Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1873-10-04
Treatment Of Aged Parents.

e under the strictest discipline Of virtue
+ a tendency to exclude the parent from
t the domestic society as soon as he be
t gins to show the first weaknesses of age
The part which it is natural for him tc
take III the intercourse of the household
t IS looked upon as an invasion of the
rights OF the younger members and he
: ls felt to be intruding where no priv.
, lege las been granted him, when he
makes himself part Of the company,
and enjoys the pieasantries of the CON
, Yersation with the freedom from re-
straint to which his years entitle him.
When the anecdote is told, it is not
meant for him; and he is rebuffed for
the meek parental interest that makes
hum hang inquiringly upon the lips of
the favorite son who relates it. The
laws OF urbanity and politeness, which
they observe toward all the world, are
suspended toward him; ard in vain
Noes he look for one act of kindness,
sweetened by obliging gentleness of
manner and the tenderness of flial afIec-
tion.
The youth of such families, changing
the maxim of Scripture, are persuaded
that folly is bound up in the heart of
age, and that, by incessant satire and
discountenance, it is to be driven fan
from him. They mark his steps with
inquisitorial eye, and, if everything
done and said by him is not nodded
into the most sensible form that can be
imagined, it is marked with judicial
severity, or passed by in contemptuous
silence
The natural infrmities that insensibly
grow upon age are regarded as volurta-
ry weaknesses, exercised gratuitously for
the annoyance Of all about him. The
beautiful simplicities, the graceful
slackening of the mental chord. that
are the chief attraction OF hoary hairs,
excite perpetual indignation in the
minds of the young; and they suppose
they are paying a tribute to wisdom and
to good SCI Sc, by meeting them, when
ever they appear, by some mark of dis.
appreciation or contempt.
There is no stronger proof of the .
shallowness of human nature, and the
proyerbial folly of youth than the fact
that children can discover anything in
the old age of their parents, calculated
to excite contempt; and that they do
not discover in them everything we are
accustomed to cherish with fondest ven
Grafton.
There is no object about a family
mansion so beautiful or so auspicious,
rs hoary-headed father Or mother,
though with falttring gait showing
himself at its door, ascending its steps,
and walking its grounds. No pillar, no
monument, could so connect the idea of
with the estate, or reflect so
much glory upon those to when it is to
descend. The wisdom he has gathered
through a long course of action and the
long experience of years, and by means
Of which he acquired his present pos
Sc sions, is still at the head of affairs,
and constitutes an almost certain secu-
rity to the welfare of the family. The
good fortune, too, which has attended !
him through life continues while he
lives, to rest upon his house, affording
4 ground of confidence TO its members
which no man of sense will be ready to
Age, further, is valuable element in
| family circle, as it is a token of the
blessing of the eternal abiding on it, j,
md a kind of guarantee for its contiu-
lance so long as that element remains y
There is in the child an instinct that
gives it feeling of security whilst it !,
walks near its fathers side; and the
anne is found to operate in later life, :,
n perfect consistency with the manifest
In every right-hearted man,
he surviving life and presence of father .
n mother, though in their feeblest age, :,
$ felt to be like temple or an altar,
'lace of sacred refuge, where danger :,
nd misfortune will scarcely approach u
lim, What is calculated to- fill the
leart with nobler or frmer sense of I"
trength and pride, than to have in our -
'osom still, those who were the venera =
lie founders of our name, whose con- y
inued existence associates MS still with '
whatever was prosperous or honorable :
u our history? Stronger motives than y y
hese cannot be imagined, to cherish =, Al
hem with tender reverence, and, by as
iduous care and gentleness, to lengthen " y,
ut their lives to the utmost limit that :"
Providence will allow. A body of the "
lost precious advantages of life is ire :, :,
rievably lost at the moment of their
ecease. All the collected wisdom, all ', V
he charm of antiquity, all the kindness :, :,
f fortune and goodwill of heaven that ~ =,
'ere settled upon the common roof :
AXE their departure with them. This p
art of the inheritance it is not in their VI
over to leave behind them. Each :" =
lember OF the family must begin to act ~ -
1 new and separate field, where every - =,
hing has to be rebuilt; to revolve, as a - =,
tar, in new and untried orbit, in " "
'hich it will not often happen, that he =,
ill rise to an equal hight of happiness :"
nd glory with those that have Just U
one downs. p. Heron. p
----------- III
A LADY was much beset by her negro q,
ook for permission to attend the fune- :,
II of some relative but, to compensate :
er for the denrivation ber rn;strooo