Ripe Old Age
It only needed the remark that the old lady had been over ninety- five when she died to begin a discussion on old age. A man whose grandmother or great-grandmother had reached a century said it was because she had never touched strong drink in her life. Immediately someone pointed out that another local ancient had attributed his years to having lived a full life with his pipe of tobacco and pint of beer a day. When I left they were suggesting that sanitation, clean milk, disinfecting, sterilising and other modern innovations were shortening life. These absurd contradictions are always brought out at such times. Another popular theory is that the countryman has an advantage in life-expectation over his brother in the town. This may be so, but I suspect that quite a few townsfolk reach a ripe old age. The stories of longevity mention tobacco and temperance, but say little about heredity and environment. The father of the village says he survives because he has certain habits and beliefs. His ego matches his years, but the answer is for an anthropologist to d;scover, and it would be so full of biological and genealogical facts that it would make a dull tale for a newspaper.
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