A CENTENARIAN.
Mrs. Betsy Averill, of New Preston, Conn., last May celebrated her centennial birthday. She is still living. As the Constitution was not adopted until September, 1787, she is older by a few months than the Republic. She lives in the house in which Horace Bushnell was born. Dr. Tyler was her pastor. Dr. Lyman Beecher she knew well, and Dr. Jeremiah Day, President of Yale College, was her personal friend. For more than eighty years she has been a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. She has been conspicuously the friend of missions, and her zeal in this direction is greater now than ever. She has been a contributor to the American Missionary Association ever since its formation in 1846. The Negro, Chinese and Indian have had in her a true friend. An Indian girl whom she helped to educate sent her a picture and congratulations on her centennial anniversary. The Connecticut Indian Association passed special resolutions of kind appreciation, which were presented to her on the same occasion.
Fifty of her descendants and relatives sat down with her at the birthday dinner. This was her centennial message to the company: “I have lived a century. Long have I tested the love of God and the faith in Christ. I want to recommend to you all that loving Saviour who is my closest friend and my precious hope of glory.” She still retains to a remarkable degree health of body and vigor of mind. The editor of The Missionary “presented the cause” in New Preston, recently; he of course called upon this venerable “Mother in Israel.” To his great regret, she was not at home. She had gone off on a visit to a friend, some miles distant; but he brought away her photograph and a card on which she had, with slightly trembling hand, written her autograph.
Says her pastor, Rev. Frank S. Child: “There is a precious and inspiring lesson written upon the pages of such a rare, long life. May we learn the lesson and weave it into character.” And so say we. The American Missionary Association is proud of having had such a constituent since the beginning of its history, and The American Missionary of having such a subscriber and reader. God bless her.
Moral: If you want to have a happy old age, serve God; become a life member of the American Missionary Association, and a constant reader of The American Missionary. Try it.