Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-10-26

man into fit of laughter SO hearty and
good humored, that you cannot conceive
how he could ever have been guilty of the
violent conduct imputed to him. | dare say
he can scarcely believe it himself now, when
age has cast the devil out of him.
/ remember another grandfather whose
ninety second birthday was celebrated not
many years ago, at the house of his grand
daughter. He was picture of aged inno-
cence, gentle, patient, affectionate and docile
as child. But he had been AS he himself
| confessed with sigh, ga roarer" in his day
"a sad dog among the women, sir; a six
bottle man, a beaten of the watch, brawler,
swaggerer, ever ready to eat fire and re-
sen. the slightest insult with lead and steel.
! And there he was, on his ninety second
birthday, propped up to the table with a
napkin tied round his neck. The swaggerer
who was so ready with sword and pistol,
cannot now be trusted with knife and fork
His food had been cut up for him, and he is
eating ii with spoon. The six-bottle N an
is drinking toast and water, weakly favored
with brandy from mug He cannot grasp
/ a tumbler now, and finds it convenient to
| have drinking vessel with a handle. He
who had been sad dog among the women
sir, and ruined SO many regulations, grows
| faint before the feast is over, and feebly
calls to his granddaughter to come and sup
| port him. And there he lies like a weak
child, nesting his palsied head On her bosom
1.-The gay Lothario asv
| sometimes wonder what is meant by the
commandment which says, "Honor thy father
and thy mother; that thy days may be long
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth
! thee" Does it mean that they who honor
their father and mother will live long Can
it be that those otherwise wicked persons
who 1--we to be happy old grandfathers, at
tain length of days. because in their youth
! they honored their fathers and mothers? 1t
| is pleasant to think SO; pleasant to see how
bread thus early cast upon the waters, comes
! back after many days to the generous hand
which originally bestowed it. How seldom
do we meet on the highway of life with
gray-headed grandfather trudging the last
miles of the journey, friendless and alone.
Nearly always he has children or grand
children by his side to ease his burden and
take him by the hanl and help him up when
he faints by the way.
With regard 10 grandmothers! Is it not
a fact that we are accustomed to associate
certain idea of worldliness and selfishness
of wickedness in fact--with grandmothers
which does not arise in out mind when we
picture to ourself an aged grandfather? We
are indebted in great measure to the novel
writers for this impression but we have no
reason to question the faithfulness OF the
picture. We rarely have the idea of O wick
ed old grandfather, but we often, | am afraid,
have the idea Of wicked old grandmother.
There is popular ideal Of the wicked old
woman in wig, walking with q crutch stick,
atch-making for worldly goods, scheming,
|. lying, telling improper stories, gambling at
cards and cheating sometimes. Is it a true
picture, q faithful likenesse n | am afraid
sometimes it is. There are good grandmoth-7
ers, of course; but there are bad ones, and
they are more often bad than the grand
fathers. But we must make reasonable al
lowance for them. A man in his young and
middle days can have his fling and take
his fill of pleasure He can sow his wild
oats to the last grain. The wide scope Of his
indulgence enabled him to see the folly of
things. Not so with woman. Her young
days are period of restraint her married
life is one of subsection. If she be wiskedly
inclined, it is not until she becomes an old
grandmother that she can have her fling.
The old grandfather has done with the fro
ward ways of the world the old grandnoth-
er begins to take them in hand.
There are certain outward attributes of the
grandmother which accord with this view of
her character While the old grandfather
humbly bows his bald head or blanched hair
to the stroke of Time, the old grandmother
endeavors to bear up against him with q wig
or false front. She is skittish creature
sometimes, and will go out into the field when
the harvest is fully ripe, and coquette with the
old gentleman who yields the scythe. She
beguiles him to drop his cleaning blade and
sid down beside her; and she is quite free
with him, and taps him over his old knuckles
with her fan. This grandmother tricks her.
self into the belief that the old man will con-
tinue polite, and will not suddenly rise up,
take his weapon in hand, and cut her down
with the rest And so she goes on pursuing
worldly traffic to the very last. This, Of
course, is only true of some old women but
it is true of them all, that they are more
troubled about the worlds affairs than men :;
that when they are disposed to any vice, they
follow it with stronger passion; that when
they are the victims of any weakness, they are
more completely under its influence. Avarice
has been called good old gentlemanly vice.
1t is rathe., think, good old gentlewoman-
ly vice. There is an extreme period of age
when man drops the money-bags; but
woman clings to them to the last, and will die
with her fingers clatching them. Not that
she is naturally more avaricious than man,
but her life of dependence has filled her with
! an inordinate dread of poverty. Sheis afraid
of being alone and friendless, acsthoat money.
The old man has not this dread. At GER
tain stage he cares little what becomes of him.
He will go to the workhouse cheerfully, while
the woman will, of all last resources, avoid
that
| The drop of dew which glistens under the
| sunlight like a diamond, reveals under the
microscope a mass of writing, wriggling
worms, fearsome to look at. Let us then
stand little back from our grandfathers and
grandmothers Let us shut up the microscope
and view them under the sun. Going down
| the hill together hand in hand, they are a
! spectacle to fill the heart with gratitude to
Heaven that such peaceful fate IS mans on
earth. What privilege for & grown man to
have an aged grandfather and grandmother! !
Ito be their stay and support in their old
days; to stand by at last and close their eyes.
What happiness to the aged to be thus low
| ingly tended, ard have their own old care
repaid to them. Truly, length of days are
blessed portion to old people, who live to
see their children and their children's chill
dren spring up around them with constant
increase of affection-giving assurance that
man can never die, and love can never fade
-
AN ECCENTRIC INvENToR.-In noticing the
death of Mr.. Appold, the well-known engi-
neer, a London paper observes that the most
remarkable proofs of his cleverness as an
! inventor we're collected in his own house and
| the works adjoining it, There everything