Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 235, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1912 — DUE TO SIMPLE DIET [ARTICLE]

DUE TO SIMPLE DIET

Centenarian Gives Secret of His, System of Living. ;t __ No Fancy Foods and a Dally Walk of a Mlle Is Rule That Helps Retain Mental and Physical - Faculties.

Cleveland, 0. —William C. Clark has formulated a system of living which he asserts has enabled him to retain his mental and physical faculties ior more than a century. He recently observed his one hundred and first birthday anniversary at the home of his daughter, Mrs. A. C. Malcolm, No. 7215’ "Linwood avenue, N. E.

Moderation in eating is Mr. Clark’s primary rule; the one by which he accounts for his longevity. Plain food — no pastries—comprises his diet. He was practising the theories of Horace Fletcher years before Fletcher came into the limelight by his advocacy of the simple diet. Mr. Clark does not use alcoholic liquors. “I once used tobacco,” he said, “but I became disgusted with the habit when I came to this country. I am thankful now that I gave it up.” When weather conditions permit he takes a walk of a mile or more every day. In spite of his age he can go about alone, The public square, however, he declares, is the most dangerous place he has ever seen. Mr. Clark was born near London, England, in 1811, when the reign of George 111. was drawing to a close. Six English sovereigns have ruled in the course of his life. None of the phantoms and fancies of old age exist to him. Last week at his centennial birthday celebration, to show that he was not superannuated, in the strict sense of the term, he sang the bass part in a quartet that had gathered at his daughter’s home. Mr. Clark has had an eventful life. In early youth he was apprenticed to a firm of oyster dredgers. Following this occupation, he spent a number of years in the merchant service and has touched at almost every port on the European coast. Once in a storm off the coast of Greenland he feared that his career was to be a short one. His ship had taken on a cargo at a Russian port and on the return voyage had been driven far up into the Arctic ocean. Sitting by a window at his daughter’s home the old man’s eyes sparkled as he told of the hardships

that he underwent for three weeks before the ship had passed out of the Arctic region. Coming to this country in 1863, Mr. Clark settled on a farm in Ashland county. Here his life was compar-

atively uneventful. Twelve children went forth from his home. Six of * them are living today. Eight years ago his wife died, and’now Mr. Clark spends his time at the homes of his children.