Granny Gorton's Birthday.

Manawatu Herald, 21 May 1895, Page 3

Granny Gorton's Birthday.

Saturday, January 21st, was a great day in Central Village, in the State of Connecticut, in America. On that day Mrs Jonathan Gorton was 100 years oM and formally received her friends, of whom hundreds were present; She wore her best black silk gown, with a rose la, the bodice"; The Venerable lady was seated \n a cohv fortable armchair on a platfoi'm 1 iti the beSt room of her house. Then the train of callers filed through, each and all shaking hands with her. " Granny Gorton," as she is called, is a trim little body and very nimble on her feet. There was never anything ailed her, she says, and, except that her eyesight isn't qtiite so good as it Used id .be, she is as active as any woman of SO. Why lias Grantiy Gktrtott lived sd long 1 Why is she so active now ? She letnf otit the secret herself when she says, " There was never anything ailed me." That's it, and all of it. People who live 100 years are not so very rare. The deaths of 45 such were reported last year ill England— 22 men and 28 women. Yet, compared to the multitudes who die, these are nothing —nothing. Can we not keep things from ailing us, and so lite long as Mrs Gorton ? YeSj if we will take the trouble td do it I Men ant] women 100 years old, still vigorous ana clear-headed, should be a sight so common" as not to be remarked, and will be yet in future. Why not so now ? ' Ask yourself the question," as the boatmen say down on Deal Beach i Here's how it Is : A wGmaH's talei She says she fell ill tvlieit a girl of abotit 13; Slie lost , her appetite, had pains ill • the | smes and cheat, freriueht lieftdac'hes; and was often obliged to lie uowti oh" the Bou6li aud rest. All this didn't promise long life, did it ? No ; it was a bad start. Well, she got worse instead of belter. She was often sick, vomited her food, and npi-.tingup a sour fluidi For five years she went on this way. 1 his brings Us to October; 1801: She was theil itl service as tetlouy.ihaUl at Leamington.. Hastings, Wilrwidliflhtfe. Here SMe suffered fibril constant sickness, relching, and hear'tbtirH. The chest pains were so bad as to bend her two double. No position that she could take relieved her. Her stomach was so tender and core that everything she ate pained and distressed her. For months and months she oiily tSok' liquid food— milk and beaten eggs, aud f o on. She got weaker and weaker every day, so she says. Of course ; how else could it be ? A doctor at Rugby told her she had "ulceiaiion of the chest," which she didn't at all. What is " nlceration of the chest ?" He gave her medicines and advice, 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 it, nor did her friend?. Then another doctor, being consulted, said '« ulceration of lha chest," like his mcdicnl brother at Rugby. Both wrong. "After six months' medical treatment," she says, "I gave up my situation aud re--turned to my home at Buxton Lamas, Nor^ folk. 'Ibis was in June, 1832. 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 "V means consumption, a3 we all know ; a disease common in Englaod and incurable everywhere. Thousands of bright girls and young men " decline " into their grave.* every year in this populous island. Sad enough it is to see. Well, at this point her good and wise mother interfered in her dough lef's ettse. Sbo gave the doctors the good eye ami seat to Norwich for some bottlea of Mother Seigel's Syrup. In two wreks 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 kepi in better health than c er before in my life, thauks to Seigel's Syrup. Yours truly, (Signed), (Mrs) Sarah Eleanor Baker, 8, King's Street, Church Road Tottenham, near London, September 30th, }892," A doaen words more and we're done, Mrs Baker's ailment was indigestion and dyspepsia, nothing else, and quite enough. 'I he " ulcf-ration " was inflammation of the inner coaling of the stomach, a symptoq of theclisease. We wish her a longand happy life, and merely add that if all her sex oould avoid or cure this one trouble mogt of them might live to be as old as Omnuy Gorton.