Show tn h I DO Gz 1 aG q 0 LJ W1llardWGriMD 1 r iIk J Y 1yq 4 o > A d w DWAUD IAYSON WESTON aged 72 years la the youngest old man In the world Not E satisfied with a mire statement of this fact Weston has proven It by walking from New York to San Francisco a distance dis-tance of 4000 miles In 100 days Sundays excluded His arrival In Frisco Just the other day Is proof enough that there Is only one Weston It was one of the greatest walks ever undertaken by any pedestrian With thg chilly March winds making walking a difficulty along Broadway New e York Weston orj the llftecnth of the month started his long tedious coastto l coast lope and the biggest pleasure of his life came when the cool afternoon breeze as If In greeting seemed to r rise out of Golden Gate San Francis t co and malco the home stretch to the Frisco city hall more pleasant 1 Greeted by the people of San Francisco Fran-cisco with even more hospitality than he had experiencedalong the route If such a condition were possible this Interesting old man was Indeed at the height of his glory Think of Ityou who brag about a ten mlle feat of pedestrlanlsm 72yearold New Englander during his years of walking has traversed more than 25000 miles which Is the distance dis-tance around the world land and water wa-ter Included His latest achievement was accomplished accom-plished at a rate of 46 miles each day a hard proposition In consideration of the fact that Weston returned the publics little courtesies by addressing address-ing his admirers along the route Some days over level country where fast time was possible ho would negotiate ne-gotiate 50 and CO miles 1 The record was set when on his walk from Portland Port-land Me to Chicago a year ago he accomplished accom-plished b stretch of 90 miles In a day Then however he walked almost the entire 24 hours Always carrying a regulation breakfast food smile this quaint old character who by the way can address an audience as well as ho can walk long distances never lost sight of the optimistic side of his venture Happy halo hearty and a picture of color he laughed gayly at mention of the vicissitudes which he was compelled to undergo In making good In his determination to span the continent afoot Facing the sunbaked western deserts he wore the same typical Yankee smile Only once did tho relentless heat of the sands cause him to falter That was when In crossing the Great Salt Lake desert on tho twentysecond of June ho was forced to stop and rest almost two hours at Lemay Utah Ho rested almost against his will but ho realized that the little snatch of sleep at Lemay was for the best Leaving Hogup Utah at 030 that morning ho started his desert tramp That night he miles At four oclock was at Lucln 41 away the next morning ho saw dawn break over the town of Lucln and he was several miles to the west walking with the samo steady stride which marked his progress along better roads In the east Ho suffered a slight Injury from a fall In the west and this hurt augmented by the effects of tho hcatpromlsed to make his dally walks shorter Sheer persistence kept him at his task and his will power overcame his ailments ail-ments Consequently when he crossed the west state line of Utah ho was In splendid physical condition All was not milk and honey for the pedestrian pedes-trian At LaramIe Wyoming his manager forced him to stay Indoors for an entire half day In order to conserve his energy Perhaps tho states east of Illinois which greeted Weston a year ago when he made his memorable trip from Portland Mo to Chicago Chi-cago were not quite as enthusiastic over the aged pedestrian as they wore In 1908 but If such was tho case young Mr Weston failed to see the lack of hospitality One of tho speediest laps which the walker walk-er accomplished before entering California was that from Ogden to Hngup Utah Leaving Leav-ing Ogden ono hour after n Idnlght he reached tho sumllr city late In tho afternoon of tho game day It was a tramp or Cl wJes and he a t r JL IXY6aJPEEUL r i r rcYYYddd1l y Y ttrt i Ir n for shorter slower Lvr s ° slow-er steps moro In 1 F t + k 5 4 t d J keeping with the L 1 physical condition x e as c jJ + et condi-tion of his friend 1 t + a maw of four decades i ago agoTheir good by J z 4 4 y at the crossroads ° d ° cross-roads a quarter of a mile from tho farmer 1 i abode was touching a t touch-ing and for the t > 3 first and last a time during tho E r y entire trip tears appeared In the pedestrians ogee tIt t 1 t-It was the recollection T recol-lection of tho old days when Weston t Wes-ton was comparatively Z compara-tively a youngster young-ster and was befriended vl mrsasrs friended by theIR the-IR TNEfmD OFIIJ JURJC r bighearted 1 n f habitants of the 55 kws Ala 1 tf r 5 t tat QPfIlt fxORT Yn < F wd r AN declared It was the best time he had mAth during the trip To every one along his route of travel whj saw him appear on the horizon to the east and then vanish again toward the setting sun he was the same cheery hale hearty happy old gentleman His feet might bo clogged with mud If the weather happened to be Inclement In-clement his clothes rain or dew soaked It made no difference with the Weston smile however It shone no matter what the conditions condi-tions Smiling upon everyone In general bowing to the matrons throwing kisses to the misses his whole being reflected the power of tho good nature which his manager declared assisted as-sisted him in his difficult task Treading the slope of tho Rockies several days behind time he only saw the silver lining lin-ing In the clouds that threatened to blast his hopes of reaching the Pacific coast at 4 p mon m-on the 8th of July At his journeys end tho whole city of San Francisco abandoned Its last hour of tho business busi-ness day In the hope of making the pedestrians pedestri-ans welcome a warm one Just as other western west-ern cities had turned out to wavo a cheery hello hel-lo and goodby to Weston big rejuvenated Frisco was proportionately hospitable to this remarkable character With the eastern slope of the Rockies traversed tra-versed there were somo who questioned tho possibility of the pedestrians saTe arrival at tho Golden Gate on the day set for his welcome wel-come I am still a young old man he said laughingly laugh-ingly and I have shown tho pedestrian youngsters young-sters of C5 and CO years that my heyday Is not on the wane There have been plenty of obstacles to overcome but wljh a path to tread and a will behind mo nothing Is Insurmountable Fairly swimming through n sea of mud was ono of tho everyday happenings with the walker I ugreed to walk from ocean to ocean but 1 had no Idea I would bo compelled to swim part of tho way ho said But that Is Just what I had to do In Colorado My walk Into Denver was over roads which were terrible I carried tons of mud on my feet It seemed to me and It was a supreme effort to lift the dirt Itself wHit taking a step which carried my own body besides It took PedeyTtau Weston just 73 days to J reach Denver from Now York leaving him 27 days for tho trip from the Colorado metropolis to the Goldon Gnte Even when Weston had so nearly near-ly I completed his Journey as to safely traverse tho Great Salt Lake desert there were somo people In tho great cities who were skeptical as to the walkers ability to reach his destination r Cant reach 1rIscoeh queried Weston with an arching of tho eyebrows which seemed to echo Itself all over his wrinkled visage Why Ill reach the coast with time to spare And tho square Weston Jaw seemed to augur well for tho success of his resolve In every big city through which tho Now Englander passed en route to the raclflc ocean police protection from tho overenthusiastic overenthusi-astic pUbllo was necessary and ho declared that of nil the friends ho made tho city minions wero heartier hearti-er In their wishes for his ultimate success than the thousands nnd thousands who wero Interested In his long tramp His loss of time which amounted to five days as ho started to ascend tho western slope of tho mighty Rockies was occasioned oc-casioned chiefly by his desire de-sire to please the admir 4 ing common pee pul It was one of the pleasant obstacles to which he called attention atten-tion when accounting ac-counting for the del 1 a y SWP1ORjIQUD iRtiHMfaTn Many cour courtesies tesies of various character were extended to him and It was necessary to acknowledge them In so doing a little speech and perhaps per-haps a stopover for some local festivity necessitated neces-sitated lots of fast walking when the trail was again taken up Cow paths big paved city streets country roads ditches rights of way belonging to railroads rail-roads and often inero trails through the woods furnished the line of travel for the great journey Jour-ney of this aged athlete Intense enthusiasm was manifested all through the west and true hospitality of tho plains was accorded him after he departed from Chicago only a year previous ho had passed along tho same Now York Chicago route and ho seemed an old friend to the countrymen Consequently like every old friend his feat did not cause nearly so much consternation there as In the west Mercy how do you take care of your corns walking an much as you do a whitehaired grandma In Indiana asked Weston as he quenched his thirst at her well 0 theyre Just ordinary feet I have a few corns but cold water Is the best medlclnu they know It keeps them In great trim Weston woro out dozens of pairs of shoos during the Journey lIe had to have an especially espe-cially pliable shoe ono which neither pinched l his feet nor was too loose and ono of tho difficulties dif-ficulties of the trip was procuring Just the correct footwear It was 10 years ago and moro that Weston startled tho country by one of his especially long walks When passing through Illinois on his last venture ho encountered an aged farmer who was sunning himself In front of his farm home Hard work had told on tho Illlnolsans physique Ho looked little liko tho young man who had stopped Ids plowing one spring morning morn-ing bark In tho nineteenth century to oiTr tile then yearold Weston a meal at tho farm J houeo It was 10 t years later yet Wes ton recalled the meal and the old mans eyes sparkled as If In memory of the good things thu young wife had put before him Weston Inquired after the mans wife and was told that she had been dead 20 years Tears cnino Into the eyes of the aged Illinois farmer Then the pair like two old cronies set out down the road together Weston West-on abandoning his long sweeping stride bAL FI country through which ho had Journeyed Weston and Dan OLeary wore youngsters as well us pioneers In the business of pedes trlnnlsm years ago Then tho OLeary walk was a distinct rival of tho Weston walk Their feats on the thoroughfares of the country coun-try attracted far more attention than they do In these busy days and people wore getting up early In the morning morn-ing to tear oft a Journey of from t 15 to 20 miles before breakfast using the stride of their favorite 1 walker I The OLeary stride then consisted consist-ed of executing motions with the I hips shoulders as well as limbs I along with n good deal of arm swlnplng while the Now England I ers stylo consisted of n straight I swinging step with the head i shoulders and hips moving In harmony har-mony with the lower limbs i What does he get out of lit 1 What good docs It do him 7 the practical matteroffact twentieth century man will ask I In answer Wcstons friends de claro that In tho first placo everyman every-man has some hobby or other Wcstons hobby is long distance i walking In the second place It may turn Itself Into a financial venture i ven-ture some day Weston Is a good t orator and on his tours Is always In demand as n lecturer J Out at the ammo time the pedestrian Is said to bo comparatively a poor man On his walk 1 In 1908 from Portland to Chicago ho entered en-tered the Windy City with the expectation of lecturing Ho did a little speaking but not to any great extent To show his absolute integrity is an offer which was made to him and rejected by him i almost immediately of a firm manufacturing J a shoe device Ho could have turned his signature l sig-nature to the companys testimonial Into several sev-eral thousand dollars on tho spot had he f I chosen to sign a paper stating that he had t v worn the shoo contrivance on his Journey and fJ found It satisfactory Ho had not worn It and > 1 refused the offer without a seconds hesitation fJ For him pedestrianism Is one great round of pleasure IIe likes to walk and the agreement I t he made to traverse tho continent In 100 days yt simply furnished more than threo months of i P enjoyment t trft t That was Wcstons Idea The agreement was t U in a sense a secondary matter His vigor vitality I vi-tality and recupoiutlvo powers are declared t wonderful by physicians who have studied him i > Ho Is probably the greatest athlete of the age t A everything considered By post roads the distance from Now York I to San Francisco Is 4300 miles but according t c f j to the estimate furnished by Mr 1 Weston and 6 his manager tho distance Is 4600 miles which being accomplished In 100 days excluding l Sun f r i days necessitates a tramp averaging 4C miles each dny f > Considering the many setbacks which arc l bound to occur on such a journey as this the progress which Weston mado was considered > remarkable It was declared that the automobile which t was following Wosttfn deserted him in the west because that particular make of car failed to S Bet tho amount of publicity desired This Val BomuthliiB of a 1 setback for the old man because be-cause the machine carried provisions refreshments I refresh-ments and other necessities 11 |