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*4*he'has kept pace with‘ events, ana in talking with her one realizes that she isemphatically of the twentieth century as Well as of that which is gone.« There was a great deal more of superstition in the world when I was young than there is now,” said Mrs. Huntley.I - was 12 years old when the comet appeared, and the people were terror-stricken. It was In the town of Lysander, Onondaga County, my parents having rexhov^d to this country from Kettley, Province of Ontario, Canada, when I wasVery young.“ Weil, say, I can remember the doings of the people when that comet came around seventy-five years ago as if it were yesterday. They were scared as wild geese. A lot of them feared the world was coming to an end, or there was going to be a terrible war,-or something. Some would even roost in trees, in hammocks, and on platforms when night cane, thinking they might get out of its path when it lit. People held prayer mee'.lngs and got all ready to die, and there were more people repenting, all at once, than the preachers could pray for. I was too young to repent of anything, but of course I was scared with the rest.”Mrs. Huntley paused to laugh at the recollection, then proceeded: “ There was a family near us that was so sure that every or.e was to be called home that they made their ascension robes and had them all laid out on the bed ready for every one of the family. And I guess Itthree times, and had twenty-one cniiaren, but three of whom remain alive.“ I guess it’s the fact that Vve a little French blood that keeps me young,” said Mrs. Huntley. “I was married when I was 16, and I’ve been a widow thirty years. My husband and I thought everything of each other—more than a good many of them do nowadays, I’m afraid.’*There is one marked peculiarity about Mrs. Huntley, which is that in all her life she has drunk no water. She does not care for the beverage affected by the white ribbon societies. “ I tasted It once- or twice,, w'hen I was a little girl,'.’ she says, “ but I didn't care forit. It's too tasteless for me.“ And if any one cared for water at all, that of a spring near our early home at Kettley, Ontario, would .satisfy them. I can remember just how it looked, when they used to send me to the spring with a pail. It gushed right up in a lovely green hollow, and the bottom of trfe spring was as white as snow; fine ^and, you know% and the water was clearas crystal.“ I tasted it once or twice, but I didn’t care for it, and I never drank it afterward. Tea and coffee have done me very well all my life, and I've drunk all I wanted of them. They’ve never hurt me.“ My not drinking any water has surprised people all my life. I know' I’ve gone out berrying with my granddaughterwhen it would be awfully hot, and she'danaaie west ana return, dub mwajs insists, moreover, upon doing her share of the household work. “ They tell me here,” she assured The Times man, “ thatI’ve served my apprenticeship at washing dishes, for I’ve been washing them sinceI was 7 years old. But I'm bound to do it; I like to. I figure that if I stop moving around and doing something I’ll begin to grow old. I've not started to yet, andI’m not going to begin.’’Mrs. Huntley takes a keen interest inthe problems of the present day, and her opinions regarding them partake of the shrewdest analysis. “ There’s a lot of divorcing going on now,’’ she said. '* In our day nobody ever thought of it; everybody got along together. Do you know why? Because everyDOdy was too busy, and they had hard rows to hoe, and they pitched in together and helped, that’s all. Nowadays it’s different. You know:«• *Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do.*” But there weren’t idle hands in those days. Things are made too easy for people . nowadays; there’s too much money, and they have to pay the piper.“ Anrther thing. Take a glrl*in some town who’s got a good mill job, say, at so much per week. She marries a man who isn’t making so very much more, and ahe gives up her Job. Well, what happens? She gets discontented at notmaking her own money. There’stroubl‘d—divorce.”^lt;-Ked to what she attributed her re-
Newspaper Details
New York Times
New York, New York, US
Sun, May 15, 1910
Page 42
Full Page
Clipped by
Onondaga C.
NY, USA 28 Jul 2021
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