical treatment,' she. says, "I gave up my situation and returned to my home at Buxton Lamas, Norfolk. This was in June, 1882.' Then I was taken so bad I had to take to my bed.' My mother thought I was in a decline." - Now, the word.' • decline " means consumption, as we all know ; a disease common in England and incurable everywhere. Thousands of bright girls and young men " decline "into their graves eveiy year in this populous island. Sad enough itis to see. =• ■ Well, at this point her good and wise mother interfered in her daughter's case. She gave the doctors the gorby<and sent to Nonvich for some bottles !of. Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup. : In two weeks the young patient began to feel better, and in three.months she got a new situation and went to work; "Since then, fifteen years; ago," she says, " I have kept better liealth than ever before in my life, thanks to SeigePs Syrup. Yours truly, (Sigried)j (Mrs) Sab ah;Elk<vnor Bakek, 8, King's Street, Church Road, Tottonham^neai" London September 30th. 1892.- 1 ! „ A dozen words inore and Ave're done. Mrs Baker's ailment was indigestion and dyspepsia, nothing else, and quite enough. The "ulcoration" was inflammation of ■ the inner coating of' the stomach, a symptom of the disease-. We wish her ;i long and happy life, and merely' add that. if. all her sex could avoid ov cure this one trouble most of them might livo to ha as old as Granny Gorton.

Whilst at Woolwich Sir John Adye had to face a great dearth of recruits for the horse'artillery. This was partly due to the-byei'-changing W.O. regulation* as to height and dimensions of enlistable men. . Short men could be taken! providing they, were exceptionally broad 1 and deep as to 'chest and shoulders.! Meeting iin old recruiting sergeant one: day, Sir Jbbiv inquirpd, if he had been' successful inp'ei-suadihg likely men to take the shilling. .The sergeant had; not, and was by no means sanguine for the future. Pressed as to the reasons ofi his iailnrehe replied" Beg your pardon, sir, but the Almighty doesn't make meir the shape you order 'em."