Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1913 — Retired? Not So That Anybody Could Notice It [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Retired? Not So That Anybody Could Notice It

Cincinnati, o. —Not long ago an aged man presented himself at the “new account*’ window of a local bank and asked to have his semi-annual interest entered in his passbook. Recognising him at once, the teller on duty asked: “Are you still retired?” “1 reckon I am, as far as ever I was,” replied the depositor, smiling grimly. The little joke dates back a year or two to the day when the account was opened. Accompanied by his wife on that occasion, the aged farmer from Ohio’s onion belt tendered the teller a roll of banknotes counting up In the thousands.

"How old are you?” asked the clerk, pursuant to the bank's practice of keeping such bits of information on file. “Eighty-six.” ' “Occupation?”

“Farmer.” “Farmer, retired," repeated the teller and began to write It so. “‘Retired,’ nothing!” protested the octogenarian. “If you call working 160 acres of land being retired, then I suppose I’m retired.” The teller made suitable apologies. As It was to be a joint account, the

wife also was questioned as to her ago. "Dp I have to tell?” she asked. “No, not unless you wish.” “Well, ladies are a little basnful about telling their age after they pass thirty.” “Aw, tell the man how old you are, Hannah." The husband seemed disgusted with coyness. < "Well,” the old lady made confession reluctantly, “I ain’t so old as the old man is, but I'm eighty-four.” “And I suppose you are retired, too?” said the smiling teller. “That may be your name for It, but what with the cooking and the housework and the milking and the buttering and all, I manage tv keep kind of busy.”