The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-07-09
"YOUNG FOLKS THINK OLD FOLKS ARE
FOOLS" ETC.

Everybody knows the adage and q
complete it. AS originally put. IN avery
old English play. it ran, Young men
think old men are fools, but old men
know young men are fools" 1t would
not be fair to contine so wise a saying
to the male sex. and custom has kindly
changed it so as to include the female
as well. AS a matter of fact. young
women are no wiser than young men,
though they have different ways of max
ing fools of themselves.
1t is very hard to convince 8 young
person that he or she is a fool. This is
due to two causes: first, every young
man or woman, as the case may be, be-
lieves that he or she knows all that is
worth knowing; and, second. no young
man or woman likes to think that any
person can know more than he or she
does. A young person cannot under-
stand why age or experience should
bring wisdom. Trying to impress this
fact on a young person is some
what like trying to explain the difference
III COiOIo W % DC2Sph OOAh OsAn ~
is simply beyond their comprehension.
1t is one of the misfortunes of life that
each individual has TO acquire mis- OF her
Own experience. What q great thing 1t
would be if wise old men and women
could, on quitting the world, Oequeath
their experience in q concrete form to
their children-that is, actually be-
queath in such form that it could be
utilized. Of course. they can relate
their experiences or write them out and
use the ordinary means Of impressinR
them on their children, but this has no
effect, for the reason above stated, that
young people think they already know
all that is worth knowing, ana they can
not understand how any PERSONS ex-
~perience can be of value to them. Every
person has to have bis own experience.
Elderly persons shudder to see young
persons doing many things because they
see the end from the beginning-tbey
have seen the folly of it. But always
the young person wants to see the folly
of it, too. He is not willing to take the
word of an elder hat such or such Q
thing is foolish, vicious, injurious or
dangerous; he wants TO find it u for
himself. and very often does SO at e
frightfnl cost. Experience" says Ben.
jamin Franklin, "keeps a dear school,
but fools will learn in no other" This
is true of fools of all ages. but particu-
larly SO of young fools.
1t is a common thing to lear old peo-
pie tell what they would do it they had
their lives to live over again with my
present experience" All, yes. if one
could startput in the world with the
experience of age he could avoid the
follies OF youth, but it is not SO or
dained. The inexorable law of the hu-
man race is that each individual must
acquire his or her own experience, and,
as a general rule, no person profits much
by the experience of any other. 1t has
beer 40 from the beginning of time, and
will probably be SD till the end. For
every wise man or woman that dies
there ia a fool born. This fool will FOL-
low in the footsteps of other fools,
learning wisdom only by sad expert
encs, having it pounded into him in
| spite of himself, until when he gets to
be an old man he will find himself
offering good advice to young people,
which they scornfully reject, and say
| ing to himself, as his father before him
did. "Young people think old people
are fools. but old people know young
people are fools"