The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-10-02

NUMBER 40.


| Treatment Of Aged Parents.
/ There is in most families that are no
under the strictest discipline of virtue
tendency to exclude the parent from
the domestic society as soon ss he be
gins to show the first weaknesses Of age
The part which it Is natural for him {,
take in the intercourse Of the househol,
IS looked upon as an invasion of thl
rights of the younger members and IA,
is felt TO be intruding where no priv
lege has been granted him. when h
makes himself part of the company
and enjoys the pleasentries of the con
versation with the freedom from re
straint to which his years entitle him
When the anecdote is told, il is no
meant for him and he is rebuffed foi
the meek parental interest that make,
him hang inquiringly upon the lips 81
the favorite son who relates It. The
laws of urbanity and Politeness, which
they observe toward all the world, are
suspended toward him and in vair
does he look Tor one act of kindness
sweetened by ohliging gentleness oi
manner and the tenderness Of flial affeo-
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 fal
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 infirmities that insensibly
grow upon age are regarded as yolunta-
~ 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 ser 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
proverbial 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 family
mansion so beautiful or so auspicious,
as hoary-headed father or mother,
though with faltering gait showing
himself atits door, descending its steps,
and walking its grounds. No pillar, no
monument, could so connect the idea Of
stability with the estate, or reflect so
much glory upon those to whom 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 seeu-
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
ground of confidence to its members
which no man Of sense will be ready to
undervalue.
Age, further, is a valuable element in
a family circle, as It is a token of the
blessing of the eternal abiding on it,
and kind of guarantee for it's contin-
uance so long as that element remains.
There is in the child an instinct that
gives it feeling of security whilst it
walks near its fathers side and the
same is found to operate in later life,
in perfect consistency with the manifest
fortitude. In every right-hearted man,
the surviving life and presence of father
or mother, though in their feeblest age,
is felt to be like temple or an altar, a
place of sacred refuge, where danger
and misfortune viii scarcely approach
him. What is calculated to fll the
heart with a nObler or firmer sense Of
strength and pride, than 20 have in our
bosom still, those who were the venera
bic founders OF our name, whose con-
tinued existence associates us still with
whatever was prosperous or honorable
in our history? Stronger motives than
these cannot be imagined, to cherish
them with tender reverence, and, by as
siduous care and gentieness, to lengthen
out their lives to the utmost limit that
Providence will allow. A body of The
most precious advantages of life is ire
trievably lost at the moment of their
decease. Ali the collected wisdom, all
the charm of antiquity, ali the kindness
of fortune and good viii OF heaven that
were settled upon the common roof
take their departure with them This
part Of the inheritance IL is not in their
power to leave behind them. Each
member Of the family must begin 70 act
in a new and separate field, where every
thing has 10 be rebuilt; TO rsvolve, as
star, in a new and untried orbit, IN
which it viii not often happen, that he
viii rise 10 an equal hight Of happiness
and glory with those that have just
gone down. p. Heron.
"
IT has long been belief among
that there is neither air
nor water on the surface Of the moon.
But closer observation shows that
some Of the rocks are sedimentaFT. (. C.,
made mp Of material washed from other
rocks. This proves that water once ex-
..a.a :. -. -. 4 - H.. L..