The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-03-03
Difference to Age-Our Country Lacl
the Fine Observance.

the Fine Observance.
1t was the general custom of young
people in past generations, much more
than it is today, to treat aged persons
with Difference which, if not an express
sion of veneration-since that is not al.
ways welcome to the recipient-yet was
the cause of great deal Of fine observ-
ance. III fact, this was so urged and in
sisted on that it at length became Il
tyranny, as when child woulu not sit
down in an elders presence And the
tyranny of course brought it's reaction.
But in its better form we see q great
deal more of this fine observance now in
some of the older countries than we do
III our own, where there is too general n
feeling that the world belongs only to the
young. 1t is said, for example, that in
France the grandmother rules her family
with royal prerogative; a marriage is
not legal, We are told, without her con-
sent, and she remains person Of inn
portance as long as she has breath to
breathe. In England, in Germany, in
Spain, in Italy, in Turkcy--where the
queen-mother really rules the harem, and
often has great influence with her son.
and even in China, that last fortress
holding out against civilization, there is
delightful cordiality and respect given
by the young to the old, says Harper's
Bazaar.
In England, and in some other coun-
tries as we'll, and among the very best
bred families in our own land, if an old
person enters a room, the young girl
rises sweetly and naturally, and remains
standing till the other is seated, just as
a well-bred man or boy does when any
lady, young or old, enters the room
where he is. If the seat needs arrange
ment, the young girl springs to attend
to it; if the work vexes, she tries to
straighten it out; if the place is lost in
the book, she hastens to find it; she
pauses in her conversation if the elder
speaks; she never undertakes to lead the
conversation in the others presence any
way, unless in recital of some experience
or affair amusing or interesting to the
Older person; she makes it her business
to see where she can be of use or can
give pleasure; and she does all this so
entirely as matter of course that the
elder person accepts it as a social due,
and not as the annoying gift of pity If
the young girl has companions of her own
present, she does not allow the old per-
son to feel shut out from part and sym
pathy in their chat; but she explains,
and brings the elder one into it, and gives
that elder person the unspeakable salts
faction of feeling not only still interested
m the things Of youth, but Of seeing the
old sympathy solved and the old opinion
regarded. One. thing the young girl Ca
always -De sure of be It here, IhgTe,S "
anywhere, that, provided the aged person
is at all a, sympathetic one. the CONVEX
station that cannot be pursued when the
latter joins them is one that would bet
ter not have been begun.
When young persons take into account
the simple fact that if they live they
also will have to become old, will lose
bloom and beauty, the ornament of the
hair, the white teeth, the chapely figure,
the supple strength, they may think it
worth while, for the sake Of their own
comfort in the future, to foster the habit
Of courtesy, not to say of reverence,
that they themselves may find it pleasant
to receive when their turn comes. 1t will
be sordid taking into account, but it
will be better than no thought on the
matter at all, and may lead to the doing
of right eventually for the sake of right.
And meanwhile age has a beauty of
it's own that is sometimes of a higher
type than the mere beauty of velvet
cheek and dimpling lips. The clear tint
and the power of the countenance, the
light that often shines upon it as from
the opening gates of heaven, the express
sion not alone of the long habit of un-
selfish love, but of real holiness, give it
an aspect to some eyes all as delightful
as the charm of the pretty woman or the
freshness of the youth.