The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-11-02
Select Storp.
AN OLD FoGY
BY MAX ADELER.

'sThe good old times And the old
times lcere good, my dear; better, much
better than the times that you live in. /
know / am an cid fogy, Nelly" said
Ephraim Batterby, re6lling his pipe, and
looking at his granddaughter, who sat with
him in front Of the fire, with her head
bending over her sewing; Il know / am
an old fogy, aud | glory in it.
'.But you never win be for me, grand
pa, said Nelly, glancing at him with a
smile.
"Yes, my dear, am for everybody. 1
am man of the past Everything |
ever cared for, and ever loved, excepting
you, belongs to the years that have gone;
and my affections belong to those years.
liked the people Of the old time better
than do those of the new. | loved their
simpler ways, the ways that / knew in my
boyhood, threescore and more years ago,
am sure the world is not so good as it
was then. It is smarter, perhaps; knows
more, but its wisdom vexes and disgusts
me. / am not certain, my dear, that, if
had my way, would not sweep away,
at one stroke, all the so called "modern
couvenieucies, and return to the ancient
methods.
'sThey were very slow, grandpa"
~Yes, slow; and for that liked them.
We 90 too fast now, but our speed, / am
afraid, is hurrying us in the wrong diree-
ton. We we're satisfied in the old times
with what we had 1t was good enough.
Are men eOntented now? No; they are
still improving aud improving still reach
ing out for something that will be quicker
or easier or cheaper than the things that
are. We appear to have gained much;
but really we have gained nothing. We
are not bit better off than We we're; not
so well of, 10 my opinion"
''But, grandpa, you must remember
that you we're young, then, and, perhaps,
looked at the world in more hopeful way
than you do now.
"Yes, l allow for that, Nelly, allow
for that; I don't deceive myself. My
youth don't seem so very far off that can
not remember it distinctly. l judge the
time fairly, now in my old age, as / judge
the present time, and my assured opinion
is that it was superior in its ways, its life
and its people All, Nelly, my dear,
there were three persons in that past who
alone would consecrate it 10 me. am
afraid there are not many women now like
your mother and mine, and my dear wife,
whom you never saw. 1t seems to me,
my child, that | would willingly have all
my life over again, with its strifes and sor-
rows, if l could clasp again the hand of
one of those angelic women, and hear a
word from her sweet lips"
As the old man wiped the gathering
moisture from his eyes, Nelly remained
silent, choosing not to disturb the reverie
into which he had fallen. Presently Eph-
rain rose abruptly, and said, with smile
"Come, Nelly dear, guess it is time
TO go to bed. | must be up very early to-
morrow morning"
"At what hour do you want breakfast,
grandpa 2"
"Why, too soon for you, you sleepy
puss. shall breakfast myself before you
are up, or else shall breakfast down town.
| have a huge cargo of wheat in from
Chicago, and / must arrange to have it
shipped to Liverpool. There is one thing
that remains to me from the old time, and
that is some Of the hard work Of my youth;
but even that seems little harder than it
used to. So, come now, to bed to bed !"
While he was undressing, and long af-
ter he had crept beneath the blankets,
Ephraim's thoughts wandered back and
back through the spent years; and, as the
happiness he had known came freshly and
strongly into his mind, he felt drawn more
and more towards it, until the new and
old mingled together in strange but placid
confusion in his brain, aud he fell asleep
When he awoke it was still dark, for
the winter had just begun; but he heard
or did he only dream that he heard pa
clock in some neighboring steeple strike
six. He knew that he must get up, for
his business upon that day demanded early
attention.
He sat up in bed, yawned, and stretched
his arms once or twice, and then, hinging
the cover aside, ne leaped to the floor
He fell and hurt his arm somewhat.
Strange that he should have miscalculated
the distaueel The bed seemed more than
twice as high from the floor as it should
be. It was too dark to see distinctly, so
he crept to the bed and felt it. Yes, it
was at least four feet from the floor, and
very oddly, it had long, slim posts, such
as beds used to have, instead of the low,
carved footboard, and the high carved
headboard, which belonged to the bed
stead upon which he had slept in recent
years. Ephraim resolved to strike light
He greped his way TO the table, and tried to
find the matchbox. 1t was not there; he
could not discover it upon the bureau,
either But he found something else,
which he did not recognize at first, but
which more careful examination told
him was flint and steel. He was vexed
that any one should play such a trick
upon him. How could he ever succeed in
lighting the gas with flint and steel
But he resolved to try, and he moved
over toward the gas bracket by the bureau
1t was not there He passed his cold
hand over square yard of the wall, where
the bracket used to be, but it had vanish
ed. 1t actually seemed, too, as if there
was no paper on the wall, for the white
wash scaled off beneath his fingers.
Perplexed ard angry, Ephraim was
about to replace the flint and steel upon
the bureau, and to dress in the dark, when
his hand encountered candlestick. 1t
contained candle. He determined to
try to light il. He s,ru K the flint upon
the steel at least dozen times, in the way
he remembered doing so often when he was
boy, but the sparks refused to catch the
finder. He struck again and again, until
he became really warm with effort and in
dignation, and, at last, he succeeded.