Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1900-07-12
Sympathy Between Youth and Age.

the world and the hardest to bridge
over is that which divides youth and
age. Between the two is the gulf in
which lie all the illimitalbe ignorance
and the uufathomable experiences OF
two lives, and no matter how closely
akin an old person and a young one
may be, they are, in some sort, like
travellers who call to each other in a
language one is only beginning to
learn and that the other has already
forgotten.
Youth and age have curiously little
in common. 1t is so hard to remem-
Der, when one is shivering in the icy
blasts of December, that the air still
blows warm and sweet about young
Nav. 1t is so hard to realize, when
one has seen ones own meager harvest
gathered in, that another is sowing in
hope with all the possibilities OF the
future years stretching before him RAJ
dent with eternal promise. Above
all, when one has grown old and blase
show, when everything is as tedious
as an old told tale, and the actors seem
merely puppets whose mirth rings hol-
low and whose tears are too false to
move us-it is so hard to remember
that another is looking at the play OF
life with fresh eyes and pulses that
thrill to every varying phrase OF in
terest, ready to give it the tribute Of
tears aud smiles.
True and strange, but strangest Of
all in this-that we should so soon for
get the desires and emotions OF our
own youth. Listen to any middle-aged
+, man descant on the follies OF the young
men of today He does not hesitate to
declare that they are imbeciles and
dence of the human race since he was
boy.
When he contrasts his own sons with
5 the model he was at their age and OBJ
: serves how far short they have fallen
OF that shining example. he is filled
j., with the deepest pessimism and darkly
wonders what the country is coming
to when the men of his generation are
dead. AS he looks at his daughters he
signs to think that there are no such
noble, deserving youths now as he was
whom they may hope to marry. Il
= there were, he could ask nothing bet
ter for them, but how any girl in hei
senses could even think OF being rash
enough TO intrust herslf to the modern
young man passes his comprehension
The funny part of it all is that he il
deadly earnest in these opinions.
kindly and obliterating hand has beer
drawn across the slate of memory anC
!. the score wiped out against him. HI
has honestly forgotten that as boy h,
shirked work whenever possible an(
- cut school and learned to smoke be
hind the barn and that as young maj
he patronized his elders and neve
saved cent until he got married, AM
that his wife's father made precisel.
the same remarks about his daughte
;, marrying him.
Women, when they come to recall
ing the follies of their own youth, hav,
no better or more reliable memorie
than men. Probably there isn't an.
middle-aged woman who ever listen
to the conversation OF bright youn,
girl and her hobbledehoy beau with
out "A shudder atthe idiocy OF their re
2. marks and throb of gratitude t
= think that she never could have bee
that silly.
What mother ia advising her daught
Is ers ever failed to hold up her own IN
OF Improbable youth for their admire
tic ton and emulationl Dear me, no,
~ proper we were then! How respectfu
re to our elders, how dutiful to our PAL
ents, how willing to listen to them an
be guided by them when they pickle
ur out for us the good young man who lie
u the prayer meeting instead OF hi
ne scape. grace brother who led th
s, german, whom we had picked out 70
ourselves. She never flirted, oh, nc
such thing was never, never don
when she was young. "And how di
3 you ever get married?" asks Mis-
Pert, and mamma breaks off her hom
ly in confusion, because she has haI
pened to remember that things weren'
80 very different then, after all.
What does youth, on its part, thin
!. OF age? 1t is every whit as intoleran
d and as sure OF its view point being tn
]. superior outlook on life. 1t isa terri
j. BILE shock to our vanity to realize II
Il but it is true, nevertheless, that yout
does not regard those OF us who ar
!. older as models to be initiated, bu