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- IF YOU WANT TO LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED.
A LITTLE ADVICE FROM THE GRAND OLD LADY OF EAST LONDON, WHO STILL KNITS AND SEWS WITHOUT GLASSES
BY CYRIL E. WATLING
“Plenty of work and plenty of fun. Never eat too much, drink lots of water and get out into the fresh air as much as you can. That is my formula if you want to live for a hundred happy years.”
Mrs James Attwell, who has just celebrated her hundredth birthday, spoke sitting in her home at East London. She was crocheting a pretty, silken table ornament and her fingers nimbly manipulated the needle and thread as she talked.
Her astonishing vitality, her clear blue eyes - as yet unspectacled - and her fresh, rosy cheeks would have done credit to a young woman of thirty. She chatted incessantly as she worked, flavouring her tales of long ago many, many years before most of us were born with the sharp humour and sophisticated subtlety that indicates an alert, observant mind.
Mrs Attwell is one of the select few in South Africa who were born in this country and have lived one hundred years here. There are, of course, quite a number of centarians alive, but very few, if any, can, like Mrs Attwell, claim the retention of practically every normal faculty.
She enjoys splendid health, knits and sews without glasses, and always does her share of housework in the home of her daughter, Mrs F. Melville, with whom she lives.
Her mind is active and her memory good. She remembers the tumultuous days in the middle of last century when the Native tribes of the Eastern Cape were restless and aggressive, long before they gaveexpression to their discontent in the tragic wars and rebellions against the early colonists.
Mrs Attwell was born at Grahamstown in 1835. Her father, Captain Ferreira, was in the police force, and her grandfather was Admiral Ferreira, an eminent officer in the Portuguese Navy. She lived herchildhood days at Grahamstown and was there when the early Kaffir wars broke out. In 1853 her father was killed near the Fish River by a Hottentot, who shot him in the back while he was reconnoitring.
Mrs Attwell was a girl of nineteen when the first representative Parliament of the Cape Colony was formed under the Governorship of Sir George Grey, and she lived all through the romantic days of early history when the Kimberly diamond fields were found and the goldfields of the Transvaal were discovered.
In 1862, while living at Fort Beaufort, in the Eastern Province, she married James Attwell. The event is described in the following interesting entry in the family Bible:-
“Married by special licence at Lovedale, British Kaffiraria, on March 27th, 1862, by the Rev. R. Bort, of Peelton Mission: James Attwell, eldest son of James Attwell of Battlesden, Victoria East, to Charlotte Marie Ferreira, eldest daughter of P.H. Ferreira of Stoneham, Albany, late inspector of the Police Force.”
In those days the Cape Colony was a wild, uncivilised country, and it is not surprising that some strange experiences befell the newly married couple, who went to live on a farm called “Crockduff,â€
in British Kaffraria. Their homestead was not far from the Lovedale Mission Station, and at that time settlers were often murdered in their homes. When attacks were anticipated, or news was received from outlying centres of the advance of any hostile gangs, the settlers were warned by messages sent out from the mission stations, and they packed up their belongings and rode to the nearest settlement, where they were fairly safe from the wandering gangs.
The Attwells became friendly with an old chief who lived near their farm, and he always kept them advised of the movements of Native impis and advised them when it was prudent to go to the missions for protection and when it was safe for them to remain on their farm. In peaceful times the old chief was a constant visitor at the Attwells homestead, where he came regularly for a cup of tea and aslice of bread.
Mrs Attwell had an alarming experience as a young woman. She was riding through a ravine on the way to visit an aunt, when her horse tool fright at a sudden clap of thunder and tripped over. She fell off and the horse rolled over her, pinning her to the ground, It was some time before she was released, and she was badly injured. But, after being an invalid for three years, she recovered and was able to lead a normal life.
Before the South African War, Mr and Mrs Attwell moved to King Williamstown, and subsequently to Johannesburg. They had eleven children, four of whom are now living. They are Mr G.H. Attwell of Heidelberg; Mr M.I.Attwell of Benoni; Mrs Behan, of Johannesburg; and Mrs F. Melville, of East London.
“Yes, life was much happier and easier in those good old days.” Mrs Attwell said as we chatted over a cup of tea. “There were no motor cars of aeroplanes to disturb the tranquillity of existence then, and the bogeys as appendicitis and all the other new-fangled diseases which effect the generation of the twentieth century.”
Mrs Attwell does not believe in total abstention from liquor, and used to enjoy a “sundowner” when the days work was over. But she says that all pleasures should be taken in moderation. She was extremely fond of dancing, both as a pastime and an exercise, and used to visit the theatre and cinema until she was 97. Her whole life has been one of rational effort, dominated by the theme “moderation in all things.”
There was a merry twinkle in her eyes as she saw me to the door, accompanied by her daughter and son-in-law. “I am sorry I am not wearing my false teeth.” She said. “To look at me, I suppose anyone would think I was an old woman!”
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