St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-01-02
YOUTHS DEPARTMENT.
A FRIENDLYs CHAT.
Advice and Suggestions Given by the Old
Year to the New.

| Advice and Suggestions Given by the Old
Year to the New.
Here I ami said the New Year.
popping his head in at the door.
"Oh! there you are, eh?' replied the
Old Year Come in and let me have
look At you. And shut the door after
/ you, p!eaSe,'
Tn" New Year stepped lightly i'll, and
closed the door carefully.
Frosty nightly" he said Fine and
clear, though. 1 have had a delightful
Journey
"Ilumph!' said the Old Year. II
don't expect to find it delightful. with
this rheumatism Il, king my bones A
LONG, cold drive. | call it: bat to be
sure, thought it was pleasant when
was your age, younster. Is the Sleigh
waitiny?'
YES replied the other. But there
is no hurry. Wait Il bit. and tell me
how matters are in these part,.'
80 500 the Ola Year answered,
shaking his head. 'They might be
better. and yet | suppose they might
be worse, too. They wtr, worse. be-
fore came; much worse. too | have
done Il great deal. Now | expect YOU,
my boy, to follow my example, and be
Il good gear, al the way through"
Il shall do my BEST said the New
Year depend upon it. And now tell
me q little what there is to do
In the first place. replied the other,
you have the weather to attend TO.
To be sure, you have a clerk to help
you in that, but he is not always to be
depended upon; there is great deal of
work in that department. Your sea
sons have a way of running into each
other and getting mixed if you don't
keep a sharp lookout on them; and
the months are 4 troublesome, unruly
set. Then, you must be very careful
how you turn On your wet and dry
weather; your reputation depends in u
great measure on that.
'.But you must not expect to satisfy
everybody, for that is impossible. If
you try to please the farmers the city
people will complains: and if you de-
vote yourself to the cities the country
people will call you all manner of
names. One thing | want you to do
very carefully; that is, to watch the
leaves that are turned
Il thought Autumn attended to that
sort Of thing" said his companion.
Il don't mean leaves of trees" said the
Old Year. But at the beginning of
year, half the people in the world say:
I'm going to turn over new leafr
meaning that they intend to behave
themselves better in various respects.
AS a rule, these leaves do not stay
turned over / know great many lit
tie boys who promised me to turn over
a new leaf in regard to tearing their
clothes, and losing their jack-knives,
and bringing mud into the house on
their boots, and little girls who were
going to keep their bureau drawers
tidy, and their boot-buttons sewcd on.
But / haven't seen much Improvement |
in most of them. Indeed, what can
you expect of the children, when the |
parents set them the example? Why, |
there is a man in this neighborhood |
who has turned over new leaf in the |
matter of smoking. every year since
1868; and after the first week of each |
new year, he smokes like a chimney all |
the rest of the time"
"What is his name?" inquired the
New Year, taking out his notebook.
''His name is Smith; John Smith,
said the Old Year. There are great
many of him; and all the rest are prob
ably as bad as the particular one l
mention, so you need not be too par
ticular."
.'l'll attend to itr' said the New
Year. ANY other suggestions?'
"Well!" said the Old Year, smiling,
Il have never found that young people,
Or young years, were very apt to prof
t by good advice. You must 60 your
own way, after all. Do your best to
stop the cholera! don't start any new
INVENTIONS; there have been quite
enough lately. Above all, take care of
he children, and give them all the
good weather you can conscientiously.
"And now,' he added, rising slowly
md stitfly from his seat by the fire,
the horses are getting impatient, and
ny time is nearly up, so I must start
m my long drive. You will find every
hing in pretty good shape, I think,
hough, Of course, you will think me
IN old fogy, as perhaps | am. Well!
veil! Goodbye, my boy! Good luck
o you! and whenever you hear my
ame mentioned, try and put in a
,ood word for the Old Year "-Laura
3. Richards, IN YoutA's Companion.