It isn't so much the lack of love as fast living, that is responsible for so many divorces in these times, is the opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Sweeny, of 217 West Fifth St, who are today quietly celebrating the sixty-sixth anniversary of their wedding. The couple were married July 9, 1865, in the Methodist parsonage on Welsh Street, shortly after Mr. Sweeny had returned from service in the Civil War. The parsonage where they were united in wedlock has long given place to more modern structures, and memories have become vague of those times long ago when this city was slightly larger that a good sized village, but Mr. and Mrs. Sweeny, like the brook in Tennyson's famous poem, seem to, "go on forever."
Mr. Sweeny is 89 and Mrs. Sweeny is 84. Both are in excellent health despite their age and Mr. Sweeny works every day as a guard at the Delaware County Trust Company in the Crozer building, a position he has held for over thirty years.
Three sons were born to the couple, all of whom are living. They are, Charles R. Sweeny, Jr., 65; William B. Sweeny, 63; and John Sweeny, 59. There are eighteen grandchildren, thirty-five great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild, representing five generations.
"It was always my desire to be a great-great grandmother." said Mrs. Sweeny this morning. "and now that I have realized my desires it gives me as much satisfaction as though I had amassed millions of dollars."
Grey-haired, aged, but ____, the elderly couple still stand staunch and ___ with life, widened by experience and happy.
Rap Fast Living
Both believe the present generation is living "too fast."
"Our opinion isn't occasioned by our lack of modernity and this generation's ideas, but we have seen and know both, and believe the old way of living is much better," they say.
"When we were young," Mrs. Sweeny said this morning, "we played hard and worked hard, and got plenty of sleep, which, after all, is the most beneficial factor of good health. But now, poeple think they must stay up until past midnight in order to have a complete day."
Mrs. Sweeny abhors the fact that women have taken to smoking and drinking. She doesn't believe it is just the thing to do and moreover, contends that is subtracts extremely from the innate dignity of women.
"When I was a girl, and indeed, up until several years ago, women who smoked were not tolerated in good society, but now that's all changed. If you don't smoke, you're liable to be a wall-flower, and no young girl wants to be that."
There is nothing prudish about Mr. and Mrs. Sweeny. Longevity has rewarded them with a sounded philosophy of life which they hold to be best for them. They criticize the present generation only in that the views of those who count themselves members of this "age" conflict so sharply with their views.
There will be no celebration today. As they term it, "we got tired of celebrations long ago," and the day will be passed quietly in their peaceful home, where they have lived for the past 24 years.
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