103rd Birthday

WHEN MISS MARY JANE DEWEY WAS TEN years old the laborious task of pushing the railroad north to Lebanon was completed. In that year, 1847, Daniel Webster made his famous speech from a flat car just south of Hanover and the arrival of the railroad in the New Hampshire North Country was celebrated.

Miss Dewey remembers Daniel Webster and says she saw him in Hanover and heard him speak at the College. She was born August 14, 1837, and was the liveliest person present at her 103rd birthday party this summer at the old family place near the north end of the Park, where College and Park Streets meet on the road to Lyme.

This is the large weather-beaten house and barn that 10 out of 10 people who see it refer to as "the place I would like to buy." The discussion is purely academic however since the present occupant has already outlived many of the people who cast longing eyes at the property.

The birthday cake with its 103 candles was made by Mrs. C. P. Clark whose husband Dr. Clark (of the Clark School) is attorney and manager of Miss Dewey's affairs. When Miss Dewey was asked to cut her cake she remonstrated: "I don't want any cake, and besides I'm not hungry." However the fact that some of the neighborhood children, about 100 years younger than Mary, were present and were eyeing the handsome cake with interest resulted in the party proceeding as planned in spite of this unexpected resistence.

When the Dartmouth Zouaves was formed as a student military company in 1861 Miss Dewey was a young woman of 24. She remembers the Civil War with great clarity and having lived through three others—the Mexican, Spanish, and No. 1 World Wars—she speaks with authority on the subject. She reads a daily paper and thoughts of the present war apparently fill her mind. As the central figure in the festive little birthday group she kept repeating: "War is terrible. It is awful. I know how bad war is and now we are in the middle of another terrible war."

Dartmouth was founded before the nation itself, in 1769. Its 172nd year begins this fall. Miss Dewey provides a single link with the earliest days of the College. When she was a girl playing beneath the great pines of Hanover Plain in the 1840's she doubtless saw and knew men who knew Eleazar Wheelock—men who themselves witnessed Eleazar's struggles to establish his school "for the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes . . and also of English Youth and any others " Asked if she could recall hearing people talk of Dr. Wheelock she said:

"That is a familiar name. Is he here?" One is not sure whether Mary Dewey's occasional nonsensical replies are intensional wit or lapses from her usually keen conversation. Certainly she enjoys the resulting laughter as much as anyone else, and often at the interviewer's expense.

The old lady is a staunch Republican. She was asked: "What do you think of Roosevelt?" She made a choking noise and, seeming unable to get the words out, Albert Dewey, her nephew, interposed: "She don't like him." As they say up this way, Albert is "no spring chicken." He is 84, hale and hearty. He takes care of his aunt, does the cooking, and tends to a large garden.

Although Miss Dewey is pretty deaf her eyesight is supposed to be remarkably good. Your reporter, although aging, has about one-third the years that rest lightly on this venerable woman. He expressed! pleasure in the birthday interview and said goodbye. "Goodbye," she said, "I am glad you came. I always like to see the old ones." We retired from the party in some confusion.

Fearing the demands of the festive day might have had some ill-effects we called Mrs, Clark a few days later to inquire for Miss Dewey's health. "She's feeling fine, said Mrs. Clark. "The day after her party she ate six ears of corn for lunch."

That's the way to start your 104 th year;

WHEN INTERVIEWED ON HER BIRTHDAY MARY JANE DEWEY, 103, OF HANOVER SAID (LEFT): "THANK YOU FOR COMING. I ALWAYS LIKE TO SEE THE OLD ONES." Center: THE FAMILY PLACE ON NORTH COLLEGE STREET IN WHICH SHE HAS LIVED FOR 100 YEARS; AND Right MISS DEWEY'S AGE SHOWS IN HER HANDS IF NOT ALWAYS IN HER FACE.